Semaphore - March-April 1960

Semaphore PIEDMONT AND NORTHERN RAILWAY MAGAZINE [image: train track maintenance vehicle] READY FOR GROCERIES MARCH AND APRIL 1960

Semaphore [logo]PIEDMONT & NORTHERN SERVICE WITH COURTESY

VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2 MARCH-APRIL 1960

Published at Charlotte, N. C., by the Piedmont and Northern Railway Company, a 130-mile railroad extending in an arc through the rich Piedmont Carolinas and serving such thriving cities as Anderson, Greenville, Greenwood, and Spartanburg in South Carolina, and Charlotte and Gastonia in North Carolina. Address all communications to the editor, P. O. Box 480, Charlotte, N. C. Comments and suggestions are solicited.

EDITOR

THOMAS G. LYNCH Director of Industrial Development and Public Relations

CORRESPONDENTS

UNDER THE COVER

When this picture was made finishing touches were being applied to the track serving the new warehouse of Commuity Cash Stores, first project to be completed in the P & N's Wadsworth Industrial District near Spartanburg. Machinery in the foreground is a multiple spot tamper, and the track side of the 100,000 sq. ft. warehouse can be seen in the background. Eight box cars can be spotted on the siding simultaneously and a ninth car could be placed at the produce platform near the front of the building. In the years ahead this is expected to be a very busy track. See page 15 for a story on the completion of this warehouse and office building.

NEWS AND VIEWS

The P & N's mid-year staff meeting will be held this year in Charlotte on July 21 and 22. This mid-summer meeting is one of two such meetings held each year under the auspices of the traffic department for the purpose of reviewing sales and service matters. It will be attended by a number of executives of other departments as well as by all representatives of the traffic department.

May 20 has been designated by President Eisenhower as National Defence Transportation day. this is an annual occasion which focuses public attention on the role of common carrier transportation in the defence of the country. Incidentally, May 20 is also Mecklenburg Independence Day, anniversery of the signing of a delaration of independence from Great Britain which pre-datesthe American Declaration. It was signed by patriots in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, N. C., on May 20, 1775.

Governor Luther H. Hodges of North Carolina will lead another industrial development safari to New York beginning May 15. It will be a repeat call on New Yorkers and will include a hundred or more Tar Heels who are actively engaged in development work throughout the state. In the past Governor Hodges has led similar missions to Chicago, Philadelphia, and even blazed a trail all the way to Europe last year.

For the eighth consecutive year there were no fatal accidents to passengers riding on Pullman sleepinng and parlor cars throughout America. Since 1951 no less than 84 million passengers have traveled 53 billion passenger-miles by Pullman without a single fatality. Would you believe that Pullman cars are safer than your own bedroom?

Several sizable industrial projects on the P & N are slated for announcement soon. One will be in Charlotte in the Chemway area and the other in the White Horse Industrial District, Greenville. Spring usually brings a resurgence in construction activity, and this one will be no exception. There are also quite a few "lookers" at this season of the year.

[Areial image of Belton S.C.]

FROM THE AIR Belton appears as a neat, compact town with a busy central business section surrounded by rows of attractive houses. The big white water standpipe, a local landmark, can be seen in the right center section of the picture. Highway through the center is S.C. 20.

[Image of Belton business district]

BUSINESS DISTRICT has an unusual amount of curbside parking and is lined with good stores. To the right is a pedestrian's eye view of the city's famous water standpipe as seen from a street near City Hall.

[Image of water standpipe]

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BELTON, S. C. A PROUD AND PROGRESSIVE P & N TOWN

This is the first of a series of stories about the smaller towns served by the Piedmont and Northern. Other towns to which station agents are assigned will be featured in future issues.

SCATTERED through the Piedmont section of South carolina are a dozen or more textile born and bred communities which have, in recent years, grown into sizable towns

Belton, a junction point on the Piedmont and Northern, seems to have achieved a special status among these, not only as a center of textile manufacturing but also a compact trading center for the eastern portion of Anderson County, Census takers now making their rounds will probably count about 6,000 persons living in the town instead of the 3,371 they counted ten years ago.

Many ingredients of growth are present in the Belton area. It has plenty of railroad service, including the main line and a branch of the P & N, the Southern Railway and its subsidiary, the Carolina and Northwestern. Highways include two U. S. routes and four state routes. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line is just west of town and natural gas service is being provided by Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Plantation Pipe Line, a major petroleum products line, is also near the city and there is an oil terminal area on this pipe line north of town. Good airports are readily available at Greenville and Anderson.

Excellent labor supply Representatives of the S. C. Employment Security Commission estimate that there is an available potential labor supply amounting to 2,900 persons within a

MARCH AND APRIL

15-mile radius of Belton, Many of these people are already trained in various textile vocations and are 99.9 per cent native born. They are the type of people who have given the area a stable and loyal work force over the years.

If Beltoon has a shortcoming from the

[Image of two men shaking hands] A WARM WELCOME is extended by Banker Mitchell Patton, left, to Mayor R. Glenn Coward. Business leaders such as these are a major asset.

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