Both a class 1 and a system of short lines, Norfolk Southern Railway Company of the Norfolk Southern Corporation operates over 70 freight trains a day across southern North Carolina, carrying coal, automobiles, machinery, agricultural products, equipment and chemicals.
The CSX, one of the five United States-owned Class 1 railway systems, also has routes running through southern North Carolina with two freight lines, the "A" and the "S" running parallel from north to south and on into South Carolina. According to CSX this line handled about 867,000 carloads of freight in 2009.
According to the North Carolina Rail Road 10 to 12 freight trains a day run between Goldsboro and Greensboro, with 70 freight trains daily between Greensboro and Charlotte.
Over 20 freight trains rumble through Hamlet, North Carolina. Their symbols range from Q400 (running from Hamlet through Rocky Mount, and Richmond to Cumberland, Maryland) to the Q778 which is a rock train running from Malmo, North Carolina to Rockingham, North Carolina.
The Aberdeen & Rockfish System, a short line affiliated with CSX, carries freight between the North Carolina counties of Moore, Hoke and Cumberland to Marlboro County, South Carolina. The ACWR runs the main route from Aberdeen, through Raeford, then north to Fayetteville. Some old locomotives that have run on this line are the 2-8-2 Mikado #30 and #35; the 4-6-0 #20; the A&R 981; A&R's first diesel #200 and the A&R EMID-F-3A #201.
Many smaller railroad companies run short lines that span only a few miles connecting a few towns. These lines usually carry ore and are called rock trains. One example is the LRS, the Laurinburg & Southern Railroad, which runs in south North Carolina from Raeford through Wagram and terminates in a little town called Johns. A few other short lines that carry freight are the ACWR (Aberdeen, Carolina and Western Railway from Aberdeen to Charlotte), the ATW (Atlantic and Western Railway) that is a rail link between highways 421 and 1 about halfway between Raleigh and Wadesboro, the CA (Chesapeake and Albemarle Railroad) and the CALA or Carolina Southern Railroad connecting North Carolina to South Carolina. The NCYR (the Nash County Railway) only operates in one county.
