Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad
| Locale | North Carolina, USA |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1897–1912 |
| Predecessor |
Aberdeen and West End Railroad and Asheboro and Montgomery Railroad |
| Successor | Norfolk Southern Railroad |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Length | 56 mi (90 km) mainline 82 mi (132 km) total |
| Headquarters | Biscoe, North Carolina |
The Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad (A&A), known locally as "Page's Road," was the conglomeration of two previous railroads built by the Page family of Aberdeen, North Carolina, at the turn of the 20th century. The railroad ran 56 miles (90 km) to connect its namesake cities with a 20.75-mile long (33.39 km) branch connecting Biscoe to Troy and Mount Gilead and another branch connecting West End to Jackson Springs.
The first railroad built by the Pages, known as the Aberdeen and West End Railroad (A&WE), had been a logging railroad since about 1887. Soon after this line connected Aberdeen and Pinehurst, shippers in Montgomery and Moore counties, who had been sending their freight by wagon to Manly on the Seaboard Air Line, created a demand for the A&WE to haul more than logs; this demand led to the line becoming a common carrier rather than an industrial line. The line was also listed as carrying passengers on one train per day in each direction between Aberdeen and Candor by 1890. It was extended from Aberdeen to Star, NC, and was completed in 1895.
In 1896, the Pages organized and built the Asheboro and Montgomery Railroad, which extended from Asheboro, NC, southward to Star.
In 1897, the two lines merged to form the Asheboro and Aberdeen Railroad, but was known as Aberdeen and Asheboro by the end of the year. From the outset, only non-smokers were hired to work on the A&A; this was not out of health or safety concerns, but because its founder, A.F. Page, "not only did not tolerate dram drinking, but was equally opposed to cigarettes."
On January 22, 1898, a runaway on the A&A occurred at Asheboro when a train's engine crew uncoupled the locomotive from the train without applying sufficient brakes on the cars; the cars were left on a hill while the engineer took the locomotive to a nearby water tower downhill. The collision pinned the engineer and fireman in the locomotive, both with non-fatal injuries. The fireman in the accident, J.M. Burns, later died on February 10, after amputation of his injured leg. Burns' family filed suit against the A&A seeking $2,500. The case was settled in December 1900 with the judge awarding $3,125 to the Burns family.
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