July 14, 2024, Selma Union Station Celebration

Around Our Town with Gene Merritt
July 14, 2024
Blog # 32

I am pleased to announce the upcoming celebration of Selma, NC’s Union Station. Steve Unger and I with Eastern Carolina Rail, Inc. are helping promote this event. If you get a chance, you will enjoy this event. If you can’t make it, make a note to visit this historic building sometime in the future.

Interior/Selma Union Station

SELMA, NC, - Passenger Rail is being celebrated in Selma, North Carolina July 19 – 20, with the 100th Anniversary of Selma’s Union Station. Activities begin Friday night with a Celebration Dinner at Selma Civic Center with a program provided by Eastern Carolina Rail.

A depot tour of Selma Union Station will take place at 5:30 p.m., prior to the 6 p.m. dinner event.

Eastern Carolina Rail is a non-profit organization seeking to promote a Wilmington to Raleigh passenger train route, that would include stops in Selma. Federal funds are already committed to evaluate that corridor. Service could be re-established in about a decade if all goes well.

The NC Department of Transportation Rail Division will be providing an update on the projected Raleigh to Wilmington passenger rail project that would include service to Selma according to current plans, with as many as three trains per day in both directions.

Numerous political officials and office holders are expected to attend the dinner and a guest list will be released closer to the event. Jason S. Myers, Rail Program

Manager for NC-DOT Rail will be providing the rail presentation, and another featured speaker will be Gene Merritt, a well-known transportation expert from Wilmington, and a principal of Eastern Carolina Rail.

On Saturday, the Town of Selma will hold a public Centennial Celebration for its Union Station (constructed 1924), which already hosts two Amtrak trains in each direction daily. The Palmetto route connects New York to Savannah and the Carolinian links Charlotte and New York.

Selma is working with rail partners, organizations, and enthusiasts to make this a big event “as we find our way back to our own train town history here in Selma,” says Nikki Wall, Selma Community Engagement Coordinator.

Saturday activities kick off at 9 am with a traditional farmers market. Beginning at 10 am there will be live music from Wood Steel, trackless train rides and other activities for children. An Operation Lifesaver Locomotive Simulator will be a highlight and a community pig pickin’ will top events off until the conclusion at 2 pm.

Sponsors include Academy Sports, Johnston County, Old North State Food Hall, RFS, Coffee on Raeford, WithersRavenel, HTR, DeWaynes, and KS Bank.

In 2023, Amtrak ridership through Selma was 13,914 riders. Originally constructed in 1924, the Union Depot originally served the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL), and the Southern Railway (SR). The depot building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and re-opened for passenger service the same year after an initial 1975 renovation.

It underwent $3.4 million in upgrades during 2001-2002 and an additional $2.5 millions of renovations were completed in February 2024 but more improvements are still needed, especially with new trains likely on the way.

Gene Merritt
Blog #32
July 14, 2024