Revenue

Freight

The A&Y did not have any freight revenue equipment according to the ICC annual reports. They did own/lease some MoW cars, and cabs from the Southern Railway, but I can find no evidence indicating that the A&Y owned any freight cars. The only evidence is the 1940s era photo with a double sheathed, double door wooden boxcar lettered as Atlantic & Yadkin 103. This appears to be a non-interchanged boxcar and is unlikely to be in revenue service. As for revenue freight cars, those cars seen on the line were most likely Southern flat cars for the granite quarry or boxcars (lots of boxcars given the era!), hoppers, and pulpwood cars from various interchange roads. The Southern, N&W, old Norfolk Southern, ACL, and the SAL interchanged with the A&Y at Rural Hall, Stokesdale, Greensboro, Cumnock and Sanford. I would expect that any of these roads’ cars would predominate on the A&Y, though I have seen photographic evidence of interchange freight cars from much more distant lines on the A&Y.

Passenger

Although the A&Y did lease passenger cars from the parent Southern Railway, I have no evidence that these cars were lettered for the A&Y. In fact, everyone I’ve spoke to who rode or lived alongside the A&Y states that the cars were lettered for the Southern Railway. The CF&YV did own its own passenger cars, but it is not clear that any of these made it to the A&Y or were lettered for the later road. Passenger service ceased 1939 and, sadly, the road has seen freight only trains ever since.

The typical passenger train for the “Shoefly” as it was nicknamed, would have been a baggage car and two coaches pulled by one of the Ten-Wheeler passenger locomotives. The cars were wooden cars, probably many with truss rods underneath.

Non-revenue

The A&Y did have Maintenance of Way (MoW) equipment lettered for its own use. A photograph from the family of Sandy Isley shows a MoW car clearly lettered for the Atlantic & Yadkin in the background at Belews Creek. Although there are other photos of MoW equipment operating on A&Y track, e.g., Jordan spreader photographed near Battleground in Greensboro, this Belews Creek photo is the only one known with A&Y lettering clearly evident on the equipment. See also the Belews Creek page.