Recent Updates
- NewThe History section now has narrative pages for each era from 1852 through the A&Y's final years, including the CF&YV prospectus and early press coverage.
- NewThe Rule Book page now includes illustrated excerpts from the 1899 rulebook — whistle signals, flag and lamp codes, and signal diagrams — with scanned pages.
- NewA new Working Documents page in the Operations section shows primary source paperwork: clearance cards, train orders, freight bills, and a car routing record.
- NewUpdated the locomotive roster with individual pages for each locomotive class.
The A&Y email list on groups.io covers related regional railroad history beyond the scope of this site, including Winston-Salem Division history and material from Conductor H.F. Snow's records. Join if you're interested.
I am always working on my collection of A&Y and related railroad photographs — locomotives, the one surviving caboose, extant stations, and the towns and industries served by the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley, the Mount Airy & Eastern, the A&Y, and the modern Yadkin Valley and Norfolk Southern. Some are postcard images, some are scanned from out-of-print books or donated by researchers, and some are contemporary images from my trips to the region beginning in September 1999.
Some historic photos are from the North Carolina State Library Photographic Archives and are considered public domain. Others come from personal collections or the UNC Southern Collection and carry copyright restrictions. Please do not copy images without contacting me first.
If you have photographs of the A&Y or related subjects you are willing to share or sell, please contact me: dbott@vt.edu or David Bott, 2200 Carroll Highlands Court, Sykesville, MD 21784-6306.