Stokesdale (Milepost CF 51.3)
The town of Stokesdale was incorporated in 1907. It was known earlier as Pine, but was renamed probably for Governor Montford Stokes (1762-1842). It is at an altitude of 950 feet. The A&Y had a telephone there and a capacity for 22 cars on sidings and spurs.
Here is an image of the station from the North Carolina State Library Photographic Archives (click on thumbnail for 800x600 image). If you look carefully to the left behind the station you can see what I believe to be a pulpwood truck and to the right behind the station is a cut of pulpwood flatcars a.k.a. pulp racks. Looks like Stokesdale was a pulpwood loading point at the time the photo was taken (which is unfortunately unknown).
Here are two more images of the depot (circa 1908 and 1910) courtesy of Steven Shelton.
Although the tracks and racks are gone now, you can still see the roadbed if you look carefully. These images from my trip confirm Mr. Garreth McDonald's observation that the A&Y ran right between streets in this area! The right of way was where the grassy median is in the photo on the left. It also ran in the space right in front of this firehouse (which I can safely say did not exist when the railroad did).
Jeff Friddle provided these contemporary photos of the A&Y trestle near Stokesdale:
