Hamlet North Carolina

The Seaboard Air Line Railroad Station

It was raining the morning I pulled into Hamlet North Carolina on Amtrak’s Silver Star. We were running a “bit” late, as is common for Amtrak on the tracks of many freight lines, but not terribly late. As the train pulled up it stopped right by the depot to let a sleeping car passenger off. Therefore, I found myself in a fairly decent location to take this shot.

Hamlet North Carolina was a town of the post-Civil War south. It developed the obligatory cotton mills and a few lumber yards. More importantly, it became a “railroad town.” In this case, the railroad that brought life to the gathering of buildings that became Hamlet NC was the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. From an initial beginning of one crossing, the Seaboard soon expanded to the point where 5 different lines left Hamlet for Richmond VA, Wilmington NC, Atlanta GA/Birmingham AL, Charleston SC/Savannah GA, and Columbia SC. In its prime, Hamlet had 30 passenger trains a day leaving.

The town, itself, was incorporated in 1897. About the same time, this depot was constructed. It was designed in the “Queen Anne” version of Victorian Architecture, a popular choice for many railroad stations built during this period. It’s most prominent feature is a rounded corner tower, with a roof to match. The feature, often called a “Witch’s Hat,” was designed to give train employees and passengers better visibility of the various approaching tracks. This was an important feature in those pre-radio days, when often the only warning anyone had of an approaching train was the blowing of the whistle upon the train’s close approach.

Today, the station is served by 1 train a day each way, Amtrak’s Silver Star. Further, most days this train comes through during the darkness of the North Carolina night and thus the station is unseen by most of the passengers. The station also has a second use. It is the home for a railroad museum located in Hamlet.