Saluda Grade is the steepest standard-gauge mainline railway grade in the United States. Owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway as part of its W Line, the Saluda Grade in Polk County, North Carolina consists of a three-mile section of track that rises over 600 feet (180 m) in elevation with a highest official grade of 4.7% but reaching 5.1% at one point between the towns of Melrose and Saluda.
Captain Charles W. Pearson was assigned in with the task of selecting a route for the Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad to ascend the Blue Ridge front; the area of land where the rolling hills of the piedmont come to an abrupt end at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Despite numerous surveys of the area, no suitable land was available for a railroad to ascend the mountains at a tolerable grade, and the best route found followed the Pacolet River valley and gorge. The line begins its climb at the bottom of Melrose Mountain, where the town of Tryon can be found today at 1,081 feet (329 m), and continues on the southern side of the Pacolet valley. At Melrose, what is known as the Saluda Grade begins and climbs to the town of Saluda, cresting from the steepest ruling grade of 5.1% right in the center of town at an elevation of 2,097 feet (639 m).
Because of numerous accidents involving downgrade runaway trains in the late 1880s, the then Southern Railway (the line's original owner) built special safety spur tracks along the route. These are manned junctions, which, for safety reasons, are always switched to a 60-foot (18 m) pile of solid earth, which is capable of stopping downgrade runaway trains. Only upon hearing a special whistle signal from the downgrade train will the signalman manning the spur junction throw the switch to keep the train safely on the main line. Special elaborate rules were made by Southern, and later Norfolk Southern, in dealing with operations on this route.[1][2]
Norfolk Southern suspended freight traffic between Landrum, South Carolina and Flat Rock, North Carolina in December 2001,[3] thus ceasing operations on the Saluda Grade. The rails remain in place; however, they are cut and out of service. Talks of a passenger train excursion and a Rails-to-trails conversion have not made any headway in recent years.