Burlington, NC (BNC)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$507,106

Station Ridership

FY 2011

22,476

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The new Amtrak station in Burlington, opened in July 2003, is sited in the 140-year-old former engine house of the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR), the only remnant of a railroad maintenance facility built nearly 150 years ago. Prior to moving, the Amtrak station had been in a temporary facility.

The renovated building, which also houses the NCRR Whistlestop Museum in its lobby, as well as city offices, is called the Company Shops Station. Moser, Mayer, and Phoenix, Architects, created a design to incorporate many of the architectural features of the former engine house and yet make it fit for modern tenants. The barrel roof was removed to recreate the silhouette from the 1800s. A baking soda solution was applied to the soft brick of the building to remove the white paint and revealed detail not previously visible. Overall, this adaptive reuse of the historic property has had a positive impact on the look of the downtown section, according to its residents. It also won an award for excellence from the Main Street, North Carolina division of the state Department of Commerce.

The engine house reconstruction project cost approximately $3 million. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Rail Division leases the 40-passenger waiting room and platform areas from NCRR. NCDOT’s upgrade of the passenger waiting room cost $20,000.

Burlington, in the wooded piedmont of North Carolina, began as the Company Shops. It was founded because the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad needed a centrally-located facility between Goldsboro and Charlotte. Starting in 1854, the railroad used the 631-acre site as the principal repair shops for cars and locomotives, homes for workers and officials, company headquarters, a church, and a school. However, in 1871 the Richmond and Danville Railroad leased the NCRR for a period of 30 years, and their shops were relocated to Manchester, Virginia. In 1886, the citizens of the former Company Shops changed the town’s name to Burlington, with the last of the railroad shops closing. A fire destroyed much of the former NCRR shops in 1918, and only the engine roundhouse remained relatively unscathed.

Burlington incorporated as a city in 1893 and reinvented itself after the withdrawal of the railroad shops, seeking industry that would make use of the rail connections: textile manufacturing. By the turn of the century, Burlington styled itself the “Hosiery Center of the South.” In the 1920s, the textile business slowed, and to breathe new life into it there, the local Chamber of Commerce supported the organization of Burlington Mills, which would eventually become Burlington Industries, the largest textile manufacturer in the world. When the market for cotton goods fell into depression, the mills switched to rayon and became an industrial giant with that fiber.

Textiles remained prominent in the city even through the depression and with its accompanying labor unrest, and with the building of an aircraft factory in Burlington. However, the severe recession of the 1970s encouraged economic diversification, and a medical diagnostics company is now the largest employer.

Amtrak does not provide ticketing or baggage services at this facility.

Burlington is served by six daily trains.