4 | Caronolina Coastal Railway
“The rail industry is multi-faceted and there
needs to be a lot of cooperative and partner-
ship-type arrangements to make anything
work. We have a pretty good rapport with
our two big railroad connections, and if we
didn’t, we’d be out of luck on a lot of stuff.
“We also have a very good rapport with
our customer base. We almost serve as a mar-
keting and sales arm for the bigger railroads.
There’s kind of an inter-relationship. And
then among the short-lines there’s an inter-
relationship that I think is very important
to the success. If you develop those relation-
ships, I think you’ll be successful.
“And if you don’t, I think you’re going to
struggle.”
Make no mistake, Golden knows the in-
dustry of which he speaks.
Carolina Coastal Railway began opera-
tion in 1989 when Genesee &Wyoming Inc.
took over a 17-mile line fromNorfolk South-
ern that served the stations at Pinetown,
Acre, Terra Ceia, Bishops Crossing, Pantego
and Bellhaven in eastern North Carolina.
The line’s car traffic had dwindled signifi-
cantly by 2003, however, which prompted
Golden – already a veteran of the rail busi-
ness, particularly with operations in need of
