On 30 January 2016, Iowa Pacific Holdings ran two excursion trains on the Piedmont & Northern Railroad near Charlotte, North Carolina, which they have operated since fall 2015. They ran from Belmont to Mt. Holly to Gastonia and return.

The P&N was built in the early 1900s as an electric interurban line, one of the few such lines in the South. Electric passenger service ended in 1951, and the line converted to diesel operation in 1954, except for a small switching operation in uptown Charlotte which continued until 1958.

These excursion were the first passenger trains along the P&N to Gastonia since electric passenger service ended.

Shown here is a photo runby near Lowell, in the late afternoon, during the second trip. The bridge over the tracks in the distance is Birch St.