This was left in place to pass the Rapid City Regional Airport as a link to the then proposed Costner rail line to Deadwood, SD that never happened.
The rail has been removed between Kadoka, SD to Near the Rapid City Airport. This portion was salvaged in the late 90’s but the ROW was maintained for a possible bike trail and running utilites.
Dave in Pierre. SD
Yes, I’m sure there are many places around the country where rails have been left in place and decades have passed.
One comes to mind over in Pennsylvania at Hooversville, A spur that extended several miles off the S&C…{former B&O}, now CSX, up to a mining town and former coal producing mine…is still in place and time has passed to the point it has thick brush and sizeable trees on the ROW and between the rails, etc…Wouldn’t be easy to retrieve the rails now.
There are many RRs in Wva abandoned in place. Southbound from Charleston, Wv you can see an abandoned in place CSX (C&O) from Cabin creek southbound on I-77 (West Va turnpike). The ROW is anywhere from 50 - 150 ft west of the road. Stop at the rest area at MP 72 and you can walk over to the abandoned ROW and tracks. The rest area actually used a little part of the ROW.
Electrify it?
I think the gist of your thread was to identify railroads where they just turned off the lamps/lights and walked away, not bothering to lock the door. I have seen many pictures of abandoned locomotives with trees growing up thru them, all over the country. I guess they just abandoned everything. Very interesting. Might be worth a ‘field trip’ to see some of these relics. Someone (hint!!!) should post a map that can be expanded on/added to by those interested! Dere is sum rare stuff in de woods, methinks!
Hays
Long Island Rail Road, Rockaway Branch. You can find washed-out rails, fallen position-light signals (PRR style), third rail, bridges, and entire stations. Yards of rail suspended over 40-year-old washouts, old platforms, stairways, and endless encroachment on the right-of-way by the locals. It’s all there, in the middle of Queens. I’ve seen it myself. Search the internet for pictorials on LIRR Rockaway Branch. Getting closer to the Rockaways it’s been replaced with subway (which rather closely matches LIRR physical plant in these areas, too).
In the 1930’s The Monson RR Waterville Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington RR, a Maine 2 footer. The RR had a derailment in the middle of the railroad and they had no way to rerail their last engine.
Rgds IGN
It was actually the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington that ceased to operate after a derailment in 1933. The line was dismantled in 1934. A portion of the track has been relaid by the new WW&F and operates during the summer. www.wwfry.org The Monson Railroad continued to operate until1942 and was officially abandoned in 1944, the last Maine 2-footer to be abandoned.
One other example that comes to mind is the Eagle Mountain in California, built by Kaiser after WWII (1948) to haul iron ore for its Fontana steel plant. It has not turned a wheel since 1986 but remains intact. If you travel I-10 between the Coachella Valley and Blythe you will cross the line near the Red Cloud exit. It was famous for its big GE U-boats and steep grades and joined the Sunset Route near the Salton Sea at Ferrum (Latin for “iron”).
John Timm
I stand corrected. thx ign
WW&F (along with the SR&RL and Kennebunkport Trolley Museum, Boothbay Harbor, and any narrow guage, any depot, or any railroad whatever in New England in general and Maine in particular) is a must stop, see and ride thing for any age, level, or interest in railroads!
“Abandonment” of a rail line is something that requires regulatory authority, and has since 1920. A railroad that takes up an unused rail line without getting that authority takes a big risk. If someone later comes along and demands rail service the railroad could liable to the shipper for failure to provide service, and could conceivably be forced to put the line back. There are several instances where railroads have had to pay damages to shippers for unlawful abandonments and track removal. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any cases where a railroad has actually been forced to put a line back. But both the ICC and the STB have repeatedly recognized that this could happen.
On the other hand, there have been a number of cases where railroads have been shut down and not removed. Often, to avoid regulatory service requirements, the railroad will obtain regulatory “discontinuance of service” authority for these lines. A good current example of this is the Tennessee Pass line in Colorado. I believe the CA&E also had discontinuance authority for both its passenger and freight service, and then later secured abandonment authority to liquidate the property. They did it right - they didn’t remove the track until they had the abanonment authority .
Northwestern Pacific is a more interesting case. I don’t think they ever received either abandonment or discontinuance authority. Instead, FRA shut
I think in the case of NWP it would probably be too expensive to remove the track than to just leave it. I think they are just about ready to return service from Shellville to Willits but I don’t think there will ever be service again from Willits to any points north.
Are those 4 GPs still stranded in Eureka? The last time I was up there was 2007.