Where did the Rock Island go to after Ellis?
I certainly don’t regret being “rail aware”, though I do find myself lamenting the loss of rail lines whenever I see an abandoned ROW. When travelling I am very good at spotting old ROWs which I’m always looking for (is that line of trees ahead just the edge of some farmer’s property, or do they conceal some obscure branch of the Rock Island, or Milwaukee Road, or Chicago Great Western, or who-knows-what?). Whose line was it? Where did it go? When was it scrapped? Can I then find photos of trains on that line so I can see how it looked “back in the day”?
What becomes a problem is I simply have to know ASAP exactly what every such abandoned line is that I see - meaning I have to pour-through my 1965 Railroad Guide and make the determination right away. It’ll bug me until I know. I’ve stopped and chatted-up farmers in their fields to ask permission to explore a stretch of railroad that reverted to their ownership, so I can hunt for relics (I’ve never had one deny me permission - a few even said they’d help me haul it out if I find anything).
So being “rail aware” does help pass the time on trips, even though I’d rather see a Rock Island GP7 in the bankruptcy blue scheme churning down the tracks instead of seeing brush overgrowing the ballast and scraps of ties rotting in the ditch.
…WIAR:
Seeing your interest in abandoned RR ROW’s seems as strong as mine…If you ever drive the original part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike…Erwin to Carlisle…160 miles, look close between Bedford and Donegal for the original route of the South Penn RR {never finished}, but about 70% graded and roughly followed by the Turnpike. Even some of the tunnels of RR construction were finished and used. The ROW is plainly visible to a railfan with this interest in many places. Probably more so in winter time…no leaves, etc…
The original alignment of the RR was engineered to have a max. grade of 2% and the Turnpike design was made to not exceed 3%. So the RR was a bit more circuitous in climbing…{for example: up the grade to get over and thru Laurel Hill}, and for that reason the original RR grade is visible in many places…But you must really look close to find some of it.
Another example: Roughly 7 miles west of Somerset the Turnpike passes thru a deep cut…{roughly 900’ long}, and on the right side the RR tunnel existed and was about 20’ lower than the Turnpike grade and one can still see {a little bit of the opening}. If you happen to google or look it up someplace…{lots of Pa. Turnpike websites}, I believe it’s name was Quemahoming Tunnel. As the ROW exits the west end…it swings to the right…{north},and if you look close you can follow cuts and fills and tree lines along over a big curve before it comes back around to join near the Turnpike route.
…At the Allegheny Tunnel east of Somerset {about 11 miles, roughly}, the RR tunnel was east of the present west bound Turnpike tunnel by 85’…Bad rock strata caused trouble in it and the Turnpike builders decided to move south a bit and bore the “new” original Pa. Turnpike tunnel. Since then, another tunne
I think Ray may have his lines crossed. The Ellis & Eastern runs on former CNW track. (Actually Chicago, Minneapolis & Omaha subsidary of CNW, I believe.) The Rock Island was a dead end at Sioux Falls, just like it was at Watertown. The Illinois Central was a deadend as well. The abandonded RI tracks cross the abandonded Milwaukee Road tracks in our parking lot at work.
ModelCar:
I will certainly keep that in mind if/when I get out towards Pennsylvania! I have a lot of interest in the Penn Central as well as the Erie Lackawanna, and that area would offer a lot of opportunities for “railroad archeology” as I call it.
If you’re ever out my way (Minnesota), there are lots of abandoned ROWs to explore, as trails and not. The Great Northern’s Brook Park - Mora - Milaca line is “rich” in signage left by the scrappers and offers some great wildlife as well (deer, bald eagles, many varieties of songbirds, I saw a porcupine and then two bear a few years ago - that signalled the end of my hike that day). The ex-CGW Cannon Falls - Red Wing line is now a great hiking/biking trail. The CNW’s former main east of LaCrosse is now the “400 Trail” and it offers great opportunities to watch action on the CP’s former MILW main (Amtrak as well twice a day).
Abandoned ROWs are sad in a way, but they also provide motivation to learn more about railroad history.
…I hate to see abandoned routes as well, but for some reason, the abandoned ROW’s sure stirs my interest. Guess it’s the engineering that got it there in the first place that is my real interest in it.
Well you never know what will happen. I hated to lose the Minneapolis Northfield and Southern that I grew up with when the Soo bought it in 1982 (because they needed it to connect to the Rock Island trackage they thought they were going to get when R.I. folded). But 20 years later, the line was taken over by shortline Progressive Rail, who are using some of the same engines I saw growing up, wearing an almost-identical paint scheme to the MNS.
I know it’s tough, by the time I was 40 all 11 or 12 railroads that served my area were gone - merged or closed down. It helps a little that I did get to see and later photograph some good stuff…got to ride a Great Northern passenger train, photograph CNW C-628’s in Upper Michigan, CP, CN and VIA F’s (and CN GMD-1’s) in Canada, and take pics of Soo, Milwaukee, CNW, BN here in Minnesota.
Yet today’s railroading is pretty neat too. Growing up on that MN&S branchline was great, but seeing 3 SD-70’s or AC4400’s on a 60 car stack train going 50 MPH near my new house is pretty exciting!!
The abandoned ROWs are sad in a way because they represent something lost, but they are also evocative because they connect what was lost to the present. The earthwork grade is the last remnant, and it lasts a long time if it is not re-graded for some other use. I have found some interesting ones in the Minneapolis area. The Soo originally crossed the St. Croix River a mile or so south of today’s high bridge. There is a lot of the old ROW intact on each side of the river as the old line approached that earlier bridge. Moss covered ties are still intact (as of approx. 1985) on the west side of the river ROW.
I have heard that the MN&S originally graded beyond Northfield to the south, and some of that ROW is still intact. A lot of the M&StL mainline south of Montgomery is
Richard, I understand and share your depressing outlook. For example, early in my railroad career, about 61 years ago, I worked in an agency that had an agent, a day operator and a night operator, a cashier, 2 clerks, and a laborer. We had four passenger trains a day. Today there’s no railroad in that city of 10,000 people. What happened? Let’s see: The interstate highway system facilitated the competitive growth of the trucking industry, America’s corporations went to off-shore suppliers, and railroad managements were too often indifferent to customers’ needs. The railroads’ present prosperity can be attributed largely to our growing need for energy, and the importation of foreign-made consumer products. The real heart of the industry used to be in the countless small-town agents. There is no such thing, and we have a generation of people now who don’t have a clue what I’m writing about.
I don’t regret being “Rail Aware”. I do regret that I didn’t learn to spot different diesel models until the Santa Fe PAs were gone.I onle remember seeing one A-B set of PAs on the dead line in San Bernardino.I’m glad I remember pre-Amtrak passenger trains,E and F units and ALCo,Baldwin,and Fairbanks Morse engines.I’m also glad I remember the Pacific Electric’s Red Cars on the Long Beach line.This line was restored as MTAs’s Blue Line,and runs today!
An abandoned ROW is a chance to explore history no matter how you look at it. As I stated, we have quite a few around here but what you learn through the research on it is very rewarding sometimes. I know a lot of facts about different areas that other people I know don’t due to my hobby. My favorite is when somebody mentions an out of the way place that I know right away because a train line either runs or ran through it.
By almost any standards, railroading in the USA is a huge success. Compared to 1980, American railroads are hauling twice the freight with a third fewer employees. Your memories do count – but it’s too much to ask a profit-making corporation to keep things around if they are quaint but not efficient.
It’s unlikely railroading would be working so well in this country if the various lines didn’t innovate, and as in any industry, an advance in technology makes adding employees (or even keeping the same workforce) an unacceptable luxury. At the beginnning of the 20th Century, farming was the biggest occupation in America. Now it takes less than five percent of the country’s employed to feed us. Rural life is less charming, but we are fed better than ever. By the same token, railroading needs a great deal less infrastructure and fewer employees, but we depend on the rails, just the same.
I’m glad I am becoming more “in the know” about the current state of railroading. I celebrate the past but see no use in trying to reform the future.
I justed watched a show on The History Channel that stated that Niagra Falls will be flowing backwards into Lake Erie in 4,500 years so we should all just enjoy this “temporary wonder” of nature. I guess everything is temporary in reality, including railroads. Jamie
Is there anything remaining or do you just know?
When I lived in Lake Preston I was only a couple of blocks from the old Milwaukee Road right of way, some of which is still there. For a year I had a dream job in Preston, my machine at 21st Century couldn’t have been more than 75 feet from the DM&E and the windows were big enough for a good look. There were crossings on both sides of the building so the horns were good and loud. We started at 6AM and in the spring and the fall when it wasn’t light yet, but warm enough to open the west garage door, once in a while you could see an eastbound headlight coming at you in the dark. The old diamond couldn’t have been more than a couple of blocks west of the plant.
I would have liked to have worked there in the 50s & 60s.
Thanks everyone for such great responses.
I think what really bothers me is the dissapearance of my favorite part of the railroads - Branchlines and industrial spurs, and the associated yards and facilities.
Sure capacity has gone up, but in my area that typically means a few high volume mainlines running intermodal trains at super high speed. Very plain “vanilla” in my opinion.
I like the “grittier” side of the rail scene, uneven tracks serving varied industry, the stuff of the “Way Freight”.
But yes, as others has said change is inevitable.
I suggest you catch a flight to Bejing, hop the next inter-city train leaving town and explore for a few weeks.
I have to agree with mookie progress means change I see this every day with fallen flags abondoned right of ways and depots and stations sitting empty I getthis feeling everytime we roll through the Union Staion complex in IOmaha I remember all those traks the umbrella sheds and to look at it now its almost too much Larry
Just think, some day 30-40 years from now, some railfans are going to be discussing how they long for the “old days” when the railroads were great back around the turn of the century (aka 2000). [:)] Jamie
Like several others here, rather than being sad about a disappearing line, I find it interesting to do “forensic railfanning” of old rights of way. Its interesting to analyze where the line used to be, where lineside structures were, why they built where they did, etc.
In terms of disappearing RR’s, I’ve seen my share of them near home, but then again, I can find an example of growth and progress to offset every loss.
The portion of being “rail aware” that I regret comes from being a rail customer for the last 10 years. I’ve gotten to know the business side of railroading and frankly I think its pretty darn ugly. Carriers that I once admired, I no longer have any interest in. I find their practices disgusting and their ethics sketchy at best, borderline criminal at worst - but our Federal Govt condones the monopoly, so we have to live with it. That’s where I’ve become disenfranchised about the RR world. Nowdays, I find myself far more drawn to shortlines and regionals, with whom I don’t have to do business.
Stack
Here in North Carolina, the state has preserved the abandoned rights of way, and is now putting some of them back in service.
In Charlotte, abandoned N&S right of way, along with some current right of way, is now being used for the new light rail. Several bridges that had been removed had to be rebuilt, but that has been done.
A third daily train between Charlotte and Raleigh was just announced a few days ago. It will begin service as soon as they finish rehabilitating the equipment, which is in progress. Grade level crossings along that route are being upgraded and, in some cases, eliminated.
The route from Raleigh west to the mountains is being studied for restored passenger service, and many of the old stations are being rehabilitated as we speak.
Working with Amtrak and the state of Virginia, engineering and environmental studies are under way to extend the high speed north east corridor through Richmond to Raleigh, with plans to extend it to Charlotte.
Working with the Amtrak and the state of Georgia feasability studies are being conducted for a high speed line from Charlotte to Macon.
Rail is far from dead.