what is the shortest r.r. in the u.s.? i dont mean a spur or branch… i mean an actual operation with its own name and property…
it can be a subsidiary of a larger r.r., but not ‘a personal’ line, such as a chemical co. with a switcher and 10 miles of track to the up…
it needs to be a r.r. that carries freight, not a tourist operation… it can carry pass., but must carry freight or else it could be a tourist or railfan line… also must be std. gauge…
terminal r.rs. are acceptable…
any nominations?
I know that there’s an actual railroad in the Vatican City Republic that is only 750 meters long. It hauls revenue frieght. I’m not sure if it’s standard gauge or not, it could be. I don’t know anything else about it other than this. I read this bit of information somewhere about it being the record for the shortest railway in the world.
How many miles is that? It is Saturday, so I am not allowed to any math today. Is it more than one track?
Adrianspeeder
There are 1000 metres in a kilometre and there’s about 1.6 miles in a kilometre. So 750 metres would be just slightly under half a mile. Being that short I would highly doubt that there would be more than one track. It’s hard to believe that there’s a railway that is that short and a fireght only one at that. I know what you mean about not doing math on Saturday, I hate math too and try to avoid it while I’m out of school.
Alaska Railroad is 450 miles long, but that’s not very short…
CORRECTION! There are 1.6 kilometers in mile, not 1.6 miles in a kilometer.
Metric system is much easier to use, but conversion can be tricky…
So it’s just about half - mile.
I hate to do this but a kilometer is .6 of a mile so that makes the Vatican about 5/8 of a mile long [8D][:D]
AMT’s Dorion-Rigaud line
9 miles.
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/ferrovia/ferrovia_it.html]Here is a link to the Vatican Railroad website. Unfortunately, the website is only in Italian (I would have liked a Latin version). However, there are some 1930s-era pictures of the tracks being switched by steam.
I believe that the switching was handled by Italian State Railways.
I also believe that an early 19th Century train is preserved in one of the Vatican museums.
However, toget back to themain subject:
I tend to think that the shortest railroad is probably a bridge or railroad which is part of a factory complex. There are numerous paper railroads that have been leased to or are operated by larger railroads. No doubt the rents produce revenue for their owners.
For years the shortest railroad in the US was the Pioneer & Fayette.It was in northwest Ohio and a half mile long.It might be abandoned now.
Is Manufacters Junction (in Chicago) considerd a railroad. That is a very small one.
TIM A
The Warwick Railway ran the leftover stub of a trolley line for freight…about a mile, in Rhode Island; it was merged into Providence & Worcester several years back. South of Baltimore is the Curtis Bay Railroad. It was[is] a common carrier railroad owned by Davison Chemical Co. which also served other customers. At one time they had their own steam locos, but for many years they leased a B&O switcher, usually an SW-1. I used to work with the last prior-right Curtis Bay man, who is long dead. The CBRR showed up in old railroad lists, but began to rely more and more on B&O crewmen, clerical and mechanical help. Today, the CBRR is switched by the CSX crew working the Marley Neck Branch job…they have about 3/4 mile of track. At one time, a famous customer of theirs was Streigal Supply & Equipment, the used loco dealer where the ex-Reading steamers were rescued for Ross Roland’s Freedom Train.
Consider WYE Transportation (WYEC) at Columbus, OH…a common carrier with NO active track
Gee, that would mean we have to decide whether zero is a number.
Zardoz: I’d love to see what happens if all WYE’s fleet comes home and there’s no place to put it. Who gets rich on the demurrage charges?
Sorry guys your all wrong…
The worlds shortest officially recognized railway is right here in Smoggy LA.
Angels Flight, a vernicular RR at a whooping 278 long feet is the worlds smallest railroad. It opened in 1901 and climbed from 3rd and Hill up to Bunker Hill. It operated until the late 60’s, carrying pedestrian up the steep hill. The cars pass each other at the middle on seperate tracks then rejoin a common track at top and bottom. for almost 70 years it functioned without a single accident, then was dismantled with the promise of being reinstalled in a future downtown development.
Well in one of the biggest boneheaded miscalculations in world history the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project got derailed by a bad real estate market and terrible planning, this was of course after they demolished one of the oldest historical parts of the city then shaved off the top of the hill. 27 years later a highrise project was finally started on Bunker Hill and Surprise, Surprise, Surprise, Angels Flight was brought out of storage and restored a block south from its original location. It ran for about a year and a half before there was an accident that has stopped operation until they can replace the horribly designed spindle mechanism (the design engineer has a warrent out for his arrest and has fleed to Mexico). Its a huge scandel out here, but they have completely removed the old gear and are planning for new equipment by a company thats been around about as long as Angels Flight.
Do model Railraods count…??
Only if its 1:1 scale and is a paying non-tourist line.
I would have included Ward Kimballs “Grizzly Flats” railroad, its only 900 feet from the engine house to the wild wilderness of the orange groves but it was a private RR in Kimballs backyard therefore not a paying line.
Angels Flight is a paying commercial line operated by a private company for the City of Los Angeles, just like the Metro.
One possibility could be the CRANDIC(Cedar Rapids and Iowa City). It can not be more than 20-30 miles, but I am sure there are many more shorter than this. I once talked to a guy that worked for ADM transportation, and when I asked him for a map of the CRANDIC, he told me to give him an 3 by 5 index card, and that would leave him plenty of room!
Kevin’s Railroad: 12 feet max.
Located: in his basement, In Quebec Canada.
Whats your ridership per week? Frieght load? and I dont mean laundry…