Mt. Olive! Someone knows of my home town. I would have never guessed.
I am also impressed that you know that IT went through it, as it was abandon in the 30s or something like that.
Gabe
Glad I rode the Colorado Eagle.
I just thoght of one. there is a old NW line that runs though Ivanhoe,VA it got turned into a walking path some time ago[soapbox][censored][banghead][:(!] that ran behind my Great Grand Mother’s house my Grampa and a few others hopped one the train ( the enginners knew that they were one) got some fish and went back home I wi***hey would have that line back open so I would have something to do. [:)]
kevin
1.The Modoc. This would make a great shortcut between Oregon, Ogden and the midwest and east.
2.The Tenessee Pass/Royal Gorge route.
3.The SP line from Niles to Tracy CA.I rode a fantrip on this line in 1975 and it was a shame to see it go[:(].
Mudchicken, that’s not the CL&N, the CL&N is currently the I&O at Norwood and McCullough Yard. That’s the Miami Valley that’s now a biketrail, PRR mainline via Clare Yard, Morrow, Xenia, London, etc.
It’s the Erie west of Marion that I miss, I salute it every time I cross it. Also shed a tear of the Cloverleaf from Toledo to St. Louis and the NKP-LE&W which mostly lies dormant west of Coldwater, Ohio, to Portland, Indiana.
Well, I dont have aline inparticular, and i was only around to see the last few go, but the steel mills in pittsburgh were served by tons of railroads. Most importantly B&O. On the side of The J&L steel mills former location, i see more railroad history than all the Museums i have ever been to. the most depressing parts are the old 1952 B&O bridge now turned into a highway overpass (you can see the old B&0 Signature on the pier!), and the Hotmetal bridges. but that brings me to a question… (You pittsburgers may know)Even though im only 13, I remember seeing trains make a sharp bend on the southside possibly going over to the old J&L mill location. Now, this may have been is mixed and bent memory, but i was wondering if anyone knows of maps from the 50’s until the early 90’s.
Long live the B&O! [:(] [:D]
theres an old mainline that went through colorado springs, now abandoned, and some tracks are taken out where some stores are, and a bridge near my house is almost completely fallen. There is also and old Boxcar up the line from the bridge, along with an old Train Crane(looked i rhymed), and a nice pullman Burlington car, I’ll get pictures up as soon as i get back donw there.
"Mt. Olive! Someone knows of my home town. I would have never guessed. "
the mennel’s would have.
No weeds or things: on the old L&N South Louisville Shops, it’s now
the University of Louisville Papa John’s Cardinal Football Stadium[:(][V][xx(]
I might be young, but I have done my homework. Growing up in Edwardsville was quite a treat. Wish I was older so I could have seen the Wabash fly through town. One of my favorite sites is leclairerail.com
The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway. OK so it’s still operational, but the tracks are choked with so many weeds, and the rails are so rusty, you’d think the line has been shut down for years. In it’s heyday the E&N was THE mainline of Vancouver Island. Interchanging with countless smaller railways up and down the island. Not much is left, the E&N itself has become another short line, just goes to show how much the industry on the Island has changed and how much the E&N’s owners have wanted to kill the E&N.
The E&N at Langford
The E&N at Parksville.
The E&N at Cameron Lake
The E&N at Courtenay
Some of my favorite main lines never made it from paper to the real world and in-service. For instance:
(1) Greeley to Laramie on the Denver Laramie & Northwestern RR Built The Tunnel, never laid the track…
(2) The Cincinnati Subway
(3) The The Denver Rollinsville & Western RR…
(4) Rock Island - Liberal, KS to Trinidad, CO and into the San Luis Valley and points west.
(5) CB&Q - St. Francis, KS to Colorado Springs, CO
(6) UP/KP/AV …La Junta, CO to Raton Pass (Wllow Strings, NM)
(7) ATSF… Farley, NM to Colmor, NM (alias the Colmor Cut-off)
(8) Santa Fe Rocky Mountain and Eastern (Swastika Route) / St. Louis Rocky Mountain & Eastern east of Mt. Dora, NM
(9) Santa Fe Railway west of Salida, CO
(10) Garden City, Gulf & Northern north of Russell Springs, KS
(11) Cincinnati & Western RR…Western Hills, OH to Chicago, ng
(12) Kansas Central RR westward extension
[;)][;)][;)]
The line running west from Phoenix, Arizona to rejoin the SP line was a favorite train watching spot for me. I saw my first Genesis passenger locomotive out there two weeks before passenger rail service stopped. On a daily basis, I’d see a little way freight out west of town making agricultural stops and doing switching.
Obviously, that particular line didn’t make economic sense, so it was abandoned. It did make for some interesting train watching, tho…
Erik
2…one from my first life in railroading, and one from my second period of interest in trains…
Early…when I lived back east…DL&W mainline Buffalo to Binghamton, primarily the portion over Dansville Hill.
Later…DRGW Tenessee Pass
DRGW Tenn Pass
Guess my favorite abandoned mainline is the old SAL between Jacksonville and Savannah. Rode it behind a steam engine (can’t remember which one - 2716?) about 1980 or 1981. The last time I was there, several years ago, a towering highway bridge over the ROW somewhere near Townsend, GA was still there, carrying the highway over . . . . nothing.
It was interesting to note in the February TRAINS map that this line was projected for an increase in traffic after the merger. It is more direct than Savannah - Jesup - Folkston - Jacksonville, but this line could be abandoned without cutting access to Rice Yard in Waycross. This line should have had fewer grade-crossing accidents than the one kept - it went through swamps and a very few tiny towns, country almost as desolate as the dark side of the moon, but with mud and trees.
My favorite two sections aren’t now covered with weeds and wildflowers - in many cases they’re covered with forests, mobile homes - or worse. They are on the routes of ACL’s former passenger trains of the 50’s and early 60’s from Augusta, Ga to Wilmington, NC and exist from Jackson, SC to Cope (site of present SCEand G plant) and from Florence SC (big CSX hub) to near Wilmington. Apparently the merger of SAL and ACL made managers think this route was no longer worthy. I can’t see why, when all the traffic now has to go WAY out of its way on other routes. Isn’t the shortest distance between two points a straight line? The older I get the more I realize I don’t understand.
For me it’s the DL&W cut-off.
I am going to have to agree with espeefoamer that the tennesse pass royal gorge route rates right up there. I will throw two other honorable mentions, namely the Old Colony from Dennis to P-Town MA and the Air Line from Middletown to Willimantic CT. These two lines run through some of the best east coast scenery. The scenery, unfortunately, was unable to pay the bills.