I just returned from a trip to Vancouver where I always enjoy seeing the old telegraph poles and insulators. Well, surprise, surprise!! Many of them have been taken down. I found a spot where they had all the insulators laying in a heap so I stopped and had a look. Pay dirt!! I found a couple labelled CPRail Co. as well as a few different colored glass and ceramic stamped CPR. I’m happy to have them but I will sure miss seeing them on those poles as I drive by. Also, more and more CN Locamotives are taking the leads on the BCR line. Soon they’ll all be painted the CN colors.
Want to see lots of historical Canadian steam? go to steamtown U.S.A. guess who didn’t retain a lot of historical artifacts as they were heading south???
How true, tatans, and if memory serves, they dignify their good fortune, and our short sightedness, by keeping them looking exactly like they got 'em, and not painted up into other schemes. Good show on steamtown.
I read somewhere that Canadian Pacific used a particular alloy of steel with nickel, that stands up to the elements a lot better than the steel usually used in steam locomotive construction.
Then again, most railways saw surplus steam in terms of scrap metal to be sold, and didn’t preserve a lot of them.
But the CPR did purchase one of their old locos from Steamtown and restore it. They even tried to sneak it cross country to the shops in BC, but people found out and were waiting trackside to see it pass.
Thats always been something Ive hated about liking trains. It changes so fast! You barely have time anymore to realise the significance of something before its gone. And railroads dont save much motive power anymore, its all scrapped. Granted, it gives them money, but I beleive that the National Historical societies should really push for things like locomotives built in the 50s,60s, and 70s to be preserved. You wont ever see locomotives like the F45 again, and definately the old GP9s etc. And besides locomotives, I really understand what your saying about the “little things” along the ROW or in the yard. Roundhouses that stayed up for so long, were demolished because its “non repairable” or “not feasable”. Well, sure it will cost money, but preserving history is more important to the country than people realise. And its sad so many people sieze to care anymore…
Railroads are a business. Preserving their past does nothing for their bottom line. Preservation needs to be done by those who have an interest in doing so, such as Steamtown and other museums.
A few years back, when living in northern Ohio, I drove along a stretch of Conrail tracks every day, to and from work. It really kind of bummed me out having a ring side seat for the dismantling of all those old telegraph poles. What really bummed me out was a few months back when home for a family function, I discovered that the old B&O passenger station had been torn down.
Me and the wife was up at Villa Grove, IL. a couple weeks ago and the round house is still there, along with a couple other building. All could be saved with the money labor, but I don’t foresee it happening… It’s a far cry from what was there back 40 years ago, when the coaling tower was still there.
There’s part a stone arch bridge built in the 1870’s [T.H.V.&St.L RR] here in Clark County, IL that’s still in good shape. And the NJC bridges over Big Creek; Snyder Creek, and the Vine street viaduct are all that’s left from the old Cairo line. When it closed in the early 80’s, contractors came in and stripped every thing of any value, even the road bed. Not much other old stuff left here from earlier times; wish I’d been smart enough to have at least taken photos, when I was kid.
I live just 15 minutes south of Monon, Indiana and in the last year there has been a small museum & restuarant that opened just a mile north of town appropriately named the “Whistle Stop”. The have a few old cars from the old Monon Line and a vintage steam Bucyrus Erie rail wrecker crane on dispay outside. Inside the cafe, they have operating G-scale trains on 4 tracks that are suspended from the ceiling that circle around. Neat place to visit and have lunch.
When the Silverliners and the Conrail GP30 showed up at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania I knew I’d started getting old.
When the things you remember as a kid are in museums, it hits you!
Last weekend I took the boys down to Fayetteville to the Airborne/Special Operations museum, and some of the operations I’d been involved in (as Army-support Air Force combat weather) were displayed with dummies in full battle-rattle. Wow. I feel old. Of course, there was even an Iraq display, and that one’s not even over yet!
As a Signalman (over 30 years) for NS, I love seeing the pole line go as it is EXTREMELY hard work to construct and maintain them. In fact, I am now working on a project to eliminate even more pole line. Nostalgia is nice but it doesn’t pay the bills or ease the work. [:D]
I can see private groups saving bridges and stations, but I thought those old, broken down poles with the wires hanging off them were an eye sore. Wonder what the RR’s will do if our satellites all go down.