Some railways get no respect

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

You know, like the ugly kid in school who always got picked on and beat up by the bullies.

Obviously the Penn Central would fit this category but there are others.

Among them: D.C.'s metro rail.

Yesterday at Alexandria train station there were, as usual, railfans lined up with cameras, taking pictures of NS, CSX, and even VRE and Amtrak trains that blew thru at regular intervals.

Just a couple of yards away were equally numerous DC metro trains buzzing back and forth. Well dear reader, do you know that these railfans didn’t so much as look up when one came through!

There’s not even a fan club for these metro trains. Now New Yorkers are a different story. They love their subways and railfans drool over them and even make elaborate models.

But not DC metro!

Even worse are the little industrial railways that operate in sewers. You probably don’t even realize that dozens of miles of narrow gauge track right now are being utilized under the city of chicago to build a conduit for runoff that is 100 miles or so long and won’t be completed for 8 more years!

These forlorne and forgotten railways are like the TV character, what’s his name, who gets no respect. Oh yeah, Rodney Dangerfield or something like that.

2

I’d love to hear more about Chicago’s subterranian train’s. I saw a webpage for the old coal and delivery trains and tunnels that once ran under the city but didnt know there still were dinky’s running under the streets. Tell me more.

3

vsmith,

Check it out for yourself. Notice that the rails have an uncanny resemblance to 3-rail Lionel track:

http://enr.construction.com/news/environment/archives/030818a.asp

4

Thanks, I added that webpage to my favorites, always good to find a new construction or engineering site.

5

The tunnels under the Loop are still in place but the railroad (2-foot gauge) that ran in them was abandoned in 1959. These are the tunnels that also ran under the Chicago River that were breached by a pile driver near Kinzie Street, resulting in the flood in 1994. Some of the tunnels are currently being used as conduits for utility lines but no trains run in them except maybe as temporary operations as part of construction of the utility lines.

Terminal roads also rarely get any respect. IHB and BRC are still interesting operations even though BRC motive power has been updated and IHB’s fleet is in the middle of an upgrade.