What is the most secluded Railroad? A railroad that is very hard to see or photograph. A railroad that is so embedded into the wilderness that to see it, one must go searching. It could be active or abandoned. Pictures would be great!
There is a hotel in Industry,CA.that has an incline railway between the hotel and the golf course.There is a street behind the golf course where you can get a distant view of the railroad.
Thats a tricky question to me, the only railroad like that, would be the old Wisconsin & Southern tracks by my dads work terminal. On the way there, you drive over an old railroad crossing where the crossing is asphalted over. You can just barely see the tracks in the summer time because of the weeds and grass but the signs are still there.
p.s. Wisconsin & Southern is still an operational railroad. Woo Hoo!
there used to be a mine-railroad on the Norwegian-Soviet island of Spitzbergen. I once saw a pic of a steam engine. Perhaps, in the Russian mines, there are still operational railroads.
in the former GDR, there was a railroad, the “Windbergbahn”, that hauled uranium for the USSR. The entire area was no-go for foreigners, perhaps even for GDR-subjects. You better didn’t trespass there.
generally, most steelworks have railroads, but they don’t admit visitors.
Brandon, What town does your dad work in? Most of the WSOR trackage is still operatonal, they haven’t abondoned anything that I know, but I could be wong. there’s only a few places too where they don’t operate that often that the track could get that over grown. I’m curious.
Noah
I would have to say the White Pass and Yukon, Narrow gauge and does not connect to anything
Add to that premise of railroad “Islands”:
(1) Navajo RR (Black Mesa & Lake Powell) in NE Arizona (mine to Powerplant)
(2)Deseret Western (Bonanza UT to near Rangely, CO) (mine to powerplant)
(3) Hawaii’s surviving NG railroad/ tourist hauler
(4) Nevada Northern Ely,NV ()
(5) Colorado Leadville & Southern Climax-Leadville()
(6) California & Western RR (Willits-Ft. Bragg, CA) ()
(7abc) Durango & Silverton/Cumbres&Toltec()/Georgetown Loop NG
(8) SSLV=Southern San Luis Valley (somebody forgot to abandon)
(9) SP’s former Mina Branch (USG-Hawthorne, NV)(*)
(10) DRGW Marysville (UT) BR (Looking to re-emerge post Thistle)
(11) Columbiana County Port Authority (old Youngstown Southern)
(12) Southwest Portland Cement (Victorville, CA) & Cushenberry Br.
(13) What’s left of the old ATSF SanJac (Perris, CA)
(14) Trona RR
(15) Apache RR (Alcos and all)
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(*) Connected to the rest of the world by the thinnest of hopes
What about the Chicago Tunnel Company?
In the late 1950’s the Atomic Energy Commission ( now DOE) built an unusual 4 rail track between several experiment locations and a pair of shielded machine shops where radioactive materials could be safely worked on. This was in connection with a proposed nuclear powered airplane. (Glad that didn’t fly.) The railroad is not connected with any other railroad but is still in place at the Idaho Nuclear Energy site. That facility is about the size of the state of Rhode Island and the railroad is many miles from the nearest acessable highways. It is in restricted airspace so you can’t even fly over it. The facility was used to do the post-mortum on the Three Mile Island reactors.
dd
What about hardest mainline to parallel? Try doing any train watching on UP’s “Washy” line between Wallula and Cheney WA. There aren’t even any mountain biking or hiking trails nearby.
The Lahaina Kaanapali & Pacific!
Trying to make a comeback?! Amazing! (How much business could there be…)
Orange Empire Museum ran a charter train on this, Perris-Highgrove, a couple of years ago. Actually more carload freight customers than I would have imagined…a feed mill, some covered hoppers (plastics/resins?), a quarry on a spur, and several boxcars on other sidings. Not sure if there is much left past Perris though.
As for abandoned lines, in the eastern Sierra region of California there was the Bodie & Benton Narrow Gauge. It ran from (now ghost town) Bodie to Mono Mills near Mono Lake. Never made it to Benton (on the Carson & Colorado, later SP Narrow Gauge).
How about the Copper Canyon RR in Mexico?
I’ll cast my vote for the Minnesota ore haulers: Reserve Mining Company and Erie Mining Company. Honorable mention would go to Delray Connecting in Michigan, most of its trackage is on an island in the Detroit River with no public access which is occupied by a a steel mill.
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QUOTE: Originally posted by MP57313
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Originally posted by mudchicken
Trying to make a comeback?! Amazing! (How much business could there be…)
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FD-34075 on the STB Website (“Six County Rail Initiative”)