There’s always talk on these forums about how this or that inactive rail line should be put back in service. What was the last major rail line where this actually happened?
Well, I can think of several but it all depends on how we define “recent”. In the last ten years? I can’t think of any but since the Second World War after the decline of the railways was well underway? I can think of a few.
There was the Susquehanna line in northwest New Jersey, physically abandoned but not legally abandoned. Still, it had been out of service for some time and many were surprised when it was reopened in the 1980s. Then there was the former New Haven’s Housatonic line. Again, physically but perhaps not legally abandoned. It had five and six inch diameter trees growing between the rails. It was a sad sight! I felt bad every time I crossed over the line.
Today the rail heads are shiny and a movement to restore passenger service appears to be gaining traction.
Then there was the KCS’s former SP Rosenburg, TX line. In that case I believe they had to relay some track.
Someone on a different thread mentioned a WSOR line in Wisconsin.
Plans are moving along in North Carolina and Virginia on restoring a former mainline to Florida that was abandoned. That, too, will require relaying some track.
Then there is the interesting facet of tourist lines. The WW&F Railway museum has relaid a little over three miles 2-foot gauge track on a long abandoned right or way.
As reported twice in TRAINS now, the Friends of the EBT are proposing to reopen as much as 30 miles of 3-foot gauge track that hasn’t seen service since 1956. But that plan is still in the works and could so very easily unravel.
However, there seems to be more and more interest in railways even at the political level so I’d expect to see more developments in the future. As to which lines could be revi
There is this one that was reactivated in Scotland.
Most interesting. Also, in the U.K. there was some talk about reviving the Cambridge-Oxford line, another one of Beeching’s victims. I have no idea where that project stands today.
The Borders Railway is reopened from Edinburgh to Tweedbank. Though no new track has been laid beyond, survey s have been made to build the line to Carlisle. Difficulty is taking the line thru Hawick, then Whitrope Tunnel. Privately, The Waverley Route Heritage Association are laying track from Whitrope Summit towards Riccarton Junction.
The Varsity Line. The Government are committed to open 20 miles of the line from Oxford to Cambridge. Private investors are putting money in for the building of the remaing mileage.
David
Stampede Pass.
A couple of these sorts of line are either pending or have been described in posts here as being in progress – any of these would reset the clock on ‘last one’ when completed. Most of the Tennessee Pass options would in fact qualify.
I continue to wait for the Lackawanna Cutoff to be built, either to near Stroudsburg as NJT or, with Pennsylvania or Amtrak support, all the way to Scranton (ding, ding, Mr. Biden!) Even as single track with high-speed sidings this was already an opportunity decades ago; now that alternatives to initial full electrification for high speed exist, it is becoming further compelling…
Would you be willing to include the “re-double tracking” of the former B&O main across Indiana and Ohio to Chicago? 1990s I believe.
Washington state rebuilt a line south of Tacoma WA for Amtrak a couple of years ago, and I believe the first train to use it suffered a deadly derailment. I can’t recall if that line was completely closed or just freight only before.
It had been a active 30 MPH freight only line.
Dale! Where the heck have you been hiding lately???
How about the old “Desert Line” running east from San Diego? Did they ever get that ironed out, or are the actors still proccupied trying to pick each other’s pockets?
Seems as though I once heard that at least a portion in Mexico is now being operated by a short line.
Hey Brian! Been hiding here, there and everywhere LOL
Good to see you again!
The line is already in freight operation between East Stroudsburg and Scranton. I rode the line from Scranton to the Delaware Water Gap in 2010 on a NRHS excursion.
It is not passenger standard, and I expect someone will have to subsidize the train service, at least at first.
i don’t see either as showstopping, though: even a slow connection from Scranton to Stroudsburg with fast service east to Allied/Lautenberg and NYP is valuable.
It was used for a while but has been out of service for years.
Well, it appears that Murphy Siding really won the lottery with this thread. Instances where former mainlines were restored, and ultimately succeeded,… appear to be the exception, not the norm.
Not much info since 2020 but this is interesting
https://www.sdmts.com/sites/default/files/2020-7-28_sdae_final_pkg.pdf (Caution opens PDF)
Highlights:
Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the Desert Line contract. As you know, a group with which I am associated opened the rail line in 2006 and we were able to export from Mexico ri-bar, as well as massive exportation of sand to the Campo facility. Unfortunately, the effort was taken over by a cabal from Las Vegas which not only destroyed the corporate organization but also did similar damage on the Mexican portion of the rail line.
One of the major problems with the operation of the line is the interference by government agencies. The 20-year mess by the PAN administration on the Mexican portion of the line is due to the corruption of Mexican officials to exact tribute to support a bloated , parasitic and redundant organization that was established to manage the assignment of the line from the central government. The recent misaccounting of the $20 million grant to upgrade the line i
H’mmmm…*“obdurately disingenuous”…*I like that.
You know, I have always had somewhat of a passing interest in the so-called “Desert Line”. It seems a bit like a very sick cat with nine lives. Never really able to succeed but never quite able to die, either.
Back in the late 1960s my family and I made numerous road trips from Tucson to San Diego and later from Phoenix to S.D. over what was at that time old U.S. 80. On several occasions I’d see a train with a long lash-up of eight or more “B” units struggling to drag a mere 40 cars or so over the line. It was my guess that big units with six axles were verboten on the line but I didn’t know that for sure.
It was sometime in the mid 1970s that the line was hit with the remnants of a dying hurricane and it washed away several miles of road. Parent SP wanted out.
Later it was repaired and sold to Kyle but it was cut again either by another flood or a fire, I can’t remember anymore.
Then, after lying dormant for a time, it was repaired and operated again until another interruption occurred. It actually did operate for a short time in the earlier 2000s but now I think the line has been out of service for at least 15 years.
I can see some similarities between this line and the former NWP line to Eureka, CA. But there are significant differences, as well.
In order to be a truly viable and prosperous route, it would need massive upgrading to handle double-stack containers from the ports of San Diego and northwest Mexico. Who in the world could provide the money for that?
One thing I have always wondered about, I think the SP made a mistake in building east from El Centro through Mexicali and Algodones. If they’d taken the Holton branch straight east to Winterhaven, they would have avoided dipping back into Mexico a second time.