I know that Chicago has always been considered the #1 railroad city, for obvious reasons. My city might rank around 983. What would you say is the top 10, as far as railroad cities in our country? My guess would put Kansas as #2. Beyond that, it gets a little hazy, perhaps St. Louis,Memphis, Los Angelos,Omaha, and Houston? What do you think?
Are there any cities that would have been in the top 10 list 100 years, that wouldn’t be today? Milwaukee, perhaps?
Top 10 in terms of … carloadings? Average daily train counts? Revenue generated? If it’s in terms of most train movements, are you counting all forms of passenger rail (light rail, heavy rail, commuter) or just commuter?
Good point! I guess I was thinking along the lines of overall rail activity. Isn’t that more-or-less how Chicago is given the #1 ranking, even though I’m sure NYC commuter activity is tremendous?
Murph…we need some parameters for the determination.
If it is pure economics, then it would be pretty easy to figure. If it is economic value per capita, then you start including communities such as North Platte and Galesburg. For pure entertainment value, it probably has to be a place such as Horseshoe Curve, or Rochelle, maybe even Fostoria. When of those three has the biggest economic impact? Probably Horseshoe Curve, based on $$$ spent by tourists, tho Rochelle no doubt is moving up the charts.
ed
Rochester Minnesota!! [B)]
Your guesses look pretty good, but I’d guess that Atlanta belongs on that list, their location puts them between half the east coast and the rest of the country
And, I’d also guess that Cincinnati belongs on the “Used to be” list.
Well…I wasn’t exactly filling out the entry form for The Guiness Book of Records for top 10 railroad cities in the U.S.[;)] Obviously, this is a non-scientific, very subjective kind of question. Chicago always gets top billing. It made wonder what other cities were up there?
Kansas City is #1 in tonnage, that should be important. St. Louis and Memphis are up there. Is there a lot of interchange going on in New Orleans ?
Pittsburgh certainly isn’t what it used to be.
I would think of Cheyenne being one of them, it is where UP keeps the steamers…
Bill, Wyoming[:D][:D][:D]
Five places that define what U.S. railroading is all about in 2006:
Chicago
Powder River Basin
Ports of Los Angeles- Long Beach
Houston
North Jersey
Five places that defined what U.S. railroading was all about in 1956:
Chicago
Pittsburgh
Detroit
North Jersey
Norfolk-Newport News
Five places that defined what U.S. railroading was all about in 1906:
Chicago
Pittsburgh
North Jersey
Scranton-Wilkes Barre
Buffalo
san jose caltrain, amtrak cali, normal amtrak, ACE, and a many UP freights well this is just my thoughts
Very well put. I assume Houston and North Jersey are both due to petro-chemicals? As far as those that slipped from importance in the above list, is that all to do with industrial decline in the northeast?
Murphy: Houston and North Jersey are outstanding for their combination of chemicals, heavy industry, and major ports.
Scranton-Wilkes Barre – capital of anthracite traffic, which defined a great deal of railroading 100 years ago but has virtually ceased to exist
Norfolk-Newport News – king of bituminous coal once upon a time, but the tonnages are now a token of what they once were. The crown has moved to the Cowboy State.
Pittsburgh – steel capital no more!
Detroit – still an auto center but the industry has dispersed heavily into the southeast and decentralized its supply chain
I like your lists, Mr. Hadid, with the possible exception of “North Jersey”. No denying that it does quite a bit for the railroads, but I think this area should be expanded (both now and in the past) to include New York and Philadelphia. Passenger/commuter railroading is still important to the industry in real terms. Philadelphia was also a significant port for coal and other shipping in past years.
Good points. To be clear, I am focusing on a freight point of view, not passenger except as it coexists with freight, and when I used “North Jersey” I was definitely including the Port of New York and New Jersey. Freight traffic on the Manhattan side of the river is very little now, but that hasn’t changed the importance of this rail center. It’s probably a good thing from a freight point of view that Grand Central Terminal and Metro-North is an almost completely isolated operation. Imagine if all that traffic entered from the Jersey side of the river …
I wouldn’t include the Port of Philadelphia today, and “back in the day” Philadelphia, while it was an important seaport, wasn’t a standout like the Port of New York. And if one included Philadelphia, then why not Baltimore and the coal docks at Curtis Bay, Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point, etc.? (But I think we can definitely rule out Boston.)
Speaking of New York, the original film “Naked City” is something worth owning and watching again and again, just for the wonderful footage of the city.
S. Hadid
As long as you’re talking freight only, your lists are fine. But those four to six passenger stations and the 13 or so Metra routes, not to mention Amtrak, are part of what makes Chicago the great railroad spot that it is, in my opinion.
And this is a freight guy talking!
and Altoona, Wisconsin comes up in last place!
LAX has to be right up there
I think Indy has to be on the list somewhere, since we’re talking freight…
Mr. Hadid:
Your comments please on the amount of freight currently moving into the New York City market. By “market” I am referring to the city, or immediate suburbs. I am not familiar with the NYC economy, nor the rail scene, but I would guess it is primarily a consuming market, with very little manufacturing…could be wrong tho. How much freight originates/terminates in the city or immediate suburbs? Is most of it intermodal? What about “boxcar” freight (including tank cars, covered hoppers, etc). I cannot imagine local crews street running in NYC with a old switcher and a couple of box cars and a few cars of scrap metal, like Chicago, but anything is possible.
ed