I forgot to mention Tyrone, PA where the PRR mainline (now NS) ran on the south side of the Little Juniata River. The Bald Eagle branch came down from the North, ran up Washington Avenue, crossed a deck girder bridge that spanned a road, split into a wye whose two legs crossed deck girder bridges over another road and the Little Juniata, and joined the mainline at the passenger station. A wonderfully modelable location.
With some of the earliest steam railroads built this was common because loading and unloading freight and passengers in the street was considered an advantage. For example, two very early steam roads in Indiana, the NKP’s predecessor which built the NKP’s Indianapolis-Michigan City, Indiana line and the Monon’s predecessor are good examples. There were several locations in Indiana where these very early Indiana railroads ran in the city streets. I recall seeing N&W trains running down the middle of downtown in the street by the courthouse in Kokomo, Indiana and could kick myself now for not taking pictures and video footage. Later railroads inherited street running and it often was too expensive or impossible to reroute the trackage.
At Delphos, Ohio, the NKP came down from Toledo and entered the north side of town. The AC&Y came in from Akron and connected with the NKP. Both roads proceeded 13 blocks south on North Washington Street to the PRR mainline where the AC&Y ended and the NKP crossed the PRR, curved West, and proceeded to Indiana.
I also remember riding the northbound C&EI Hummingbird passenger train some time in the mid 1960’s and riding up the street while I ate breakfast in the dining car. I’m pretty sure that was in Terre Haute, IN.
Most cases of street running occured when upper management failed to acquire a private right of way into downtown stations or industries. I’m sure the operating departments all wanted a private right of way, where cars had to stop and let the train go thru at grade crossings. Sometimes the needed private right of way was all built up with expensive high rise buildings (or even expensive low rise buildings) and sometimes the price the owners demanded for the land was too high. Interesting side issue, some railroads enjoyed imminent domain, the privilege of taking privately own land against the land owners will. Others did not have this privilege. Did the street running railroads lack the imminent domain privilege?
Also very common in port cities, where the waterfront often either predated the railroad or grew up around it. You can still find rails around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, if you know where to look.
In cities like Philadelphia the railroads for the most part created the infrastructure for the city to grow and expand arround it. The oldest section of railroad in Philly is the line running under the art museum to Delaware Ave just north of Market St. Tracks are now pulled up and abandoned for the most part. The railroad provided a right of way for the roads to be built arround it with the tracks in the middle for the most part. With the railroad the industries could locate here and housing for factory workers were nearby. We are talking 1850’s. At the same time horse drawn street cars were located on many streets to provide transportation for people.
The Reading Berks Street Line (North Pennsylvania Railroad, not the PRR) aka American Street line was built before any of it was paved. It was a 4 track line in many places with industrial sidings coming off the outer tracks. Factories were built along side this transportation infrastructure. Eventually the right of way was paved to accomodate first teams of horses with wagons, than motor trucks. Which came first, chicken or the egg, probably a little of both. Philly was becoming a major manufacturing center. Everything moved by railroad in those days.
In Philadelphia the street car lines were not frieght haulers. Many of these same lines are used today by buses and still some street cars.
No appeal for me. I wanted to model the transition era with steam and first generation diesels, not an interurban. There isn’t much I remember about the North Shore because I only rode it from Chicago to Milwaukee and back again during the holidays at the end of 1959. I just liked that feature of street running and since there are many examples of street running for all sorts of railroads there was no need to limit my choices.
Same with Portland, ME where Portland Terminal RR ran down the middle of Commercial St. They switched a number of industries and interchanged with Grand Trunk RR which had a station and other facilities on the east end. The street running continued into the 1980s.
I took this photo a couple of years ago while we were eating at a restaurant in LaGrange, KY. CSX operates trains in the middle of Main Street. The locomotive is the trailing unit of a train running from Louisville to Cincinnati.
Garry,I have railfan/visited my wife’s sister in LaGrange, KY and I was wondering if that restaurant was the one that had/has the CSX burger? That was a delicious burger.
Larry … I believe it is the only restaurant on Main Street in LaGrange, KY… The food is good and the prices are reasonable. I did not have the burger. … It is only about a mile from the I-71 exit. … Watch out for railfans who eat there ! … LOL
G'day,
Street running was not that common here in Australia.
But, there were and still are locations where it occurred.
The Queensland Railways North Coast main line running along Denison Street in Rockhampton is probably the most famous.
Originally double track, this is today single track, and extends for almost 2 kms along Denison Street.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/48429/QR%201605%20Denison%20St%2028%20aug%201990.JPG
A siding also ran along Stanley Street to a wharf, but that was removed many years ago.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/48429/QR%20DH%2006%20Stanley%20St%20Rocky%2027%20Aug%201990.JPG
The main line curves into Denison Street from Rockhampton yard and station.
Rockhampton being the northern extent of electrification from Brisbane, locos shunt into the street.
At the northern end of Denison Street, the line curves to run beside North Street to cross the Fitzroy River.
Bells are not a general facet of Aussie motive power.
QR loco crews were given a hand bell which was rung outside the cab window during transit of the street.
But, this practice was stopped back in the early 1990s.
Train speed is a max of 25 kph while traversing the street.
Road traffic can travel at a max of 50 kph.
And it is common to see kids on pushbikes attempting to race the trains on week-ends.
Plus, the screech of tires as motorists attempt to beat the train to cross at an intersection.
It was proposed to relocate the main line away from the street when further electrification was mooted.
The luxury Sunlander and Queenslander trains traversed the street as does the QR Tilt Train today.
My most favourite “street” railway is a one lane covered bridge on the “highway” between Kumara and Greymouth on the West coast of NZ South Island. It uses part of the “mainline” for the West coast railway. The railway was built first and the road added later, presumably to save the cost of building a second bridge. What makes it very interesting to drive is the S bends for the road to enter the bridge at either end. This means you cannot see inside the covered bridge until the very last minute as you make the double turn to enter…
My favorite piece of (sort-of) street trackage is in Mulberry, Florida.
This location hates me. I have driven there to photograph this trackage and the nearby Phosphate Museum, but it has been raining or severely overcast both times.
One track crosses the road East to West, and the other track runs parallel to the road but crosses from one side to the other. This results in a crossing in the median.
It is a beautiful piece of trackwork, and I will get an image one day.
Here in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada we had street running until late in the 1990’s. It started as Oshawa Street railway hauling cargo from the harbour a few miles to business downtown. A few miles, but we are talking horse and buggy days.
This evolved into CN with a freight depot downtown, and then General Motors fabrication plant and some lumber yards on north getting service. This was via mainline interchange.
General Motors was big in Oshawa, and part of the track was paved as streets were expanded due to population growth.
GM paid the tax on the tracks in order to get the service. When the Fabriction plant was sold, the new owner refused to pay the taxes, CN tore out the tracks, the plant closed about 5 years later. (2004)
With the exception of a few rather seldom used industry sidings and some narrow gauge lines, street running pretty much ended shortly after the begin of the 20th century, where railroad lines were put on viaducts, with shops underneath. However, streetcars still run in the streets, although some of the lines either were put underground or moved to their own right of way.
I know - I have watched those webcams a number of times, wondering how many accidents may have happened in the last, say, 100 years. It must be a nightmare for the town folks!