Forgotten spurs

[FJ and G]

For those who've received Aug04 Trains, I think you'll agree that the Horseshoe Curve article is a homerun.

Look at the map and you'll notice 2 spurs running off the end of horseshoe; not both abandoned. Much has been written about class 1 railroads and shortlines, but much forgotten are class 1 spurs, which garner almost no attention like those 2 and others like the one on the D&RGW to Pagosa Springs.

When you read a book about the Pennsy (and other railroads), much will be devoted to the mainline but not very much on the lesser lines. Shortlines attract a lot more attention because they are named railroads.

In the future, it would be nice if more books and articles would delve into these forgotten spurs.

Dave Vergun

[Modelcar]

....A bit about the two branches leading off the ends of the Curve....Both went to coal mines back up each valley. You can see where another track was located that led to I believe it was a tipple of sort to deposit coal from the mine and then possibly into a hopper underneith it to be moved away...Not sure exactly how that line was used...I read about it in the past being there but can't remember all the details. One can see where it was...Look above the Depot on the far side of the Curve to locate it. Of course all those branches have been abandoned many years ago...perhaps in the 30's and 40's. I have looked to find the RoW on the branch that was located on the north side of the curve and up that valley and just in the last few years traveling on the paved road that enters the Curve area from the west one can see remnants of it...It is well hidden with foliage and it requires searching.

[MP57313]

FJ and G,
I agree with your main point: not much is published about spurs or branches, either on Pennsy or anywhere else.
I trace abandoned RRs (mains, yards, spurs, etc.) as a hobby, and have found some info by doing Google searches. You can sometimes find write-ups from local historical societies, but they don't always have that many railroad details, such as rosters of equipment.

MP

[fuzzybroken]

Having been born in 1977, sometimes I feel like I missed out on a lot of the "good ol' days" of railroading. Nonetheless, when I find railroad remnants of forgotten spurs (and a few main lines too), I try to check things out, take pictures, and try to figure out what once was. The sections of rail in a street, those funny little hills or dips where there was once a grade crossing, the tree lines that intersect roads at a funny angle, all tell of a railroad past.

In nearby South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I recently found an interesting little spur off of Union Pacific's Kenosha Sub (formerly C&NW Old Line) that serves some sort of plastics manufacturer, but once went much farther east. Last time I stopped in the area, I got some pictures, one day intending to put together a web page on the subject, but that day has not yet come.

During the day today, I worked at a not-yet-open Target store in West Milwaukee, WI, along Miller Park Way (formerly 43rd Street). This street and area have a tremendous railroad history, as this was once a bustling industrial corridor served by a joint Milwaukee Road-Chicago & North Western line (Canadian Pacific and Union Pacific today, respectively). There are several places along MPW/43rd Street where there used to be and still are grade crossings leading to massive industrial factories that today exist only as weed-grown brownfields and future retail developments (e.g. said Target). The line still exists, but only serves maybe 3-4 industries, as the grain facilities on the other side of MPW are slowly closing down. I guess it's hard to truck your grain in to the middle of a city when the fields are 10 miles away or more...

[rixflix]

Fuzzybroken, that was some pretty good writing from someone born in 1977. Paragraphs and capital letters were nicely done. Looking forward to your future posts.

Rixflix, aka The Grammar Grocer.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rixflix

Fuzzybroken, that was some pretty good writing from someone born in 1977. Paragraphs and capital letters were nicely done. Looking forward to your future posts.

Rixflix, aka The Grammar Grocer.

I bet he spells colour without a U though?

The grammar purist [:)]

[dknelson]

Mark H/Fuzzybroken:
At the risk of boring other readers I can tell you a little about that spur in South Milwaukee -- near Davis Ave.. It is known to the railroaders as "Badger Siding" because originally the spur continued east across hyw 32/N. Chicago Ave to serve Badger Malleable, a factory that made things out of pig iron. Badger Malleable was built in the 1890s and operated to the mid 1960s. It was purchased by Bucyrus Erie in the late 1960s and they operated it for maybe another 5 years as a small foundary but rail service had ended by the mid 1960s -- there was a switch east of N Chicago and the track served both buildings of the foundary. There are apartment houses now where the factory was - it ran parallel to Badger Avenue.
By the 1960s it was dirty and smelly. The headquarters building was small and dark and located right on N Chicago Avenue near a small creek bed that might still be there.

Right at North Chicago was an auto dealer, Tracy Rambler, that in its earlier days may have received autos by rail because there was a loading dock trackside, although I doubt it because Ramblers were made in Kenosha and Milwaukee, too close to make rail service economical. It is now a heating cooling dealer maybe called Strambowski?
At that same corner from around 1910 to around 1950 was a coal dealer that received cars by rail. I have never discovered if it was also an ice house -- lots of coal dealers dealt in ice during the summer months to make money.
Continuing west up the hill there was a tannery, I think called Rapco, that definitely received raw hides by rail until around 1970. I remember seeing a boxcar built in 1919 that served that tannery maybe around 1968 or so. Part of the building is still there but the part nearest the track is torn down.
Then there is the plastics plant you mention that gets pellets in center flow hoppers to make plastic bags. Leutzow I think is the name -- back in the 1930s this was a dry cleaning business of the same name. In the 1960s the center flow hoppers were labled Rexall or El Rexene, and came from the chemical coast in Texas.
At that same spot a local lumber yard, Morisee Lumber, got box cars and flat cars of wood until the 1970s -- their store was further north on N. Chicago Avenue, across from the George Webb restaurant. I think they had a small loading dock next to the track for a fork lift truck to use. My memory on that is a little soft.
Now Midwest Milling in Cudahy gets flat cars of lumber, so it functions as a sort of team track now as it did years ago, although Midwest's cars are left further west near the curve. Back in the 1960s Midwest Milling had its own spur in Cudahy that came through the Ladish plant. I bet Marty at Midwest Milling could tell you when they expect their next load so you could be there to photograph the switcher -- it is served by what the UP calls the Cudahy Job that also serves the Bucyrus plant in South Milwaukee.
One time the crew from Midwest Milling made a mistake and unloaded one side of a flatcar first - and the car tipped over, just like the drawing on the bulkhead warns about. of course that drawing is covered by lumber when the car is loaded .....
Going west of Leutzow -- so towards the main line -- was another tannery, called I think Midwest (unless I have gotten Midwest and Rapco confused which is possible). In earlier days there was a ceramic tile plant and a soap plant near this location that had rail service -- around 1910 to 1920. I remember that second tannery getting hides by box car but they had no loading dock and loaded them on flat beds pulled by a tractor into the plant. When both tanneries were operating that was one of the smelliest spots in all of South Milwaukee. To round out that spur, right where it curves towards the main line was a Deep Rock oil facility that received cars by rail into the 1960s-- look closely and you can still see the concrete supports for the oil tanks -- and there was no berm around them in case of leaks back in those days. The oil office and loading pipes for trucks were across the tracks. The tanks were there into the 1970s but I think rail service ended in the 1960s.
So count it up: over the years two tanneries, two lumber yards, a factory, an oil facility, a plastics plant all served by the same short section of rail. Not to mention the tile plant and soap factory that were also located there in years prior. I have thought about writing up an article about this short spur for a model railroad magazine from time to time but never got the ambition -- plus I have too few good photos of the old days.
Now imagine -- speaking of the old days -- being a kid on a bicycle watching the crew switch that siding with an EMD SW or Fairbanks Morse switcher while the C&NW's "400" went by at track speed pulled by two E units! The crew would talk to you and explain what they were doing, also when they expected the next freight train to go by. The kid on the bike was me in the mid 1960s. AND back then there were at least three other major spurs in South Milwaukee each of which also served more than one customer, so a switcher was working the city at one spot or another almost all day, every day! THAT is why we call those the good old days.
Dave Nelson

[fuzzybroken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 45144

I bet he spells colour without a U though?

The grammar purist

Color doesn't have a U!!! I'm American... from Milwaukee... brew city...
Neither does harbor... but I'll understand if you spell it that way!

Again, Dave, thanks for the info on the South Milwaukee line. It looked like the track went right next to those apartments...

[Anonymous]

There's a pretty neat spur that runs right down the middle of Vancouver.

It's called the Arbutus Corridor.

CP rail still owns it, and it isn't officially abandoned, yet.
They haven't run any trains on it for a good number of years now.

It's really neat to see, as it really runs right down the middle of Vancouver through residential neighbourhoods and everything, you can clearly see that the right-of-way was there long before anything else...

I really plan on getting down there and doing a little exploring before all the track is torn up, it's too bad there is no need for it now as the two industries it used to serve now both ship by truck.

[Anonymous]

Here are some pictures I found of the corridor.

Some local residents are trying to get a rapid transit system installed in the corridor, instead of another location.....

Neat pictures, looks like the rails have just been forgotten about.

http://www.savecambie.org/avc.htm

[jabrown1971]

Forgotten Spurs-how the old Wabash branch through Edwardsville, Il. Some have even said before the Waba***ook over, it belonged to the L & M. My only memories are of N & W units switching uptown and at that only as far as Farm Service on St. Louis Street. Only map I have ever seen it on is the local phone book, however it was still listed in a 1980's NW timetable and with a posted speed limit and axle restriction, at that point the tracks had been gone for about 8 years.

[trainfan1221]

I also had wished they had covered the two lines off the curve. In older pictures you always see something up there. I believe that the one is accesible, probably for dirt bikes, only because I think I read about pictures being taken from there.

[MP57313]

QUOTE: Originally posted by macguy


Some local residents are trying to get a rapid transit system installed in the corridor, instead of another location.....

Macguy,

Hope they are successful. Much has been lost in many other cities. But then there's the Baltimore & Annapolis...rebuilt after how many years gone?

MP[:D]

[gabe]

jabrown 1971

I wish I could say this with a little more authority, but as I am no longer an Illinois resident, am WAY too young to remember the L&M, and am not in a position to rapidly verify my accuracy, I would not bet my life on this. However, I am pretty sure the line to which you refer was run by the Illinois Terminal rather than the L&M (FYI, you are the first person--outside of my father--who I have ever heard talk about the L&M).

But the L&M trackage rights went exclusively to CNW. However, I think I know what street you are referring to, and I believe that is ONE of the areas the Illinois Terminal went into town. The N&W took over the IT right around the time you were talking about and ran the line a little before abandoning it.

Alas, what I would give to see an L&M freight go through Edwardsville or an Illinois Terminal 100+ car freight wind its way through many main streets of Southern Illinois.

[Anonymous]

I used to live in Watertown, Wisconsin. One day I was walking East along the Coach Yard tracks of the CP rail (ex SOO,ex Milwaukee Road) and noticed a spur that ran off the mainline,that goes to Waterloo and Madison,that had the switch taken out.Upon further investigating,I saw that the track which went in a Southerly direction to a still active warehouse, was STILL intacked,yet covered by trees,grass and weeds.It makes me wonder if this piece of track onced served not only the warehouse,but maybe connected once to the ex CNW, now UP mainline to Jefferson Junction.If anyone wants to see this yard and track in Watertown,go ahead,the oldest piece of track in that yard was made in 1899,and it is still in use on one of the tracks there.

[fuzzybroken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by fuzzybroken

In nearby South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I recently found an interesting little spur off of Union Pacific's Kenosha Sub (formerly C&NW Old Line) that serves some sort of plastics manufacturer, but once went much farther east. Last time I stopped in the area, I got some pictures, one day intending to put together a web page on the subject, but that day has not yet come.

Greetings,

I just finished my web page on the South Milwaukee spur, and included a quote of Dave Nelson's post. Very cool little piece of railroad! Enjoy:
http://www.fuzzyworld3.com/pictures3/railroad/up01.html

[Hugh Jampton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by fuzzybroken

QUOTE: Originally posted by 45144

I bet he spells colour without a U though?

The grammar purist [:)]

Color doesn't have a U!!! I'm American... from Milwaukee... brew city... [;)]
Neither does harbor...[}:)] but I'll understand if you spell it that way!

Again, Dave, thanks for the info on the South Milwaukee line. It looked like the track went right next to those apartments...

-Mark
Milwaukee, WI
CP 2816 visits Wisconsin:
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken/TC3-CP2816.html

I'm American living in the UK,, I don't spell the synonym for hue, or the one for port. but after 20 years I still say tomayto!!

[chad thomas]

Yes spurs need more coverage. I've been exploring the abandond parts of the San Deigo & Imperial Valley south of SD latley. Interisting area.

[bbrant]

Dave -

I agree, it would be nice if more attention were given to spur/branch lines. CSX has the S&C branch that comes off the Keystone Sub at Rockwood, PA that was briefly mentioned in Sand Patch article in the current issue of Trains. I'd like to read stories about branch lines like this rather than this main gets X trains per day. Kind of a nice break from the standard articles published on class 1 lines.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

....A bit about the two branches leading off the ends of the Curve....Both went to coal mines back up each valley. You can see where another track was located that led to I believe it was a tipple of sort to deposit coal from the mine and then possibly into a hopper underneith it to be moved away...Not sure exactly how that line was used...I read about it in the past being there but can't remember all the details.

I believe that the track you are talking about is the location of the coke ovens that were on one of the spurs. A track was located on the top of the ovens to charge them and another track was located below the ovens to remove the coke. Somewhere I saw photos of them in operation, probably in the archives in the main library at PSU in State College. When I was tramping around those ovens 30+ years ago you could still find the foundations for the workers houses further up the valley. And a dam even further.

There are similar coke oven installations all over the coal fields. And a few iron furnaces too. Lots of history to find if one is willing to explore.

[spbed]

While it has been some months since that issue my memory tells me that Trains did explain those 2 branch lines in the article. [:D][:p]

Originally posted by FJ and G
[

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

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