I can't speak for the other readers of Classic Trains, but the fine stories and photographs in Classic Trains always spark an intense urban archeological interest in me- every now and then, in the photo backgrounds will be a spur or business with a boxcar or two- do these spurs still exist, does the business still exist. Do the rails now go to an old, long abandoned building, is it an empty field or covered with urban sprawl, is it still alive and kicking?
I recall visiting an Urban Archeology website that went into and photgraphed what was once the mighty Lima Locomotive Works. It became obvious to me from the photo captions that the spot where some of the worlds greatest steam 'super power' locomotives where built is fading into old and graying fuzzy memories. the knowledgable persons like the greatest generation is rapidly slipping away into the realities of time and set to be lost.
I would love if Classic Trains could add a small, maybe reader supplied and driven 'Urban Archeology' section in the 'Letters to the Editor, or next to my personal favortie: 'Fallen Flags'. A small photo of an old spur and a few words of what once went on there to have rail service. There's probably around 100,000 abandoned miles worth of railroad glory untapped there. I imagine I'm not the only reader that has the same curiosity and desire for similar stories- an old rail spur, switch, or siding buried in the road or in the weeds with an abandoned building or field nearby. What was there before they tore out the railroad line?
I have always searched for rail activity- past and present. On the Kitsap Penninsula, I'd travel thru the backcountry to find abandoned logging lines or to the Olympic Penninsula where I'd explore for the old logger lines and follow the abandoned Milwaukee rail line from Port Townsend to Port Angeles- at Discovery Bay, an abandoned plywood mill once sat with its last load of plywood (turning to sawdust) still waiting on the loading dock for a boxcar that would never come. What was the story there? Why was the plywood left to rot? Why was the last log left unfinished in the bark stripper? Did the workers just leave at the end of the day as they always had and find the plant closed the next? What happened to the workers and their families who depended on the plants steady paycheck?
In McKinney, TX its the disconnected rails at the grain elevator that peaks my interest to know more, and, while trying to follow the line thru town, there are several torn up spurs that have some forgotten story too.
I know I may never get answers to these roadside mysteries, but maybe others do have the answer. I suppose that it fits into the lyrics of the song: 'Railroad Line' by the Gibson Brothers- "when profits die, it don't take long, to board the station and take the sign and tear out all of the railroad line" (best railroad song ever I might add).
I would be extremely interested in reading about such things myself, maybe I'm the only one who thinks about these things, maybe I'm not. Let me know if others have similar interests in 'Urban Archeology'
Thanks,
Road Fan
The Railway Magazine (UK) has a semi-regular section called "Then and Now" where they take a pic from years back and put it next to a recent pic taken from the same location and angle (at least as close to the original as possible). Interesting to see a crowded "goods yard" from 40 years ago teaming with engines and cars now being nothing but a vacant field.
Exactly what I think would be a very interesting section to read.
I remember an old Classic Trains issue that showed a huge, truely massive steel mill along the river front in Pittsburgh, PA- loaded with rail cars and rail activity of all sorts along with the mill going 24/7 and the final comment mentioned that entire mill was gone and nothing remained to say that a mill ever exsisted there at that spot- a truely stunning revelation to read.
In the instant that it took to take a single photo, it told me a larger story, it not only caught a steel mill in action, but also the lives of the thousands that worked in and around the mill. The photo spoke of the families that depended on the mill workers good and steady income, and those who depended on the dependents- the grocery clerk, the car dealer, the school teacher, the barber. It loudly told of the thousands that worked for the railroads that made all that the mill created possible....and then the little line with the photo that said how it all came to a cold, uncaring end and was all swept away in the blink of an eye..
A single photo and few lines of text can say so much more than a single photo and a line of text.
There is a lot of the past yet to see whenever you are around railroads and almost wherever. You just got to know what you're looking for and look! Again, it is one of the fun things I find about riding commuter trains and taking a group along with me...so much to watch for if you know where to look and understand what has happend in the intrim years and why.
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
I'd buy a ticket on your train of thought, Road Fan. I know where you're coming from.
I've long considered rusted, weed-grown, little-used or abandoned spur tracks to be just as intriguing and worthy of photographic record as the busiest high iron. In a more sober, melancholy way, of course. One knows these tracks once served a useful purpose. What industries did they serve? What types of freight cars utilized them? Loads in and empties out, or vice-versa? It's now all forgotten history in the lost world of Industrial Archeology. (I favor the term 'Industrial' Archeology over 'Urban' Archeology, but the concept is the same.)
From the summer before the 7th grade into my senior year I was privileged to live two blocks from the north end of a long NYC industrial line in Columbus OH. In decent weather I'd ride my bicycle to the tracks every evening when the line was normally switched to watch the operations on the far north end of the line. Within a safe, observable 2-3-block reach of such a kid-powered vehicle were a glass plant, a paper plant complex, and three small, retail coal yards. Freight cars seen included covered hoppers, boxcars, tank cars (small, 8,000-gallon capacity cars in those days), open hoppers, and even a reefer on occasion at the paper plant (never did figure that one out.) One of the coal yards was so tiny its tail track could only accommodate one hopper car. Just out of safe reach was a scrap yard taking gondola cars.
This line came up from the south, with the engine pushing the cars to be distributed. This made sense as all the spurs off the lead were facing-point switches to northerly travel - except one. This latter spur ran off another spur and required a 'flying switch' to insert or extract a car. Interesting operation! And remember the colorful boxcars that appeared in the early-to-mid 50s, back when railroads had more imagination and money to throw around on paint? Rutland green and yellow, and BAR 'State of Maine' red white and blue boxcars were very common at the paper plant.
Alas, back then I was too young and naive, or simply stupid, to think to use the family camera to record such scenes. Even black and white film would have been better than nothing in retrospect. By around 1970 when I had the mobility, finances and camera to make an historic record of such scenes, the line was well on its way to abandonment. Did capture some trackage scenes before total abandonment, thankfully. Today the tracks are either ripped up or abandoned in place, and the industries are all out of business, save for that scrap yard. I was smart enough, however, to make a photographic record of three other industrial lines in the Columbus area in the 70s and 80s. Only one industry on any of those three lines - a lumberyard - still has rail service. All have otherwise been completely abandoned, and in some cases one would be hard put now to find their old rights-of-way.
Has anyone noticed the more "modern" approach to abandoning trackage? Not far north of my roundhouse/Yard Limit on the west side of Columbus is an industrial park. Sitting on a north-south axis, an industrial lead runs its full length. Numerous spurs feed off of it. As this complex is relatively modern and new, the railroad right-of-way is well ballasted, unlike the much older, weed-grown scenes Road Fan and I were familiar with. Several of these spurs on which I have observed spotted cars in the past have since been abandoned. But instead of pulling up the rails, they simply cut out the switch, leaving the tail track to rust in peace. I suppose if someday the railroad decides it needs some rail for secondary use, it will attack the remaining, disconnected tail tracks.
The message to all is this: if there are still-active industrial lines in your area, and their operation intrigues you, don't wait! Record the activity now while you still have the chance. The only constant in the world of Urban/Industrial Archeology is change and decay.
dabug
Golly gee whiz, how did the railroads ever do it in the age before computers or government "help"? (Then: they did it. Today: forget it!)
Dabug wrote in part:
".... But instead of pulling up the rails, they simply cut out the switch, leaving the tail track to rust in peace. I suppose if someday the railroad decides it needs some rail for secondary use, it will attack the remaining, disconnected tail tracks."
In cases like these the industry owns the spur track, the switch belonged to the railroad switching the industrial park.
Hi Dabug,
You were very lucky to live so close to a very active rail spot...as a kid in the Navy town of Bremerton, WA, I only had the far distant sound of the shipyards steam locomotive and the occasional abandoned logging pike or overgrown trestle in the deep back country.
But could you have imagined at any time that all you saw would be gone one day and forgotten? Could you have imagined that even the mighty New York Central Railroad would also be swept away in what is a historic 'blink of an eye'?
I imagine that you and so many other readers are like me. No matter where we are, not matter what we may be doing, if we see a rusty rail protruding from the asphalt or weeds, our thoughts instantly focus on those rails and their forgotten story, it will sometimes literally haunt us for all our days until we get the answers. I have 2, 50 year od questions that are from my home town of Bremerton and Silverdale- one an old oil distributor that used to reside in West Bremerton along the Port Washington Narrows and an old sawmill at the bottom of Bucklin hill road in Silverdale. Did they have rail service? I vaguely remember that my Grandma would point to a small locomotive switching at the oil tanks across the bay when I was around 3 years old. My fuzzy 3-year old memory seems to picture a small black diesel switcher with white zebra strips on the front of it and tank cars with lots of rivets on it. But I can't find anything that says there were ever any rails there. The saw mill sat on the bay at the bottom of what once was a 'skid road' and an old photo showed row after row of square rigged ships taking on lumber and it seemed that there could have been a spur that could have come in on the line that currently heads out to the Bangor sub base, but once again I can find no information to settle the question. These mysteries constantly pop up waiting to be resolved.
If your like me, when we come across an abandoned building anywhere, our first thought is- did it have rail service? What it did is always secondary or tertiary. If the first thought is even a maybe, we want to know- can I hash out and trace a possible rail right of way through all of the urban clutter to reach it? If I can, will it lead to other lost and abandoned history? What railroad company could have served it and what kind of rail cars would it have needed?
Maybe Classic Trains could consider such a section. I know I would love to find a magazine or publication that would cover the Industrial Archeology subject.
On the modern industrial park, you mentioned that the switches had been removed, but the disconnected tail sections remained to rust. In a recent model railroader magazine, a layout had a similar section modeled where the rails were disconnected from the mainline, but the rails were still in place where they crossed the asphalt and only railroad ties left of the siding and 'abandoned' was in the photo caption, but a knowledgable reader sent in an interesting footnote (at least I thought so)saying that by leaving the rails in place, the railroad could easily reactivate the spurs without having to go thru public hearings and other legal easement hurdles. He termed them 'out of service', but definitely not abandoned. I thought that was a cool bit of information I hadn't known before.
Road Fan:
Yes, I guess I was lucky to live so near an active and observable industrial line. One interesting anomaly of its operation I neglected to mention was that the line was always switched by a lone NYC yard switcher. Except when it wasn't... Once in a great while a pair of geeps would show up instead. And never singly, but always in a pair! Never could figure that out either, as the well-worn and somewhat fragile appearing rail looked much more forgiving of a yard unit's tread than of heavier road units. Never saw a derailment though.
And no, I doubt if it occurred to me during those years that this industrial line would disappear one day, let alone something as mighty as the New York Central Railroad, or any other Class I for that matter. Youthful naivete is a mixed blessing.
An interesting comment was posted by rrboomer a couple of responses ago. Therein he noted that industries own their spur track, while the railroad owns the industrial lead and the switches for the spurs in question. Seems to me in retrospect that I had picked up that info somewhere along the line of life, and knew that. I just forgot that I knew that! One of the dubious "benefits" of advancing age. And your note, Road Fan, about such disconnected spurs being 'out of service', rather than abandoned (for legal purposes and ease of reactivation if needed) was also interesting and informative. I also did not know that.
I wish you luck in solving your two 50-year-old mysteries concerning possible rail service to industries in or near your hometown in Washington. I find it interesting that you mention your first memory of these activities was when you were around 3 years old. Interesting because that's the age to which my oldest memories of trains go. I was barely 3 years old when I took my first train trip, and a long distance trip at that. I can still recall three scenes from that trip in my mind. I trace the seed that germinated into my becoming a railfan to that trip. Despite the fact that the return trip was via another form of public transport, one of them thar' new-fangled flying machines. I can remember three scenes from that trip home as well. (No, I've never figured out the significance, if any, of the confluence of all those 3's involved.) Just grateful that I became a ferroequinologist rather than someone with his head in the clouds. But that tale is another story...
Anyhow, thanks for the follow-up.
Ferroequinologist- I never knew there was a term for my interest. I'll have my wife start using that term instead of the one she uses on me now- railnut.
I know some day I will put those two mysteries to rest. I'm sure that Bremerton has Sanborn maps somewhere, or hopefully someday, I'll have the financial resources to acquire them or maybe the Bremerton Public Library will digitize them and makes them availble for online viewing.
One note about how you recall the lasting impression of your early train trip. Several years back I took my family on vacation to the Northwest and secured an Amtrak trip from Portland to Seattle and back- of all the things about that vacation that stand out, the train trip is always at the top of their list and how much fun it was.
I have never been a shutter bug, but I think that I will start. My kids have a HP digital camera and its 2gb SD card only cost 8 bucks at the local discount elex store and it holds around a thousand pictures. There are a few rusty spurs here in town that I think need their pictures taken.
Yeah, the term "ferroequinologist" has been around awhile. I first ran across it in the March '58 issue of TRAINS. Therein was story of a fan trip on the Sierra RR with a private car carrying that name. The term is certainly more sophisticated than "railnut", or worse, "foamer"!
Don't know nothin' 'bout Sanborn maps, though have heard of them. I've had limited success - more 'limited' than 'success' - using the Internet satellite photo capability in trying to "invade" areas generally forbidden to the public, like industrial complexes, to check out the rail layouts. Unfortunately, there are many areas of the country that the imagery just won't zoom into close enough to discern railroad tracks. Even that situation, however, does illustrate how unobtrusive a railroad right-of-way is in nature compared to a highway.
Never got into digital photography, and too old now to learn a new technology. For that matter, didn't wise up until 1966 to even invest in a camera for railfanning purposes. That first purchase was a movie camera. My thinking than was that, hey, trains MOVE, so a movie camera was a necessary tool for a railfan. Was in the Navy then, right out of boot camp and at school in Monterey CA, and the first movie I ever shot of a train was of SP's venerable Del Monte departing Monterey one Saturday morning. Eventually I figured out that a movie camera didn't work too well on stationary rail subjects (OK, call me a slow learner!) By the time I bought a 35mm camera for taking slides, I was isolated in the Aleutian Islands, also courtesy of Uncle Sam, and it wasn't until making it back to the mainland in 1969 that I began recording slides of the rapidly changing - mostly for the worse in my opinion - rail scene. Haven't really shot much film - no movies and few slides - since NS unceremoniously dropped the fires on their steam program back in 1994. But all that's another story.
Have you ever tried to "mine" the plentiful resources of rail images on the Internet? I scan certain websites every day for pics I like, and capture them for my Slide Show feature on the PC. Have over 1400 on record so far, and usually add more each day. Could have captured several times that many by now, probably, except for my Cardinal Rule #1: the pic must be in color. (Uh-oh, that statement is going to raise the ire of some readers!) Right now am mining a HUGE cache of passenger car images I accidentally stumbled across a few weeks ago. Wish I had a scanner so I could load up some of my own slides too. Well, maybe some day, when I grow up...
Thanks for your indulgence.
Howdy Dabug.
When we lived in the Everett/Marysville area, it was a short trip to a place called Concrete, WA, that had an abandoned concrete factory- who'd of thought. Don't know if it is still there, but someone there was restoring some passenger cars once. I know one of the passenger cars was from the Milwuakee Road as it had a large 'Mother of Pearl' Hiawatha character inlaid into the cars exotic wood paneling near the cars entry way. I don't know what ever happened to them though. If a reader has a knowledge of their disposition that would solve another mystery.
The factory was an interesting place in itself- the office/administration building sat up above the concrete silo's and several things fascinated me. The first thing was the Union Pacific calenders sprinkled through out the building- I can't remember the year of the calenders though. The next thing was the large, wall sized map of the United States- it only had 48 states. Down in the basement was an old 'Teem' soda bottle- I don't remember the last time I saw that soda available.
The train museum in Galveston, TX had a great railroad museum in the old Sante Fe Union Station until it was hit by a devastating hurricane. They once had a great display of passenger trains. Galveston also had scores of rusted rails poking up from the asphalt and weeds here and there, hinting at a rich and extant rail history.
My local elex store has 2gb SD cards for only $5.99, so I am going to load up. Beats spending on expensive film and developing with my skills. My photo skills are like my model railroading skills- it's easy to go through alot of money real quick with dubious results, so for me, it's best to learn as cheaply as possible.
I would like to share a train watching experience about 7 years ago. I encountered a train near what was once the Minneapolis Northfield and Southern shops in Golden Valley Minnesota. They had been abandoned for at least 20 years,I think it was around 1982. The trackage is still active and about the only trains that work it on a regular basis are UP switch jobs that switch the what was the Minnesota Western trackage out to Glueck Minnesota; which is abandoned west of I-694 in Plymouth. The locomotive was a HCLX leased unit and I wasn't sure if this was a UP or CP train. Since the closing of the shops the line that connected the shops to the MN&S main line saw very little use. The main line had also by then was little used. I decided to follow the train even though I had no camera and it was snowing.Even though I have lived in the Twin Cities most of my life I had no idea where this train was going and whose train it was. I headed east on Glenwood Avenue toward Lyndale, I crossed an industrial spur and noticed the glint of the engine's headlight. I didn't even realize that these tracks were active or that there were rail customers here. The MN&S crossed Lyndale Avenue and had a line to downtown Minneapolis which must have been gone since the 1960's I think. I remembered seeing a MN&S Baldwin switcher once on this line in 1958. That line was the route that was used by the MN&S and the Luce line( Minnesota Western) in their passenger services. The MN&S stopped running passenger service in 1942. A photo of their depot is on page 253 of Twin Cities By Trolley by John Diers. The train I saw was a CP train switching a line I forget existed. The fact that it was still there in the 21ST century is amazing; you just don't know what you might encounter
Great addition to the thread. I always enjoy reading about this type of rail history- a long forgotten, old rail line that was thought to have gone the way of so many others and find it still hums with life.
Thanks for the great read.
Happy rails,
As I mentioned above, I like to ride commuter and transit trains and often drive 150 or so miles to the NYC area just to do so...take friends along or hire myself out...just to see what used to be and what is. This past Thursday, April 2nd, was success and indicative of what we are talking about despite an auspicious moment early on during the escapade. Got out of Binghamton by car ok and arrived at Netcong, NJ with plenty of time to grab lunch at the deli so we could eat aboard the train. But train limped into the station and died after we got seated. And stayed died for a long time. After awhile we conferred with the crew and decided to haul off to Dover to catch a 1:00PM departure there. As I put the key in my car's ignition the engine roared…not my car's engine but the train's engine, and the train took off! Knowing it had to do at least a stop at Landing, and probably an employee stop at Port Morris (and noticing that the few other passengers who were aboard were not detrained) we took off with an eye to catching the train at Mt. Arlington. Pulled into the parking space farthest away from the brand new station building, crossed the lot and under the tracks, up the stairs to the platform to see train coming in. Aboard we found that locomotive 4006 kept pounding against the train at starting and each speed change. The crew announced we would all be put off in Dover to board the 1PM electric push pull train bound for NY Penn Sta.. Our new train stopped to pick up the now deadheading crew; they changed trains with us again at Newark for an MU ride to Hoboken. An hour behind schedule meant nothing: got the 3PM NYWaterways ferry to Wall St. being able to inspect NY harbor relics and new build on both sides of the river, arrived at East River Pier 11 and walked up Wall St. to the #2 train and rode up to 42nd St.. Determined we had time to ride the N or W train to Ditmars Blvd. and return to Queensboro Plaza station to grab the #7 train to Jackson Blvd. at the LIRR Long Island City station. With slick timing we purchased our tickets from LIRR ticket machine and boarded the 4:54PM Oyster Bay train and within two minutes were on our way to Jamaica. All with me agree that this ride was the most unique and unexpected rail ride. A most hospitable crew allowed for total enjoyment of the ride and ability to soak up the history and uniqueness of the operation and the surrounding harbor, warehouse, rail yard, housing, parks, etc. neighborhoods we passed through. Signal problem at Fresh Pond slowed and stopped us momentarily so got to Jamaica only 5 minutes late. As railfans, we had to take a few minutes at each end of the station to see the waves of trains and then waves of people! The new station complex, the Airtrain, and the track layouts on both ends of the station are both new and old and a great study for any railfan, historian, or archeologist. A quick ride to Penn Station allowed us just enough time to hit the NJT ticket machine and find the 6:40P departure to MSU where less than an hour later we changed to the Mt Arlington bound train and got into my car at Mt. Arlington at 8:25P. Both my passengers, one from upstate who marvels at rail travel around the city every time he joins me, the other also from upstate but having lived and worked in the Metropolitan area for about 20 years, were amazed at how really different the LIRR ride was and how much you can do and see, and how much fun a railfan can have, using the rail and transit system.
To be honest and above board, I do plan and escort such trips for anyone as a "retirement" income. Have ridden all the heavy rail commuter and Amtrak lines in and out of NYC and some in Philadelphia and most of the NYC subways and all NJT Light Rail operations. Have about a dozen trip plans to offer at any time, there are dozens and dozens more achievable, and will plan, and even escort, trips for anyone. I have found that printed and on line timetables and schedules and the trip planing programs on the web sites do not take into consideration many variables and inter service options which can make for quicker trips and more interesting railfan adverntures. Even those who live in the Metro area and use the system daily are amazed at what can really be achieved. Most important to this thread is the history that can be seen and visited by trains and transit. Even if you don't use my services, take a trip on any commuter or transit operation, it will yield many opportunities to see, learn, appreciate, and enjoy railroading and history.
You might have pointed out to those that didn't realize it that your ride from Long Island City to Jamaica on the Oyster Bay train was not via the elecftrified 4-track high-platform station usual route but via Penny Bridge and Freash Pond Jucntion, a route which is the nearest thing to rural early 20th Century passenger railroading in New York City, truly a throwback operation somewhat like the old Putnam Div. was.
Great Read...used to do that too, in Washington state, and here in Texas- drive for miles and miles just for the rail activity. I usually have the train stores as a travel 'goal', but sometimes the paths would lead elsewhere, but rails are always in the picture. I can usually bribe my family with a dinner out at the end of it all. The company I work for provides it's employees with free 'DART' passes for their badges, which allows for the employee to travel anywhere on the DART rail system for free. One of these days they'll reach McKinney.
Since my financial resources preclude me from traveling to alot of these places, I've relied on Google and Microsoft 'bird's eye' views to explore NYC's waterfront piers, docks and industries, and to follow active rail lines. The resolution is so extremely good in many instances that I can actually pick out the cobweb of the abandoned rail lines and industrial spurs that once hummed along NYC's.
There are several Urban archeology websites that have fascinating stories and photos of the various rail roads that used to exist in NYC. Many of the essay's dealt with tracing old right-of-way's and stations thru the streets of NYC.
On another similar note, there are urban archeology web sites that have provided photo-essays on the abandoned Michigan Central station in Detroit and the Union station in Buffalo, NY- I think that web site mentioned that they are renovating the one in Buffalo- it has been awhile since I've visited those sites.
The Michigan urban archeology site was interesting as it also visited an old abandoned Hudson Automobile factory in Detroit and between the factory buildings, sitting on some lonely rails in the asphalt was a lone, long abandoned Hudson automobile. Did they shut down the factory one day and just leave it to rust?
Once again, a single photo evoked a myriad of stories of the 'good life' that once left the factories assembly line in the hundreds, and the thousands of hard working people whose families depended on the steady and stable paycheck that was one day all gone.
The photo evoked strings of rail cars filled with raw materials coming in and the thousands of shiny new automobiles on rail cars shipping out. What kind of rail car once traveled down the tracks that the rusting automobile sat on? What railroad traveled the factory canyons? How many lives were crushed the day the pink slips went out and the factory closed forever. The stable lives that were suddenly scrambled and had to be rebuilt from the ground up? How many lives couldn't be rebuilt. How many railroad accountants sat with big holes made of 'red ink' in their coporate bottom lines when the strings of profitable rail cars in and out ended.
A single, yet haunting and very thought provoking photo.
The NYC website produced the same thought provoking images of fallen empires that lay forgotten beneath our feet.
Thanks for the great read!
Happy Rails,
It is the greatest railfan commuter ride in NYC if not all of USA....stepping back to the '50 along an old PRR branch...the two guys with me couldn't believe it!
My first automobile was bought in the late Spring of 1953, a new Ford 1954 Mianline 6-cylinder two-door, about the least expensive USA car built at the time. I had arrived in Detroit on a coach seat on the Woulverine, but drove back to New York and Boston in my new car after picking it up at Jerry Beilfild's Ford agency. With a special deal because by brother in law's firm supplied special steels to othe auto industry, I think I paid only $1,600! . But ten years later I traded it in at Porter Chevrolet in Cambridge for a "poor man's Porche", a two-door Corvair, with the dealer's chief mechanic and an auto enthusiast together promising to help with special shocks and a suspension roll-bar to trump the Ralph Nader complaint about Corvairs. I got a note from the dealer that the car would be avialable at a certain date, but when I arrived, I learned it was still in a box car in a Boston and Maine R\railyard! But I was a part-time employee of the Boston and Maine with a pass, so the salesman and I drove in his car over to Sommerville, got the car spotted at a high-platform unloading ramp, and the salesmen, he would not let me do it, actually drove the car out of the box car with its wide automotiile double-doors. I think the car a PRR car, extra long, with double doors on both sides, and luckely my car was in the center of the car! That car lasted me until the winter of 1969-1970. Both cars had over 100,000,miles on them when traded. The Ford was more reliable but the Corvair, traded on a new one, much more fun to drive. One of those long auto box cars could hold four standard cars or five compacts.
dabug, living in Dayton Ohio in my younger days the Findlay st. NYC & big 4 RRs. yard was heavy with round house activity . My low speed pedal bike took me around the edge of the yard . Funny how the Bulls never said anything to me then . This was during WW2 . My my , how things have changed. ~~ The other yard was PRR at Smithville rd. That was a switch yard . There is where I got my screen name from the east yard lead to switch 8 . The frog would bang when a humped car hit it . A few years ago the forem didn't let me in , so I dropped 1 switch number . My friends & me would look for a box car & a sand car hooked up . Hot Dog, we climed up box car then run and jumped into sand car . Great fun , now great memories. All the yards are now gone. Respectfully, Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
I worked for several years at a Reynolds Aluminum plant located in the former Pacific Electric Torrance Ca, shops complex. Its history betrayed itself at every glance such as etched PE logos in the window glass and the magnificient stone relief carvings above the shop doors. The shops had changed very little since the PE departed in 1953, to this day, switchwork exist unused and forgotten off an active spur leading ghost like to the former shop area which were razed in the 80's and redeveloped into a business park. Over at nearby US Steel, they too had aquired some former PE structures and extensive trackage which was used as a in plant railway. All this is gone today.
I too never thought to photograph the common, neither did I record on film the local switcher that would frequent the active depot. which was shuttered in 1983 the last active former PE depot I am told, that switcher was responsible for servicing Reynolds and the only remaining customer on this line which involved considerable street running on the former passenger main to reach a lumber yard, alas all this street trackage is gone today as is the lumber yard.
Dave
this thread is great. i too have a interest in the what used to be. i find it fascinating when you look where there used to be tracks and imagine a train rolling along its like seeing a ghost or something. just last this weekend i found out a old beverage distributer 2 blocks from where i live had rail service before the mid 70's. i looked at the back of the wall and sure enough 2 patched out sections on the building where the loading doors used to be. also a couple ties laying in a pile. in fact where i live (thief river falls, minnesota) there is alot of rails that have long been removed. an article on this subject would be great and nearly inexhaustible with so much history. thats what i love about trains and railroads, one could study them for a lifetime and still never stop learning. and im only 23 so hopefully i can learn as much as i can in my lifetime. regards,dan
Great threads all! Keep 'em coming.
I enjoy reading everyones own personal rail mystery and the fascinating historic discoveries made along the way. I'm sure that every rail fan enjoys reading these thought provoking stories as much as I do and it probably sparks a score or two of their own rusted rail mysteries in the process.
I find myself paying very close attention to old photgraphs that I come across now. Railroads, trolleys and interurbans were so important to our ancestors for everything and so extant in their reach that many of these photos will have important rail information that would otherwise be unknown if it weren't for an unrelated snap of a camera shutter. I also find myself paying close attention to the backgrounds of old movies as many contain the rails of some long forgotten right of way too.
During my researches, I discovered a fascinating web site that has so much rail history that I thought I would add the link for those interested: http://www3.gendisasters.com/ The website covers old newspaper information of every possible type of calamity that has occuried in American and Canadian history, and it's added too everyday. It can be searched by state, disaster or year of occurance....very fascinating and thought provoking.
Railroad, trolley and interurban accidents make up a very large part of the transcribed newspaper material and it's free to read! Additionally, many of the other categories (fires, explosions, storms, floods, mines, building collapses, steamboats, aircraft, etc) affected the railroads directly or indirectly too. There is so much transcribed newspaper information on American and Canadian disasters that it will take a person months to read.
Many long lost and obscure railroads from the 1800's are identified as well. the site also contains very recent events too. Many of the locations are identified by either an actual address, street intersection or at least a good landmark (such as 'where the rail line crossed such and such creek or road, so many miles from this town or that town and where the road curved this way or that). When utilizing Google Earth, it becomes a great research tool.
It may also provide important information pertaining to someones ancestral family tragedy.
Keep the stories coming.
Happy Rails.
Your desire to gain knowledge of what used to be in the world of railroading presents us old timers with mixed emotions. On the one hand we can soberly observe that you just don’t know what you missed. For instance, steam in everyday service, the individuality of passenger trains before Amtrak, and, yes, even now long-abandoned industrial trackage, the seed that germinated into the original subject thread by Road Fan you responded to. (Maybe someday CLASSIC TRAINS will see fit to initiate a recurring section on this subject.) On the other hand we can commend you for your interest in the old, departed railroad scenes near and dear to us.
Be sure to exploit the sources of period information available to you. A few ideas: the Internet has more railroad picture websites – contemporary and dated – than you can shake a stick at; decades-old issues of TRAINS Magazine and other railroad-oriented mags contain a wealth of textual and pictorial data; check area hobby shops for old issues of such mags, or perhaps you know a railfan who has a collection of old railroad mags or books; an older family member or acquaintance who’s retired from a railroad and can regale you with tales of what once was; and certainly don’t overlook the threads and posts in this very forum as a source for mining other’s experiences.
Good luck in your – hopefully – lifelong quest for greater rail knowledge!
Definitely I would encourage reading old history books...not the new picture books, Nothing beats old pictures at the time to really explain how things were different. BUt another thing that made railroading different for fans was the full compliment of people who operated the railroad. Sectionmen, agents, train crews, operators, etc. And they were almost all friendly and glad to share a story or two with you and show you what thier world was all about!.
The Galveston museum, although wounded, is still there:
http://www.galvestonrrmuseum.com/grrmsh_082.htm
Jeff Cornelius
Thanks for the link. I hope that Galveston is able to recover from the blow. My wife and I were talking about Galveston the other day and wondered how the places that we enjoyed had faired- especially along the seawall- there were some great restuarants and hotels looking out into the Gulf that were probably erased. Haven't been there in awhile, first it was the price of gas, and then the storm,
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