I Live about a 1/2 block away from the P&I (Paducah and Illinois) which is owned by CN, BNSF and P&L maintained and controled by the CN. Lots of trains , mostly coal, a daily local from CN and a 3 times a week local from the BNSF.
About a half mile from a Norfolk Southern line and about 3 miles from the Lynx light rail station.
The original plan was to have a light rail station at that half mile away location, but the NIMBYs and BANANAs in Pineville fought long and hard against it because they feared it would destroy the character of their ratty old downtown. CATS said "fine, it saves us the cost of building a bridge over I-485".
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
I'm about a 5 min walk to the CPR Belleville Sub & 30 min walk to the CN Kingston Sub
Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!
K1a - all the way
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
I'd say about 400 yrds from the UP mainline west of Ft. Worth. I've never mesrued it. The line cuts our ranch in half.
Having lived only 10 minutes (even in heavy traffic) from the station at Berea, OH, I am now 1 hour from the UP at Maricopa and 2 hours fom the BNSF in Flagstaff. Add another 30 minutes to go to Williams. Even the BNSF line to Phoenix is 1 hour away and the train frequency is diminished to the point there can be a lot of dead time sitting on Bell Road or Rt 60.
Rats.
19 miles north to the nearest active rail - CN's Flint Sub, the mainline between Chicago and Toronto, ON. Usually see 1-3 trains pass thru town if my son and I spend a few hours up there at the depot. Sometimes a big goose-egg as CN tends to run fewer and longer trains than in years past. Amtrak 365-364 does stop in town, but very early in the morning and likewise late in the evening.
About 8.5 miles to the south is the nearest rail - CN's Orion Spur - on what's left of the former GTW Cass City Sub, ex PO&N branch. Not much runs on this line anymore, since GM's Orion Assembly plant is currently inactive, and is the only remaining online customer. Rail is rusty from what I can see at the public crossings, although I believe CN is using the plant yard for car storage so the occasional put-and-take movement may occur.
I do live about 300 feet from the abandoned PO&N grade on the SW side of Oxford, MI but it's just a rail-trail now. Last train on this segment was about 1984 from what I've heard. Go back to 1975 and we had both the GTW and Penn Central actively interchanging in town.
I'm about 8-10 miles from various branches of the Boston commuter rail lines in a couple of different directions. The abandoned right of way of the Billerica and Bedford Railroad, a very early narrow-gauge line that was never able to turn a profit, is just a quarter of a mile down the road.
My previous home, 29 years ago, was directly across the street from the Fitchburg branch of the old Boston and Maine. At that time, I got to see freights, but that line is now exclusively commuter rail, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I reside within walking distance of a former AT&SF line, basically dormant since the Alameda corridor was completed, this line had to contend with numerous road crossings, restricted speed and grades over 2%, back in the day-12-15 intermodals used this line, often with rear or mid-train helpers. The RoW is being maintained for possible light rail or Metrolink use and is in fact owned by the county. On a more positive note the former Pacifc Electric trackage is thriving under UP ownership, a local services the El Segundo branch 4 days a week, Green Goats reign supreme here in So Cal so the power is not much to get excited about.
For me, it's a 19 mile drive to I-40 on U.S.95 North. From the overpass, you can see the BNSF hugging the old Route 66 on its way to the Arizona - California border which crosses the Colorado River at Topock, Arizona.
It really is an impressive sight to see that long string of cars heading west.
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
A 10-minute drive to the Southern Pacific line that runs on the west side of Kingwood, Texas.
All I have to do is look out the back yard.......
In a straight line about a 1/8th of a mile to the Rail Link's Commonwealth Railroad. There are no scheduled trains as far as I can tell. There is a lot of construction of new and rerouted tracks to handle container trains from Portsmouth, Va to Suffolk, Va. I see mostly Commonwealth locomotives but have also seen NS locomotives.
In the other direction, less than two miles, the CSX and NS can be seen. I have also spied a Conrail loco or two.
When in the yard I can hear the horns as the trains go by.
Bob
Photobucket Albums:NPBL - 2008 The BeginningNPBL - 2009 Phase INPBL - 2010 Downtown
I live roughly 1 mile (as the crow flies) from the Northeast Corridor (AMTRAK) in Bristol, PA
Sam
May He bless you, guide you, and keep you safe on your journey through life!
I Model the New Hope & Ivyland RR (Bucks County, PA)
nearest rail lines here are abandoned, one is an interurban line roughly a mile away, and regular line about a mileish away. Active line maybe 5 miles. Of course there is the active one in the basement.
I live just off of Second Street in West Chester (Maud) with First Street being a double main of Norfolk Southern (the old CCC&StL Big Four - NYC line) out of the Sharonville Yard. Needless to say it has been and still is very active.
I live about 150 feet away from the Bremen - Hamburg main line. The line sees about 150 trains a day. In winter, I can see the trains from my living room window. I am glad, that German trains do not blow their horns or ring the bells that often ... .
I'm about a mile and a half from the ATSF (now BNSF mainline). This crossing of Morello Blvd., Martinez, CA is the closest public access for me. The bridge crosses the middle of the road's "S" curve, and accommodates a tunneled pedestrian/bicycle pathway. Although only a single track, the bridge abutments were built to accommodate a siding, but I'm not aware whether there ever was one. It is adjacent to "my" local winery: Viano, the only one remaining of many that once existed in the county. There were many before Prohibition, and now there's just one.
Mark
From my home in the west suburbs of St. Louis, MO, it's 10 miles south to the UP's ex-MP Jefferson City Subdivision and the BNSF's ex-Frisco Cuba Subdivision as they pass through Kirkwood, MO. It's also about 5 miles northeast to the Central Midland Railway's ex-Rock Island St. Louis to Kansas City line, about 10 miles northwest to the NS's ex-Wabash line from St. Louis to Mexico, MO, and Kansas City and about 20 miles northwest to the BNSF "K" Line (ex-CB&Q St. Louis to West Quincy, MO, via Hannibal).
Bill
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig"
Ok, here's the thing.
I live about 100 yards from the CN line of the old BC Rail. This is only lightly used (6 or fewer trains per 24 hours) and right now the engineers are on strike so there is no traffic at all.
However, my wife and I are looking at a new house on the market that is only 30 yards from the same line.
While I love to watch the line and it gives me no problem at the present distance, I have resisted buying the brand new house so close to the line. I know I could stand it, but I am sure the house would shake, especially the way they are build up on fill.
I don't think the resale value would be very high among any but railfans. And there is no guarantee the line won't get real busy in the next 20 years.
So I guess you could say there are practical reasons to say too close is too close, especially before laying out $700,000 after taxes and all.
We used to live about an 1/8th mile from the ex NKP Bellevue to Buffalo main line, then 100 yards north of that was the double track ex NYC waterlevel route, so lots of trains there. Where we live now, we are 5 blocks from the embargoed ex NKP IMC Tipton to Kokomo line, so grown over you cant even look down the track, but the track is intact and the grade crossing lights remain, just turned away from traffic. The Cloverleaf District of the NKP goes thru Kokomo and is a couple miles to the north of our house, shortline uses it a few times a week. We also had the PRR thru Kokomo, what remains of the line from Kokomo to Logansport is also operated by a shortline a couple times a week or more depending on traffic. Mike
LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case!
The back of my property is about 200 ft. from the old Regina to Saskatoon (CN) ROW. It has been
inactive for a number of years and only used in the winter time to store some covered hoppers, (grain).
But now that a portion of this line has been leased to a short line operator ( Last Mountain Railroad). They named it after my MRR. we should see a little more action on it again.
When it was operating back a while ago the movements were usually at 5:00 in the morning and 5:00 in the afternoon. Looking forward to see how it shakes out this time.
Johnboy out......................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
About a 1/4 mile from a branch of the wheeling and lake erie and about a half mile from the yard office here in medina ohio. About 15 minutes from the main line of csx and a half hour from a main line that runs through my buddys home town that I see union pacific, norforl southern, csx on.
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
Cisco Kid So I guess you could say there are practical reasons to say too close is too close, especially before laying out $700,000 after taxes and all.
Out my way there is a lot of NIMBY anti-railroad sentiment (present party excluded). The UP has used the former SP Mococo Line for car storage and now wants to reopen it for regular traffic. The newly-suburbanized communities there now are objecting. Same thing on reopening part of the former Northwestern Pacific Line in Marin County (This is even when Marin folk pride themselves on their green-ness. They want us to return to the horse-and-buggy days so they can then object to the growing horse manure problem.) Other communities object to train-horn blowing accompanying resurgent train traffic. Golly gee. If one doesn't like uninvited train sounds, don't move to a railroad environment. Same for those people who don't like floods but move to a flood plain while expecting us to pay for their rebuilding and protective dikes.
Here in the suburbs north of Philly, I live less than a mile from the commuter rail line, formerly the Reading, now SEPTA. Lots of commuter trains on the 2-track electrified line, a work train now and then, but no freights. And I ride that train every work day.
We're five miles north of the NS(x-RDG)line between Reading and Harrisburg. Busy freight line with a rare Amtrak visit (so I've been told) when the old Pennsy mainline isn't available. On calm evenings we can hear the horns and sometimes even the rumble of five big locos pulling a mile of coal.
About 4 miles to the tracks of the Essex Steam Train (all that is left of the REAL Valley RR), although the train doesn't actually come that far North anymore; it stops in Deep River, a few miles to the south.
Another 10 miles brings us to the Shore Line (Amtrak, Shore Line East, and Providence and Worcester, on a good day).
My office is right across from the "Y" in Groton where they used to turn trains. Can watch traffic on the shore line all day!
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
About a mile from my house.
BNSF, UP and Amtrack