What railroad(s) did we grow up by?

[Anonymous]

The title explains all, just post what railroad(s) you grew up by, maybe even talk a little bit about the company in your hometown...

I still live at home and am not old enough to have my own home so I'll have to talk about what I still see:

I live by the KCS, with the occasional BNSF run-through, the railroad serves a grain elevator and some anhydrous fertilizer tanks in town, north of town the road takes a small grade around a curve onto higher land, with the line running to Jacksonville and Springfield, IL. Usually 3-4, sometimes 5 trains go through a day, with anything from modern GE units to older SD50s and Tunnel Motors powering the trains.

So let's hear about your old hometown line...

[mustanggt]

I grew up mainly surrounded by the MBTA and guilford, Its a wonder I know what I know about trains because I never saw one up close until I was 6 or 7. The fitchburg branch of the T commuter rail ran by my elementary school. I probably saw one Guilford train in my whole 2 years there. then I moved to a trainless town[:(]

[AntonioFP45]

1960s:
New Haven (Penn Central)
New York Central (Penn Central)

1970s:
Seaboard Coast Line
Amtrak

Time goes by too fast!

[willy6]

my childhood was all GG-1's, PRR in Edison ,NJ

[CP5415]

The Canadian Pacific Railway was the railroad of choice for me.
I didn't have to walk very far to railfan it.
Still don't

Gordon

[kog1027]

For the first 11 years of my life it was 4 unit sets of Frisco Red & White GP-7's on the Ardmore - Arkinda sub-division ( Now the Kiamichi RR. ) in Durant, Oklahoma.

That was 30+ years ago, I still miss the sights and sounds of the Frisco.

Mark Gosdin

[Anonymous]

First trains I remember paying attention to were Erie-Lackawanna; I remember seeing what I now know are F-units pulling a passenger train into the station in the center of Passaic, NJ. Next was Conrail.

When we moved to VA, we lived very near the big RF&P yard just below Washington DC, and I remember seeing RF&P, CSX and NS engines there. We still live in the same area (actually a couple of blocks closer to the tracks now), but both the yard and the RF&P are long gone. So now its mainly NS, with the occasional CSX going through.

Funny thing is, I've always been fond of the Santa Fe, and that's what I've always modeled far back as I can remember -- and I never even saw an actual ATSF train until I was well into my 30's, on our first trip to L.A.. I don't know what prompted my fondness for Santa Fe, but there ya go.

[Jetrock]

The ones I remember the most were Southern Pacific, during the era of filthy Geeps and SD's in bloody-nose gray and red (and rust and oil and grime and dust.) I sort of dimly remember seeing green and orange locomotives from time to time in the Seventies and early Eighties which, as it turns out, were Western Pacific and/or Sacramento Northern engines.

[Anonymous]

the NS introduced me to railroading but here in Oklahoma City, I am influiced by BNSF. the Red Rock sub is awsome !

[bruce22]

grew up in Hamilton Ont. Bay View Junction was a great spot for trainspotting. Returned there a few years ago after an absence of more than 50 yrs, what a disappointment . Oh well I guess nothing is ever what it seems with our " selective " memory. Do remember steam tho of the CNR, CPR, TH&B, and NYC. in the area. Very fond memories.

[twhite]

The first three years of my life was spent growing up by the Nevada County Narrow Gauge RR here in Northern California. And I mean BY! Our house was right across the street from the terminal in Nevada City. Later, I grew up with SP's Donner Pass route in Truckee, CA. In fact, I didn't see my first WP until I was about eight, didn't see my first ATSF until I was about nine and visiting Tehachapi and heard the rat-tat-tat sound of an ATSF 2-10-2 for about three miles before I even saw it. Didn't see any other railroads until I was in college and traveling the west. Didn't see my first Rio Grande trains until I got out of the Air Force and traveled home via the original "California Zephyr." Being a native Californian, you'd think I model either WP, ATSF or primarily SP, right? Or even that ol' debbil' UP? Nope, being a native Californian, I quite naturally model Rio Grande. Is there a problem?

[rexhea]

As a boy in Providence, Kentucky, it was the L&N and the Illinois Central
In high school, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, it was Southern, L&N, and GM&O
Now in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, it is Norfolk Southern, KCS, and AmTrak

[Anonymous]

I grew up with GN, NP and Milwaukee. Also had Butte Anaconda & Pacific as a shortline. I have read a description of my city as "it looks like a model railroad with all of the train track all over the place."


John

[Javern]

Milwaukee Road, I vividly recall stock cars with live cows. As a kid I always thought the f type engines were sorta scary, not sure why .

[jimrice4449]

I couldn't have custom ordered a better growing up from a railfan's perspective! I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago Circa WWII and we lived about four blocks from the embankment shared by the four track mains of the NYC & PRR a reasonably short hike from Grand Crossing where the NYC/PRR crossed over the 8 track mainline of the IC (with trackage rights for the Big Four, Mich. Central and South Shore. The MC was NYC cars with NYC engines while the Big Four was NYC cars and IC engines. About 3 months short of my 16th birthday my family moved to LA (on the Golden State) where I could watch SP:s Valley frieghts leaving town with three cab forwards(1 on the point, one mid-train and one about 12 cars ahead of the caboose). An afternoon trip to the Balboa Blvd crossing of the Coast Line to watch the Daylight go by with 20 cars and a GS-4. Throw in some trips my father (who travelled a lot on business) treated me to like a ride to St. Louis on the IC transitional Green Diamond's open platform observation car, and a round trip to minneapolis one weekend out on the Hiawatha and back on the 400 at better that 100 MPH on each and it's little wonder that I'm an obsesive train freak.

[Anonymous]

Having moved around alot as a child, I've lived by Penn Central, Milwaukee Road, BN, SP, ATSF, Mopac, and KCS. It was quite a thrill to get a cab ride in a KCS GP40!! Nearly 20 years ago--I hope I'm getting better and not just older!

[Anonymous]

Bessemer & Lake Erie, Conrail, and Chessie System/CSX/Buffalo & Pittsburgh all served the nearest town. Now its just B&P and CN-Bessemer Division.

[Anonymous]

By CN in south paris ME.

[Anonymous]

In my VERY early years it was the Grand Trunk which turned a daily sand train in Muskegon Michigan. Later it was the Manistee & Noreastern (known by the locals as the Manistee and Nowhere Else) which ran by my grandfathers fruit farm in Manistee and Onekama, Michigan. During my high school years, my (later) father-in-law operated the Ludington & Northern, a wholly owned subsidary of the Sergeant Sand Company. They hauled sand over a five mile route from the sand dunes of Lake Michigan to an interchange with the C7O in Ludington. The sand ended up at the Ford River Rouge plant in Detroit or at a Libby Owens Ford glass plant.
Then of course there were the C&O carferries which operated out of Ludington to Milwaukee, Manitowoc & Kewanee Wisconsin. They ran 7 boats, 'round the clock 24-7 for a lot of years. One boat the SS Badger still operates from May - October hauling cross lake auto and truck traffic from Ludington to Manitowoc.

[Anonymous]

I grew up on 8th street in Jersey City about 4 blocks from the Hudson River. On tenth street(adjacent to my school yard) ran the ERIE later to be the E-L. On 6th st. ran the Pennsylvania later to become the Penn Central. A few blocks away was the Hudson Tubes later to become PATH. Also remeber taking the ferry from the ERIE terminal to NY not too long before they stopped that service.
Great question!!
Mark
http://webusers.warwick.net/~u1015590/

[Anonymous]

I grew up along Conrail and New Jersey Transit.

[rogerhensley]

Anderson was criss-crossed with rail lines. There was the Pennsy and the New York Central and the Central Indiana Ry. Not too far away I could find the NKP, the N&W and the B&O. I liked the Pennsy and the Central though. They were MY roads. Those were the roads that had people going places and doing things and then I was in the Navy and riding to Chicago and back. Suddenly, I was one of those people going places in those passenger cars that moved back and forth through town.(excerpt from "A Remembrance - PRR" from the Memories Pages of the Railroads of Madison County.)

In Anderson Indiana
1950s
NYC
PRR
CI
1960s
PC
CI
1970s
CR
CI
1990s
CR
CIW
Today
CSX
NS
CIW

[Anonymous]

Growing up in Bloomington Minnesota (South of Minneapolis) in the 50s-60s we had a shortline run through near my home. It was called the Minneaplis, Northfield and Southern. Driving through differant locations in the state, you would come across many roads: CB&Q, C&NW, CMStP &P (Road on the Hiawatha when I was real young) Soo Line, Northern Pacific, Great Northern and Missabi Road all had lines through or in the state. There are likely many more, which I just can't remember. My favorite roads ended up being in order of preferance: Northern Pacific, DM&IR, Great Northern and Soo Line.

[RMax1]

The KATY ran right out side my back door. in Dallas. We moved a little west and close to the Rock Island line and the Frisco. I would go by the GM plant in Arlington and see strings and strings or cars when I was a kid.

RMax

[orsonroy]

Let's see...

Growing up in Chicago between 1970-1982, I basically grew up alongside a lot of railroads. My parents commuted on the Rock Island and the CTA, my uncle worked for the C&NW, my dad's mom lived a block from the Penn Central, and my mom's mom lived across the street from the N&W. My dad was a bigtime railfan, and dragged me all over the place to chase steam, the Milwaukee Road, and the D&RGW.

Once we moved to the 'burbs, the picture changed. We lived a mile or so from the EJ&E, and the Soo Line was about 2 blocks away from my high school. Later, the Soo became the Wisconsin Central, and switched the lumberyard that I worked in for most of HS. I went to college in Williamsport, PA, only a couple of blocks away from Conrail.

I don't model any of these roads......

[mikebonellisr]

nycentral,new haven, penn central,conrail, metro north.The 'PUT' division of NYC, & NYC west side freight line.Barge operations on the hudson & east rivers.
I grew up in manhattan [washington heights] where the island is narrow. It was a easy walk to the polo grounds or yankee stadium.There was a lot of RR action on the east or west of me.We use to ride the freights to midtown and save the 10 cent (?) fare.I also commuted for 20 yrs. behind penn central @ conrail FL9's

[jdolan]

I grew up on a farm on the mainline of the ATSFbetween Joliet,ILand Streator,IL
THe ATSF formed the South boundery of the farm, so I model the ATSF.

[cwclark]

I got to see the trains very close-up where I grew up...The SP hopper and cattle car train on the Kerrville branch of the East Yard ran right past my back yard in San Antonio, Tx...I remember a lot of "Black Widow" RS-3's and RS-11's, and F-7 A & B units in my younger days... As I grew a few GP-7's and later GP-9's started showing up and about the time I left home the GP -28's, 30's, and 35's were on the scene...I went to visit a friend's parents that lived on the same block not long ago, and I realized how much the diesels have changed in the past 40 years...The train went by their house on my visit and there were (UP) Mac 70's and AC4400's pulling those same old SP hoppers...(The cattle cars stopped running in the early 70's).....Chuck[:D]

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Mundelein, Illinois just a couple blocks from downtown where the SOO Line station was in the 1950's. Spent a lot of time playing by the tracks and sidings and in some of the abandoned line shacks before they were torn down in the early '60s.

I did get to see a few SOO Line steam locos go thru, but it was mostly GP's and F's. I do remember one occasion that a Santa Fe Warbonnet Streamliner came thru, but I do not have any idea why, since Mundelein was nowhere near one of their routes. All I know is that it was an ABBA with at least 25 or more passenger cars, (couple of domes) and it sure was flying thru compared with any of the SOO consists I had ever seen.

We used to get lots of shipping boxes and crates from the freight house crew to use for building our "forts" and to play in. And before the steam engine water tower was removed, we used to climb up on top and watch the trains go by.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kog1027

For the first 11 years of my life it was 4 unit sets of Frisco Red & White GP-7's on the Ardmore - Arkinda sub-division ( Now the Kiamichi RR. ) in Durant, Oklahoma.

That was 30+ years ago, I still miss the sights and sounds of the Frisco.

Mark Gosdin

Hi Mark [:)]

I too grew up along the Frisco near a small Missouri town called, Bois D' Arc. As a VERY small child I bearly remember seeing Frisco passenger trains and riding a few. Unfortunately I was not into photography them and never snapped any shots of my own of Frisco equipment. Warning--DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN TO YOU, TAKE PHOTOS NOW WHILE YOU CAN.

Like Mark I always thought Frisco's last color scheme was red and white. When the engines were new they definately looked red. Only after Frisco was gone did I even learn that Frisco's official color scheme was Mandarin Orange and White. The engines only looked orange when they were faded.

Frisco may be gone, but it is not forgotten.