What railroad(s) did we grow up by?

[espeefoamer]

From birth to age 15 months,PRR. From age 2 to 4,SP main line. After age 4 UP main line with SP freights operating on trackage rights.

[garr]

I grew up along the Georgia Railroad in Thomson, GA. I was a teenager in the late '70's and used to ride the Georgia Railroad's mixed trains frequently. An 11 mile ride in a dusty, make that a very dusty, Budd coach at the caboose end of a 125 car freight cost 36 cents. The railroad would only bring the train to a slow crawl and the conductor or flagman would grab my arm and pull me aboard. Usually after the running boarding, the train would stop anyway since it was fighting a grade when going west towards Camak. Imagine this procedure today in our litigious society!

The mixed trains stopped running in 1983 when CSX was formed. I was away at college and did not get to ride the last run. However CSX took them out in style.

Jay

[Anonymous]

Mostly Conrail and BN. Moved to Chattanooga TN in 98, which of course is the home of a NS Debutts yard, so lots of those. Live in Southern Ohio now, where there's mostly CSX and NS, but you see the occasional UP or BNSF going by while in Huntington, WV, just across the river.

[Anonymous]

Virginian,

That ferry to Little Creek always fasinated me when I was stationed there. I always hoped we get underway so that we would pass close to one . . . but never happened.

[retsignalmtr]

i grew up in the bronx ny across the street from the NYC'S harlem line in the 50's and 60's.. it was also three blocks from the railroads mott haven yard where the 20th century was brought for service. the line was also shared by the new haven. i saw many passenger and freight trains and i also watched a freight train as it was derailing. my grandfather worked for the nyc, my father worked for the nyc, pc and conrail. my younger brother worked for the pc and conrail. i was the black sheep of the family that went to work for the nyc subway.

[Anonymous]

I live next to the "Heart of Wales line" - it's been dubbed this by the enthusiasts though it's part of the normal British Rail (now some private operator, think it's Arriva at the moment) network. There's a load of photos of the line back in the '80s here www.railcar.co.uk/Gallery/Heart.htm though we don't get those old railcars now - pity really, the units from that era had decent seats and a good view out - now you're folded up like a deckchair and unable to see ahead (the old railcars were set up so you could see the line ahead over the driver's shoulder)!

[Anonymous]

Wow... Where I grew up in eastern VA, it was N & W and the Southern. There was an N & W branch line a couple of tenths of a mile from where I lived, with a siding at a sand pit. We used to climb all over the hopper cars several times a week. I think it was the Southern that ran the train ferry across the Chesapeake Bay to the Eastern Shore; the south point being at Little Creek, very close to where I lived. Traveling on the northern side of Hampton Roads, one would see C & O. During the summer, we almost always went to West Virginia, and I remember seeing Virginian coal trains winding through the Appalachians.... Yea... I'm old, don't say it....

[Anonymous]

I grew up a few blocks from the Milwaukee Roads, Milwaukee to Chicago Main, and if you took a short walk you could see the CNW's Chicago to Milwaukee Main.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Harrington Park, NJ, two houses east of the NYC West Shore line. Double track and commuter trains were the norm until 1959. Lightning striped RS3's on the commuter trains are a vivid memory, other NYC power is a little vague, but FM C-liners with their big headlights were a little spooky to me as a first grader walking to school. And I did see the Krauss-Maffei DRGW hydraulic demo set....that was my show-and-tell contribution that morning.

Three Erie lines were within short driving distance. Closest was the Northern Branch in Closter, NJ. A little farther in the other direction was the Pascack Valley Branch (or the New Jersey & New York). The Erie main line was a little farther away...my first intercity train ride started in Ridgewood, NJ in the spring of 1961 with my grandmother to visit relatives in Horseheads, NY.

[n2mopac]

I grew up in West-Central Missouri along the origional Missouri Pacific line between St. Louis and Kansas City. I was a teenager when MoPac merged with UP, so I watched the flaming chickens turn to Canaries and eventually blend into pure UP colors/schemes. I have since lived in two other towns along that some line, including my present home. For several years we would see quite a bit of CSX equipment/locos along this line, but those days are obviously gone. This is also the line that carries the Missouri Mule, Amtrak's versions of MoPac's old twice daily round trip between St. L. and KC.

I lived for 4 years in a town in North West Missouri which had mains for BNSF (this was just post merger, so we saw lots of Santa Fe, BN, and early merger paint schemes) and Norlolk Southern (former Wabash line).

Ron

[johngraser]

A Southern Pacific branch in Huntington Beach, CA

John

[Anonymous]

I grew up near a Chrysler assembly plant serviced by the CNW with car carriers and huge 89' high cube box cars.

---jps

[Anonymous]

Growing up in Lincroft/Middletown New Jersey the railroad was the New York and Long Branch. Got to see CNJ freights and passenger trains. I particularly remember the multi colored trains when either CNJ or NJDOT picked up a bunch of Great Northern/Burlington Northern etc passenger cars. Also there were always PRR/PC E units. When my dad and I would take the train to NYC the coolest was when the engines were switched at Amboy to GG1's. Way cool railroading!

[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.

[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.

[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]

[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.

[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

[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......

[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

[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.

[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]

I grew up along Conrail and New Jersey Transit.

[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]

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]

By CN in south paris ME.

[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]

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!

[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.

[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 .