Abandoned Rails

[abandonedrails]

I would like to present my new website, "Abandoned Rails.com".

Some of you may be familiar with "abandonedrailroads.com", which was maintained by Jimmy Summers. He has been unable to continue running his website, and has graciously allowed me to assume control of the content, which I have re-formatted and placed on my site:

http://www.abandonedrails.com

Please let me know what you think.

Also, if you have any information about an abandoned railroad right-of-way near where you live, let me know!

Thanks,

Greg 

[CShaveRR]

This is certainly an ambitious project!  Good luck with it.

Comment on your coverage of the CGW line:  The 1984 abandonment date of Carol Stream to Villa Park is correct and authentic.  Those rails showing in the 1976 photo stayed in place, and were used pretty regularly until the Ovaltine factory in Villa Park was closed.  I remember seeing a locomotive with come cars for Ovaltine that year, picking their way over the bridge over the CNW main line in Lombard.

In 1970, the timetable showed this line with ABS and a 45-mph speed limit.

[CopCarSS]

Greg,

Nice site. I bookmarked it. Question: Do you remember another abandoned railroad page called "Rumor Web" or something along those lines?

[gopherstate]

Greg, good luck on the new site.  This is exactly the type of site I have been wishing for.  I will send you all the information I can on abandonments in Eastern South Dakota and South Western Minnesota.  I look forward to seeing many interesting posts and doing a lot of research to help fill out the information on my little corner of the railroad world.  Thanks, Matt

[Modelcar]

....Greg....Very interesting site to me.  Happens to be a subject I have interest in.

I'll see if I have any data I can send to you.

[CShaveRR]

If you can use some of the SPV Railroad Atlases as research tools, you'll see just how formidable a task this is!

Trains has a column in every month's issue detailing the most recent abandonments and acquisitions of railroad lines.

[tree68]

Michael Kudish's books on rails in the Adirondacks have been a formidable endeavor - he's on the third edition and he's still discovering new stuff.  The first book covered the entire Adirondacks with about 250 pages.  The second ran to over 500 pages, and the third edition is coming out in four volumes (with two out so far), although the fourth will cover the Catskills, something the previous editions have not.

Although he's doing something you're not - visiting virtually every mile of railroad he's documented - you've set yourself up for a pretty substantial journey.  Get all the help you can!

You may be creating a resource that is very useful to many, many people.

 

[inch53]

Greg,, if you could use it, I have some photos of some old bridges on the NYC's Cairo line. I'm also trying to get some of the IC's abandoned line from Mattoon to Newton IL.

These would be recent; I haven't got any old ones yet.

Here's a link to a site that use to find old stations and other building

http://www.rrshs.org/

inch

[abandonedrails]

Thanks to everyone for their kind words (both off- and on-line). Abandoned railroad right-of-ways have always fascinated me for some reason, and since I'm a computer programmer by trade, I figured I would put two of my passions together and create a website for them!

Also, many of you have expressed interest in submitting information about abandoned railroad lines. I will take anything you have to offer! I want to make this website a definitive resource for the online railfan, and your contributions will help!

Please send anything you have to me at "[e-mail]", and I will see about posting it to the site. Of course, you will get proper credit for anything you contribute.

Thanks again, guys, and I look forward to seeing your contributions!

Greg 

[nanaimo73]

Greg,, if you could use it, I have some photos of some old bridges on the NYC's Cairo line.   inch

Inch, would you happen to know how many tunnels were on that line ?

[abandonedrails]

Question: Do you remember another abandoned railroad page called "Rumor Web" or something along those lines?

Yes, I do remember that website, and am sorry to say that it no longer exists. There are efforts to restore the site but with partial information, as some of the content was permanently lost.

However, there is a Yahoo group called RumorWeb, which was started by the same guy who did the website:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/rumorwebdiscussion/

Any updates on the new site's progress would be posted here.

Thanks,
Greg

[SALfan]

There is a website that has a lot of info (brief histories and maps in most cases) on abandoned railroads in Georgia.  Don't have the URL handy, sorry.  I really enjoyed digging around in the site.

[inch53]

Greg,, if you could use it, I have some photos of some old bridges on the NYC's Cairo line.   inch

Inch, would you happen to know how many tunnels were on that line ?

Dale,, I don't know for sure, I haven't been south of Mt. Carmel for 30 years or so [at that I wasn't to interested in trains]. I believe there are a couple tunnels below Harrisburg, but don't hold me to that

Most of what I'm doing now is current photos and some history of the line between Lawrence county north to Edgar. 

inch

[nanaimo73]

Okay, thanks. Some day I'm going to Terraserve the southern end of the line, that the Southern ran for awhile.

[Anonymous]

Huh, I bookmarked it a few days ago. I forget where I say the link though......

Great site!

[trainfan1221]

Nice site.. will have to explore more.  I would like to add that the Toms River Industrial track in the New Jersey section is part of the old Barnegat branch, now torn up below there.

[abandonedrails]

I would like to add that the Toms River Industrial track in the New Jersey section is part of the old Barnegat branch, now torn up below there.

Do you have any other information about the Barnegat branch? I would like to include this on that page on my website. 

[Doc Murdock]

Is there somewhere I could go to look for abandoned lines in Canada?

[Modelcar]

....Our town here in the midwest, Muncie, has at least 6 abandoned Interurban ROW's that lead out of the city to other areas....Some visible and some disappearing from the ravaging of time and rebuilding, etc....

Believe the last Interurban operation was abandoned in early 1941.  Our fair city had a central station {depot}, for city streetcar line and Interurban lines. It was located right in downtown Munce.  Even had a large "train shed" to cover the tracks at the station.  That was still intact when I first arrived in this town back in '57.  It was demolished just a few years later and I believe the building that replaced it was first occupied by J. C. Penny.  It is still there and being used by State offices.  Called something like:  "Work One Place".  For some time after that building was in place some remnants of track was still visible in the pavement on the south side of that site.

There are streets in Muncie, one can still see the imprint of hidden rails under the pavement.  Also, I know of one intersection in an outer part of town the rails are still actually visible in the pavement from the city street car line.  And I believe the street car line was abandoned in '31...!

[nanaimo73]

Is there somewhere I could go to look for abandoned lines in Canada?

The best thing to do would see if your library has
Lines of Country: An Atlas of Railway and Waterway History in Canada

After looking over the area you are interested in, start googling.

[abandonedrails]

Is there somewhere I could go to look for abandoned lines in Canada?

Though not officially "published" on my website, I do have two articles for Canada:

http://www.abandonedrails.com/gallery.asp?t=1&id=52

If you have anything you'd like to contribute to Canada, let me know! Hopefully I will get around to adding a link to Canada on my homepage soon!

Greg

[trainfan1221]

I would like to add that the Toms River Industrial track in the New Jersey section is part of the old Barnegat branch, now torn up below there.

Do you have any other information about the Barnegat branch? I would like to include this on that page on my website. 

Sorry I couldn't write back sooner.  The Barnegat branch went roughly parallel to Route 9 through several towns including Forked River and Waretown.  It was more or less out of service by the 70s but ran an occasional train from what I understand and remained intact up to the Oyster Creek nuclear facility.  Conrail abandoned the southern portion of it by the late 70s and there was service to a town called Pinewald not far from Toms River.  It is all gone now except for the portion by the lumber yard and Rt. 37.  I used to visit my grandparents in Forked River growing up and remember the tracks there.  I never saw a train though.  This was an old CNJ line as I guess is obvious and used to host passenger service years ago.  

   Considering how built up it got in that area you would think they might have used it now.