dmoore74narig01 In the 1930's The Monson RR, a Maine 2 footer. The RR had a derailment in the middle of the railroad and they had no way to rerail their last engine. Rgds IGN It was actually the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington that ceased to operate after a derailment in 1933. The line was dismantled in 1934. A portion of the track has been relaid by the new WW&F and operates during the summer. www.wwfry.org The Monson Railroad continued to operate until1942 and was officially abandoned in 1944, the last Maine 2-footer to be abandoned.
narig01 In the 1930's The Monson RR, a Maine 2 footer. The RR had a derailment in the middle of the railroad and they had no way to rerail their last engine. Rgds IGN
In the 1930's The Monson RR, a Maine 2 footer. The RR had a derailment in the middle of the railroad and they had no way to rerail their last engine.
Rgds IGN
It was actually the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington that ceased to operate after a derailment in 1933. The line was dismantled in 1934. A portion of the track has been relaid by the new WW&F and operates during the summer. www.wwfry.org The Monson Railroad continued to operate until1942 and was officially abandoned in 1944, the last Maine 2-footer to be abandoned.
WW&F (along with the SR&RL and Kennebunkport Trolley Museum, Boothbay Harbor, and any narrow guage, any depot, or any railroad whatever in New England in general and Maine in particular) is a must stop, see and ride thing for any age, level, or interest in railroads!
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.
cbq9911a Boyd I think its happened in the past but not sure where a RR was abandoned tracks and all and nothing sold, scrapped or liquidated. That happened to the Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin on July 3, 1957. The railroad suspended passenger service, and suspended freight service in June, 1959. It remained intact until officially abandoned in 1961. Scrapping started in November 1961.
Boyd I think its happened in the past but not sure where a RR was abandoned tracks and all and nothing sold, scrapped or liquidated.
I think its happened in the past but not sure where a RR was abandoned tracks and all and nothing sold, scrapped or liquidated.
That happened to the Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin on July 3, 1957. The railroad suspended passenger service, and suspended freight service in June, 1959. It remained intact until officially abandoned in 1961. Scrapping started in November 1961.
"Abandonment" of a rail line is something that requires regulatory authority, and has since 1920. A railroad that takes up an unused rail line without getting that authority takes a big risk. If someone later comes along and demands rail service the railroad could liable to the shipper for failure to provide service, and could conceivably be forced to put the line back. There are several instances where railroads have had to pay damages to shippers for unlawful abandonments and track removal. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any cases where a railroad has actually been forced to put a line back. But both the ICC and the STB have repeatedly recognized that this could happen.
On the other hand, there have been a number of cases where railroads have been shut down and not removed. Often, to avoid regulatory service requirements, the railroad will obtain regulatory "discontinuance of service" authority for these lines. A good current example of this is the Tennessee Pass line in Colorado. I believe the CA&E also had discontinuance authority for both its passenger and freight service, and then later secured abandonment authority to liquidate the property. They did it right - they didn't remove the track until they had the abanonment authority .
Northwestern Pacific is a more interesting case. I don't think they ever received either abandonment or discontinuance authority. Instead, FRA shut them down in 1998 with an emergency order. In theory, that would no excuse them from failing to provide service (or seeking abanonment authority) after a reasonable time for repairs. I think someone brought an STB case against them for this a few years back, but it was unsuccessful, probably due to failure to prove any damages. But NWP would still be taking a big risk were it to start removing portions of its line without getting abandonment authority.
I think in the case of NWP it would probably be too expensive to remove the track than to just leave it. I think they are just about ready to return service from Shellville to Willits but I don't think there will ever be service again from Willits to any points north.
Are those 4 GPs still stranded in Eureka? The last time I was up there was 2007.
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