Disappearing rails

[spokyone]

Murph; You sure think up good stuff.
I have only a few years of Handy Railroad Atlas by Rand-Mcnally

Illinois 1973 14,416 miles
Illinois 1982 10,203 miles
That's only    4,213 difference. Now look at this:
Illinois 1965  14,446. We only lost 30 miles in the next 8 years.

[Murphy Siding]

     I read where Iowa, in a 10 year period, from 1971 to 1981 lost 1/2 of it's rail miles.  My home state of South Dakota probably lost a similar percentage in about that same time frame.  Was this shrinkage in railroad miles similar for most states in that era?  I'd guess, that Wyoming was maybe one state that bucked that trend.