Here's a question that I hope will spark some interesting information. Where are some of the best train streeting running spots in the U.S.
As a kid I remember the trains crawling around the Nalley Valley and Point Defiance areas of Tacoma, Ballard, Snohomish, Mt. Vernon and Seattle, Wasington. I also remember street running in Newberg, Oregon and Addison, Texas.
I know streeting running is getting rarer as lines are relocated or the customers shut down, moves or go to trucks, but I'm sure there are still some cool places where a locomotive with a freight car or two still crawls down a cities roads or back alleys to a customer or two.
Happy rail explorations
Road Fan
10th and 11th Streets in Michigan City IN. There are also some spots on Goose Island on the near North Side of Chicago, but most of that operation is at night.
The ICE has some famous street-running or at least "running very close to the street" in eastern Iowa.
I agree with Paul, Michigan City is pretty neat, as is Goose Island.
ed
LaGrange, Kentucky.
Erie, PA...
Jack London Square, Oakland Ca, dbl track mainline, freight, passenger, commuter, 24 - 7, you can even sit in a cafe chair and sip a coffee from a shop in the square,get hungry, go walk over & get a sandwich, get bored, go to the Borders bookstore, and at night go to Yoshi's, a great Japanese restaurant with a 1st class jazz club attached, all in one easy stop. Dare anyone to top that.
Have fun with your trains
CSX runs a local almost daily right through the middle of downtown Tampa, down the center of Polk Street. It's really a sight to behold; and the horn blasts echoing off the tall buildings can be deafening too.
Ted M.
got trains?™
See my photos at: http://tedmarshall.rrpicturearchives.net/
I actually caught this train when I stayed overnight there some years back, remember looking out the window of my hotel and seeing a train going down the street. I am assuming it's the same one Ted was referring to. It was not far from the Amtrak station, there was a also a yard nearby with old equipment.
UlrichErie, PA...
That's been torn up for a couple years now. But you can add West Brownsville, PA to the list.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Hasn't the track through Lafayette been torn up as well? I know the trains bypass this stretch now on a new route.
Vic's spot in Oakland sounds hard to beat. But I suspect that the South Shore's line in Michigan City is the only place where passenger trains and freights have to negotiate grades usually reserved for cars. That track is anything but level!
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Michigan city for me also. The track twists and turns through streets and climbs up grades, and the trains come inches away from cars as they head down the tight space on the street.
Great spots....thanks to Google or Microsoft maps, a person can visit these sites electronically.
I can't imagine a better situation....eating a good meal, sipping a cup of coffee or drinking a cold beer and leasurly watching the trains pass by....the only way to top that would be on the train itself.
Before moving to Texas, I used to take my wife to some nice restuarants along the Edmonds, Mukilteo, and Everett, WA waterfront (she had a silly notion that it was for the food- how naive). But as we enjoyed the evening, I'd always be listening for any distant rumbling of a BNSF locomotive heading our way....seemed to recall that all the guys would careen their necks to get a look as it passed by.....sort of like a bunch of cats with a bird at the window. Probably takes the window washers an hour just to remove all the face and hand prints off the glass every time a train goes by.
Happy Rails;
Ulrich Erie, PA...
No More! Erie, PA street running was closed down in late 2000 when the Norfolk Southern (ex Nickle Plate) trains were shifted on to CSX
ndbprr Lafeyette, Indiana on the old Monon.
Lafeyette, Indiana on the old Monon.
Not any more!!!
NS(ex-Wabash) & CSX(ex-Monon) got together on a new alignment 5 years or so ago. It goes through town down by the Wabash River. Trains did a feature article on the new line a few years ago.
Mike
FT Collins Co on the old C&S ( and we blew for EVERY crossing in town!!) and as WIAR mentioned.Bellvue Iowa and I would guess parts of Clinton ( we run right between two streets lol.) IAIS has some "street" running in Davenport.Also up in Dubuque Iowa IC has a spur to a lumber company running in the streets.Not mainline but still in a street.
Yes we are on time but this is yesterdays train
1. The main street of Ashland, Virginia, is also the main line of the old RF&P, now CSX's Washington - Richmond line. All Amtrak's NY - Florida, Washington - Carolina, and NY - Newport News trains used the line. Station is also the town's hospitality-civic center. It is center-reservation running, north auto lanes on the east side and sourth on the west, of the double-track line, not paved except at crossings and in the immediate station area.
2. I believe the Manufacturers RY still runs in New Haven with street trackage on Forbes Street. including a drawbridge. Old streetcar line that always also saw freight service connecing with NHRR. Diesel now, of course.
Lansing, Iowa and Bellevue, Iowa on "my mainline" - the ICE/CP. Really love Lansing as the mainline goes right past a few shops and a restaurant near the downtown area then goes right along the street both ways out of town.
Where is Lansing? if North of Marquette I will neve get to see it ( please tell me south lol) Bellvue has a quiet zone enacted so.... cant play like I did in Ft Collins.
All that he said and more. Only 2 or 3 decades ago I kept a small trimaran in the San Francisco Bay. A person can sail up to the Jack London public dock 2 blocks from the tracks. Boats and trains together - the joy!
John
Augusta, Georgia.
route_rock Where is Lansing? if North of Marquette I will neve get to see it ( please tell me south lol) Bellvue has a quiet zone enacted so.... cant play like I did in Ft Collins.
Lansing is about 27 miles north of Marquette or about 10 miles south of New Albin. You should get up there sometime.
This topic was covered in a recent Trains magazine article, within the past two years or so.
One of the top street running spots listed in a sidebar box in the article was on the Rock Island Metra line, through what the article called "Beverly, Illinois".
This puzzled me at that time but I never contested it, so I'll ask now. Exactly where does the Rock Island Metra line run on a street on its way to Joliet Central Station?.
Poppa_Zit This topic was covered in a recent Trains magazine article, within the past two years or so. One of the top street running spots listed in a sidebar box in the article was on the Rock Island Metra line, through what the article called "Beverly, Illinois". This puzzled me at that time but I never contested it, so I'll ask now. Exactly where does the Rock Island Metra line run on a street on its way to Joliet Central Station?.
Metra's Rock Island District does some street running in Ridge Park near the 99th Street Station- it runs down Wood Street for a segment- then it also runs bracketed closely between some city streets noth and south of there. I'm not sure where they got "Beverly" from- Beverly Hills, IL is to the north up past 100th street, but the real Beverly, IL is further south in the west central part of Illinois... sounds like a typo to me.
nordique72 I'm not sure where they got "Beverly" from- Beverly Hills, IL is to the north up past 100th street, but the real Beverly, IL is further south in the west central part of Illinois... sounds like a typo to me
Now that I think of it, it did say "Beverly Hills, Ill." But I'd hardly call that area a great location for shooting street running.
It's not a hot spot by any measure, but it was passed over in the Trains survey of road running:
Anaheim, CA on Santa Ana Street, from the West Anaheim "Y". The "Y" (once SP, now UP) is just south of where Broadway crosses Interstate 5. There is a nice little park next to the Y mini-yard. One branch goes over I-5 and merges with Santa Ana Street. The rails run a mile or so east down the center of Santa Ana. Then they turn south on Olive Street and go another mile. There the rails continue, but the street is blocked off, even though the pavement continues.
Most of the distance is in residential areas. Some apartments but mostly single family homes. After passing Anaheim Police HQ at Harbor the zoning changes to mixed commercial and residential. When the circus is at the Honda Center, this is the route it takes to get to a small yard just north of Katella.
Traffic is very light. I have lived in Anaheim since 1980 and I have seen trains moving on these rails exactly twice.
Jack
The street running that Ted and Trainfan are referring to in Tampa, Florida is CSX's Port Tampa Local. It originates at the giant yard about 4 miles east of Downtown. Usually runs through at the 5:00p.m hour, passes by Tampa Union Station on it's westward trip to Port Tampa. Lengths between 15-25 cars. Locomotive usually a single GP38-2 or GP40-2. When double-headed one unit is usually a control slug. Loads are mostly in covered and centerflow hoppers, though boxcars and tanks are scattered in the mix.
The locomotive(s) usually drift eastward, back through Downtown on the way to the big Uceta Yard area between 10:00-11:00p.m.
Other than the Amtrak Silver Star, there's just not that much rail action anymore near the Downtown area (Well, there is the trolley). The east side of town is the place to catch more activity. For me, it's a sad reminder that the 1970s and Seaboard Coast Line are long gone.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.