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Tracks next to stadiums?

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Posted by Harbinger on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 8:28 AM

 The New Orleans Superdome is right next to the NO Union Terminal.    Also, the IC ran about 100ft or so from Alex Box Stadium on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

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Posted by dehusman on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 8:09 AM

The Houston Astros' Enron field is built on the Houston Union Station train yard.  The old station building has been incorporated into the facade.

It has a locomotive that runs out when they hit a home run.

So it is near the tracks, on the tracks and has a train in it.

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Posted by GNR8055 on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 7:34 AM
Former Buffalo Rochester and Pittsburgh (B&O) tracks run right behind Ralph Wilson stadium in Orchard Park, NY. Home of Terrell Owens, ooops, I mean the Buffalo Bills. There was talk a few years ago about using the trackage to bring special fan trains in from other parts of NY.
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Posted by aut1rml on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 3:25 AM

Yes my wife and I rode AMtrack from Indy to Chicago last week, and got a good look at Lucas Oil stadium from the coach. I think that is at or near CSX cp.IU

The ride to Chicago was frustrating, we had more than nine slow orders and other restrictions along the way. The price was right but 5 hours stinks. I was shocked by some of the track condition in northern Indiana. Funny thing is we ran the fastest 45mph and more over jointed rail that was very uneven. I felt sorry for the old lady that made many trips to the toilet due to stomache flu with the cursloshing and all.

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Posted by sunbeam on Monday, June 8, 2009 9:23 PM
Houston Astros play at Minute Maid Park which was built on the site of the tracks/platforms for Houston Union Station. The headhouse has been restored as the main entrance and offices to the stadium. The Houston Belt & Terminal tracks have all been pulled out, but the UP Congress Yard is about a mile to the SE . TNO #982 is on display next to the stadium, although SP trains didn't come into Union Station. Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos is where Texas State University home games are played. The west side of the stadium is less than 100 ft. from the UP main (ex-MP Laredo to Longview), and at least 2-3 trains pass by per game. Almost every upper deck seat has a great view of the track, as well as the game.
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Posted by toastpoint on Monday, June 8, 2009 8:50 PM

Frontier Field in downtown Rochester, NY is home to the International League Red Wings. The CSX Chicago line passes the stadium on a fill above right and right-center field and features several freight and  Amtrak trains daily and nightly. The best view of the trains is from the third base side of the stadium.

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Posted by thayer north sub on Monday, June 8, 2009 7:16 PM

Hammons Field in downtown Springfield,Mo.AA affliate of the St. Louis Carrdinals. When a coal train sounds for the crossing behind the outfield fence, well it echos very loud. Baseball and coal trains with dpu on the end. Homerun.      Brian

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Posted by desertdog on Monday, June 8, 2009 6:14 PM

Camp Randall Stadium at the University of Wisconsin--Madison is located a block from the former Milwaukee Road line to Prairie Du Chien (and beyond to the Dakotas in the past).  At one time there was a siding next to the Engineering building where football specials would park.  I believe that during the time that the Wisconsin and Calumet operated the line, they also ran some football specials on a trial basis.  This line is now part of the Wisconsin and Southern.

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Posted by CNSF on Monday, June 8, 2009 6:00 PM

Am surprised no one has yet mentioned the "Rogers Centre" (many still prefer to call it the Skydome), home of the Toronto Blue Jays (and Argonauts of the CFL).  It was built on the site of CN's downtown Toronto roundhouse, a few blocks from Union Station.  The tracks leading to the station run right next to the foundation.  There are no views from inside the stadium, but from multiple pedestrian footbridges leading to it you can watch VIA, GO Transit, and Ontario Northland passenger trains as well as the occasional CN freight. 

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Posted by ns3010 on Monday, June 8, 2009 5:11 PM

NJ Transit is building a branch off of the Pascack Valley Line that will go to the Meadowlands. It will open this summer (I forget the exact date, but I'd like to say July 26). For now, it will have service for sporting events, but it will get regular service once the new shopping mall opens.

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Posted by desertdog on Monday, June 8, 2009 1:25 PM

ChuckCobleigh

First of all, I am shocked that nobody mentioned Wrigley Field in Chicago. The CTA Red Line runs just east of Sheffield Avenue and sports the Addison Street station. If you are sitting in the upper deck, you watch the trains coming and going, including some great arcing action from the third rail, well visible even during a day game.

Here in San Diego, Petco Park is right next to the trolley orange and blue lines and the rail line coming up from the BNSF yard towards Santa Fe station. In Mission Valley, the trolley green line runs through the southern portion of the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot and stops at a station there.

At one time, the C&E / Milwaukee Road (a/k/a the "Lakewood" Branch) ran right past Wrigley Field.  There was even a siding.

John Timm

 

 

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Posted by oskar on Monday, June 8, 2009 12:33 PM

Augusta's James Brown Arena. It has CSX's line leading to 11th Street, which splits to go to Atlanta (Georgia Sub) or Spartanburg (McCormick Sub). NS also runs by the JBA with Street Running on 6th Street (R Line).

The JBA was home to the Augusta Lynx, who folded in December after 10 years of minor league hockey.

 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, June 8, 2009 7:53 AM

Not quite a stadium, but a CSX main line runs adjacent to Augusta National and is visible from some of the fairways.  I recall reading several years ago that the appropriate roundhouses were requested to assign motive power in full CSX "Bright Future" colors to trains on that line during the week of the Masters tournament.

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Posted by ndbprr on Monday, June 8, 2009 7:40 AM

You have to be pretty old I guess to remember Crosley Field in Cincinatti.  A park so small there was a terrace in center field to keep the outfileders from injuring themselves running into the wall.  Beyond the wall was a branch line and I-75.  I can remember more than one game on the tube where a switch crew had either slowed dwon or stopped in centerfield to watch the game

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Posted by Victrola1 on Monday, June 8, 2009 7:21 AM

http://quadcities.riverbandits.milb.com/ballpark/page.jsp?ymd=20080606&content_id=410802&vkey=ballpark_t565&fext=.jsp&sid=t565

Pay for it and name it, used to be John O' Donell (SP?), stadium in Davenport, IA. This park sits between the now Canadian Pacific and the Mississippi River. Sit high along left field for viewing trains and barges. 

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Posted by Los Angeles Rams Guy on Monday, June 8, 2009 6:42 AM

Don't forget Kinnick Stadium, the football home of the Iowa Hawkeyes which has the former Rock Island (now IAIS) Chicago - Omaha mainline running by it on the southwest side of the stadium.  I vividly remember when I was an elementary school kid back in the late 60's hearing the RI freights that rumble by.  

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Posted by henry6 on Sunday, June 7, 2009 10:11 PM

Beach Bill

"NYSEG" stadium in Binghampton, NY is home to the Binghampton Mets (it was the Binghampton Bees when I visited there), members of the Class AA Eastern League.  Former Susquehanna and D&H tracks are just past the outfield wall.  Buy your seats fairly high in the stands to be able to watch the train action along with your baseball, otherwise you will only get to see the tops of the diesels and cars.

Bill

There is no "P" in Binghamton....lots of crap, but no "P"!  And it is the former DL&W and Erie track you see now NS.  The field itself is built on the former frieight yard, freight house and Acme Fast Freight (forwarder) warehouse.

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Posted by SFbrkmn on Sunday, June 7, 2009 8:43 PM

rluke
There is an Amtrak station on the NS line next to the new Cleveland Browns stadium. If we could get the Browns to play their home games at 3:00 in the morning it would work out great. rluke

As bad as the Browns will be in '09, it might be a good idea to move kickoffs to 0300. This thread has got me to thinking even more.I'm limiting to facilities I've actually seen for myslf. Wichita: Friends Univ football next to the former MP/UP now KO track (I can recall from many yrs ago listening to Falcon games on KFH and a Mopac train passing by, so loud it would drown out the broadcaster voice),  St.Louis: Scott Trade Center across street from Amtrk station, New Orleans: Spuerdome next to Amtrk station, Chicago: Solider Field next to Amtrak south line and in the Ft.Worth/Dallas area, the Rangers baseball park across from the Amtrk TX Eagle route.
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Posted by Beach Bill on Sunday, June 7, 2009 8:33 PM

And I forgot to mention the New Orleans Zephyrs (Class AAA, Pacific Coast League).  Zephyr Field has a yard from the former Illinios Central in behind the stadium, across the parking lot.  The only way to watch the trains from the stadium would be to stand along the top row of seats and look back away from the baseball, however.

Bill

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Posted by Mark F on Sunday, June 7, 2009 8:29 PM

Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo MI has NS/Amtrak running past right across the street. The student section used to chant "Amtrak, Amtrak" when a train went by during Western Michigan Unv. football games.

The Carolina Panthers football stadium has (or had) a spur running right thru the parking lot. I think it went to the newspaper.

There once was a GTW line along side the Pontiac Silverdome. 

 

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Posted by Beach Bill on Sunday, June 7, 2009 8:14 PM

"NYSEG" stadium in Binghampton, NY is home to the Binghampton Mets (it was the Binghampton Bees when I visited there), members of the Class AA Eastern League.  Former Susquehanna and D&H tracks are just past the outfield wall.  Buy your seats fairly high in the stands to be able to watch the train action along with your baseball, otherwise you will only get to see the tops of the diesels and cars.

Bill

With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost. William Lloyd Garrison
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Posted by Deggesty on Sunday, June 7, 2009 6:56 PM

tomikawaTT

When I went to Tuscaloosa to watch the NCAA Womens' Gymnastics finals some years ago, I recall seeing a freight train running just over the parking lot fence to the south of the fieldhouse.

The mainline of the AGS (now NS) runs just south of Denny-Bryant Stadium in Tuscaloosa. I have seen the field when going by on various passenger trains.

Johnny

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Posted by rluke on Sunday, June 7, 2009 6:26 PM
There is an Amtrak station on the NS line next to the new Cleveland Browns stadium. If we could get the Browns to play their home games at 3:00 in the morning it would work out great. rluke
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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Sunday, June 7, 2009 1:27 PM

First of all, I am shocked that nobody mentioned Wrigley Field in Chicago. The CTA Red Line runs just east of Sheffield Avenue and sports the Addison Street station. If you are sitting in the upper deck, you watch the trains coming and going, including some great arcing action from the third rail, well visible even during a day game.

Here in San Diego, Petco Park is right next to the trolley orange and blue lines and the rail line coming up from the BNSF yard towards Santa Fe station. In Mission Valley, the trolley green line runs through the southern portion of the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot and stops at a station there.

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Posted by big G rr fan on Sunday, June 7, 2009 12:16 PM

Smile,Wink, & GrinAnahiem Stadium in Anaheim Caliornia is Located next to the Amtrak/BNSF (Santa Fe)  mainline to San Diego, Reser Stadium @ Oregon State University in Corvallis Oregon is next to Union Pacific's (ex-Southern Pacific) Mainline to Portland & Oakland-Alameda County Stadium (can't remember the current name right now) is next to the Union Pacific's mainline to Los Angeles-Portland Oregon are three that I know of.

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Sunday, June 7, 2009 10:09 AM

Back when New York City had three Major League Baseball teams, all three were immediately adjacent to rapid transit:

  • Yankee Stadium - (Then) IRT elevated station just off the northeast corner.  Don't know what the old IRT is called now, and the new Yankee Stadium is several hundred yards farther away from the same ststion.
  • Ebbetts Field - served by the BMT.  Don't recall the station, and have no idea what's there now.
  • Polo Grounds - had its own spur line off the IRT route that served Yankee Stadium.  It left the main (elevated), ran on elevated structure, then tunneled through a high bluff before crossing the Harlem River on a swing bridge.  The terminal station was right at the ball park.  That line and the bridge across the river have long since been removed.

When I went to Tuscaloosa to watch the NCAA Womens' Gymnastics finals some years ago, I recall seeing a freight train running just over the parking lot fence to the south of the fieldhouse.

The configuration of nearby streets makes me suspect that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was once served by a trolley line.  Downtown, the venues that hosted USA Gymnastics' Nationals were and are within easy walking distance of the Amtrak station.

Chuck

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Posted by ndbprr on Sunday, June 7, 2009 8:53 AM

One other that no longer exists was the old Municipal Stadium in Philly where the Army Navy game was played.  Greenwich yard was right next to the stadium and on game day a stub end terminal was used for up to thirty GG1 hauled trains from all points.  It is one of the classic PRR calendar pictures.

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Posted by ndbprr on Sunday, June 7, 2009 8:50 AM

The PRR High Line through Philadelphia runs right next to the curved end of Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Posted by ButchKnouse on Sunday, June 7, 2009 7:28 AM

spokyone

Martinsville VA NASCAR track has tracks passing through the camping & parking areas. Fans walk across the tracks to get to the speedway.

http://flickr.com/photos/30052848@N02/3054751162

Those tracks used to be closer to the race track than they are now. Back when they first started televising live races from there the trains used to pass by going about 30-40 MPH. Apparenly somebody realized that a live TV derailment would be a bad idea and after a year or two the trains started crawling by.

The old Pikes Peak Raceway in Fountain, CO was across I-25 from the BNSF and you could see 2 or 3 trains every race. Memphis Motorsports Park has what appears to be a spur serving a grain elevator running right behind the backstretch, but I've never seen a movement during a race. A small dirt track, Grove Creek Park, east of Willmar was built right up to the BNSF and the the ROW berm (30 feet higher than the race track) was more or less used to contain the cars. That place was fun. Racing, plus at least 1 train per hour. Now it's a drag strip. I've seen televised races from Cedar Rapids where you could see trains on 2 different lines running at a 90 degree angle to each other. I have been to several small dirt tracks that were built right next to railroad lines.

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Posted by aricat on Sunday, June 7, 2009 6:49 AM

The Metrodome in Minneapolis did have a rail line near it when it was first constucted in 1981 and was used during the 1987 and 1991 World Series; also the Superbowl in 1992 between Washington and Buffalo.There were private passenger trains that parked their coaches on it. These were the only time I ever recall seeing the tracks in use. They did not serve a freight customer to my knowledge. These tracks were removed during the construction of the light rail which runs past the Metrodome.

When the Metrodome was constructed a Rock Island freight house used to be located near there,and that trackage may have been remenants of that. I don't know who owned that trackage, but it did access the Milwaukee Road by the East 25TH yard which was still active in 1992. All traces of that yard are gone. The MTC has built their light rail maintenence facility near there and Hiawatha avenue reconstuction and light rail trackage got the rest. The bridges over Franklin avenue which used to carry the Hiawathas,Pioneer Limited and Twin Star Rockets,now carry light rail.

The new Twins ballpark will have the BNSF Willmar line running by it. Part of that trackage had to be relocated while the stadium was under construction. I don't know if you will be able to see passing trains from inside the staduim.

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