Paul_D_North_Jr [snip] There was a really good short column or 'frontispiece' article on that* in Trains back in the 1960's - by Michael J. Dunn, III, if I recall correctly - which involved 3 short-line railroads, but I can't quickly find a reference or citation for it. There have also been references to that kind of thing in subsequent articles on the STB and various projects and hsitories of specific railroads. But who else would care ? [snip] * the applicability and limits of the doctrine of 'adverse abandonment' of a rail line - i.e., typically a city or adjoining land owner wants the rail line abandoned so that something else can be done with the land that it occupies.
* the applicability and limits of the doctrine of 'adverse abandonment' of a rail line - i.e., typically a city or adjoining land owner wants the rail line abandoned so that something else can be done with the land that it occupies.
Only because that article does not appear in the Trains on-line Index to Magazines below, and really needs to be memorialized someplace, and the reference to it started here anyway - it is:
"Rail-to-road abandonments - a trend?" by Michael J. Dunn III, Trains, Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 1967 issue, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 8 - 9, referring to 2 ICC decisions from 1966 and 1 anticipated in 1967, involving the Tulsa-Sapulpa Union Railway (''TSU'') in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Feather River (''FR'') Railway in California; and the Washington & Old Dominion (''W&OD'') in Virginia. The article also referred to the leading case, Purcell vs. United States* - from back in the 1940's if I recall correctly - and a 1963 SP branch abandonment for a freeway that is not further identified by name or location.
*315 U.S. Supreme Court Reports at pp. 381 - 385 (1942). From that opinion on page 382: "The order permitted the Confluence and Oakland Railroad Company, as owner, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, as lessee, to abandon a railroad line approximately 20 miles long and to discontinue service entirely in the area now served: a semi-mountainous section along the Youghiogheny River between Confluence and Oakland Junction, Pennsylvania, and Kendall, Maryland. The appellants, who also appeared as protestants before the Interstate Commerce Commission, are the Public Service Commission of Maryland and the McCullough Coal Corporation, a coal mining company which alleges it will be forced out of business if railroad service is discontinued."
- Paul North.
scouttrainJames Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA - NS runs a coal train through the middle of campus.
No they do not. The CW, a subsidy of NS, runs grain trains to local feed and poultry plants in the Harrisonburg area. No coal.
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The University Of South Carolina at Columbia, SC has Norfolk Southern's (ex-Southern) Columbia-Charlotte line skirting the edge of the campus as well as a popular section for the college kids known as "Five Points". Back in the 80's, the line was suppose to be removed as part of a railroad relocation project for the city, but was never completed due to various reasons.
Robyn
The Ohio State University in Columbus - CSX's ex C&O Ashland (KY) - Detroit (MI) main line runs through campus just across the Olentangy River from Ohio Stadium and the West Campus housing area. Until the advent of AC/Heavy Haul Power, they would frequently use pushers on northbound coal trains on the long grade from downtown Columbus to Powell, OH.
University of the Cumberlands, Williamsburg KY - CSX (ex L&N) Cincinnati-Atlanta Line runs along the bottom of the hills on which the school is built.
CSX by Emory University in Atlanta.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
schlimm CSX by Emory University in Atlanta.
The CSX [ SAL station ] had a very nice station at Emory. Was only a 2 block walk to some dorms.
U of Ga in Athens has CSX [SAL ] ., C of Ga, Ga RR
iN Atlanta Georgia Tech is growing westward towards the north south mains of CSX and NS although not there yet?
New England Central (former Central Vermont) runs through the grounds of the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. It also passes along the edge of the campus of Amherst College in Amherst, MA.
CSX has a now little used line that runs through the middle of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. Its the former Clinchfield mainline through there. The land for the university was donated by George Carter who is considered the Father of the Clinchfield.
Michigan State University has both the CSX and CN running through it. The university recenlty constructed one of its north-south streets under both sets of tracks; before this, there was no way to get between north and south campus if a train was blocking the streets. Also, the Amtrak depot was the university's old salvage yard building.
It was already mentioned briefly that the Amtrak "Downeaster" stops at a station on the west side of the Univ. of N.H. campus. However, in a "Paul Harvey" moment, you know, "here's the rest of the story". That line has been there for a long time and in the 1960s there was a threat to cut it off, but thankfully it wasn't. Today there is such a continuous load on this line there is pressure to add more trains to service all of the students and families coming to UNH for events and classes. With the student population growing steadily from the south (Mass. in particular) they have found it is far less expensive and time consuming to simply take Amtrak and be dropped off right at campus.
>dekemd: The Clinchfield main can't be described as "little used".
CSX runs through the University of Louisville campus. The student center spans the tracks with picture windows overlooking the tracks.
St. Louis Metro runs alongside the campus of Washington University. It's underground, but it follows the path where the Rock Island once ran.
Not mentioned thus far, as far as I can see: The University of Delaware in Newark, Del., which has many of its dorms separated from the main campus by the CSX ex-B&O "Royal Blue" route between Baltimore and Philadelphia.. Two dorm complexes, the Rodney and Dickinson dorms, overlook the main, and a pedestrian underpass serves students going to and from class.
Further to the south in Baltimore, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA not only straddles the CSX main between the Howard Street Tunnel and the bridge over the Jones Falls, but actually OCCUPIES the former B&O Mt. Royal Station!
In Pennsylvania, in addition to the aforementioned Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove (a branch which sees 2-3 round-trip trains a week, and which used to deliver coal to the university's heating plant), there's also Bucknell University in Lewisburg, grazed by a former Reading main line which is now a branch line owned and operated by the SEDA-COG government agency, contracted by the North Shore family of railroads under the Union County Industrial RR. This was the former West Shore RR branch and excursion line, operated with an ex-PRR SW1 and an ex-PRR GP30.
Penn State University in State College, Pa. used to be served both indirectly by the PRR (former Lewisburg & Tyrone line) at nearby Lemont and directly via the Bellefonte Central short line. Passenger service ceased on the BFC in 1946, with occasional specials to and from the campus by the PRR until 1964. The track to the campus was abandoned in 1974.
Clemson University in South Carolina might be counted, depending on just how close you want a train to be to campus to qualify. The university's presence in town is probably the only reason Amtrak's Crescent stops there.
One other oddball: McDaniel College in Westminster, Md. only recently changed to that name from its original name, Western Maryland College--possibly the only college or university named after a railroad (a major benefactor at its founding in 1867). As Westminster is located in north-central Maryland, east of what was the railroad's original corporate HQs in Union Bridge, it became the common joke that the name of the college was "Western-Maryland-College-which-ISN'T-actually-IN-western-Maryland-but-was-named-after-a-long-gone-railroad..." The college still has a former Chessie caboose on the football stadium grounds, painted WM red and donated by the Class of 1984.
Don't forget Villanova's neighbor Rosemont College. The former PRR Broadway is Rosemont's southwest neighbor.
2 more...
1) KCS (Meridian Speedway) runs through Louisiana Tech in Ruston, LA.
2) IC/CN runs through LSU in Baton Rouge, LA. It is fun to watch the parade of trains during a game at Alex Box Stadium (baseball).
Dont forget , the CSX runs right behind the famous Deer Park Tavern, in Newark De., where Edgar Allen Poe once stayed !!!
The original Great Northern main line from St. Paul to Minneapolis ran just north of the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. These were the rails that crossed the Mississippi river on the historic stone arch bridge that has been extensively photographed. At one time, a rail spur, I believe it was Northern Pacific, ran thru the middle of the campus. It has been long gone now. At present, the new tracks for the light rail line from downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul are being built and the trains will pass, on the street, thru the campus.
A tourist railway, the Waterloo Central Railway runs though the University of Waterloo campus in Waterloo, Ontario. I'm not sure what railroad owns the track, but back in 2009 I rode behind Pere Marquette 1225 and NKP 765 through the Alma College campus in Alma, Michigan.
The CSX Cincy-Louisville mainline runs right THROUGH the Univ of Louisville student union. The tracks are at ground level with enclosed walkways between the two buildings comprising the Union. What a location for an AMTRAK station!
In St. Louis County, MO, the MetroLink light rail 2-track main runs through the campus of University of Missouri - St. Louis and has two station stops, a tunnel, and two high-level concrete bridges.
I'm currently attending Washington State University in Pullman WA. We have an old branch intact on the west side of campus that is operated by the Washington Idaho Railway, it used to be where the university received coal for the steam and power plant, but the small storage yard and the connection to the university got removed when they installed a natural gas fired steam plant. One of the lines to Moscow ID is intact, but the section in Moscow itself was removed within the last year. The line north to Albion and Colfax is being used to store surplus double-stack cars since a trestle fire broke the connection to Colfax. Traffic is strictly agricultural goods and cars for storage. We do have an intact Wig-Wag crossing signal, I'm not sure if it works, but it did survive a recent round of crossing signal updates. The university's visitor center is located in one of our two surviving station buildings and to top it all off WIR operates an F unit dressed in SP's black widow scheme through here on a regular basis along with a chop nose, square cabbed Geep and a GP30.
Collin
I was by there last week. They put in about 4 paved pedestrian crossings several years ago but most of the students don't seem to use them. Many years ago there was also a spur into the campus that served the steam plant there. I think they took it out some years ago when they decommissioned the plant.
Bill
Norfolk Southern (ex Reading) tracks run through the campus of Messiah College in Grantham, PA, where my son graduated last Spring. It is now a major north south route with many trains. There are overpasses connecting the main campus to the sports complex and some student housing. I could stand in the yard of one of the student houses and watch trains all day long. One of the last I saw pass included new GE locomotive bodies riding on flat cars. The loco shells appeared to be lettered for a Brazilian railway.
Randolph College of Lynchburg (formerly Randolph-Macon Woman's College), in Lynchburg, VA. has a mainline of the NS (formerly Southern Ry.) running through a tunnel adjacent to the campus. My daughter graduated from there. Lynchburg is a great town for railfans.
sigengr >dekemd: The Clinchfield main can't be described as "little used". CSX runs through the University of Louisville campus. The student center spans the tracks with picture windows overlooking the tracks. St. Louis Metro runs alongside the campus of Washington University. It's underground, but it follows the path where the Rock Island once ran.
The Clinchfield line that runs through the ETSU campus is the original mainline. In the early seventies, Clinchfield built the "High Line" that bypassed the campus along with most of downtown Johnson City. The High Line became the new main with the old line being used only for local freights.
kolechovski didn't identify the location of the Buffalo & Pittsburgh line he mentioned. I think this is in Indiana, PA, on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The line was originally the Indiana branch of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, later the B&O. Back then it was a few blocks west of the campus, but the university (like most such institutions) has expanded greatly and now is on both sides of the track. When the line was reactivated there was a considerable flap, and the railroad (I believe) had to erect the fence. BTW, the Indiana branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad once ran along the east side of the campus, but it was removed years ago.
NWACC doesn't see a lot of trains-maybe one per day. The up side is that it's the A&M, and they are powered either by a C 420 or a T6. They were using an RS 32 a couple of weeks ago. That's worth cutting class for !!
McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario used to have a CP Rail (ex Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo; exx Hamilton & Dundas) line running along the west side of campus until the late 1980s.
Carleton University in Ottawa is bisected by a CP line, on which Ottawa's O-Train runs.
Allentown College of St. Francis De Sales in Coopersburg, PA was bordered by the former North Pennsylvania RR branch of the Reading RR (now SEPTA), now a rail-trail.
St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia is only a couple blocks west of the former PRR Bala Cynwyd- Manayunk branch (also now SEPTA).
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is on the northern side of the former PRR's West Chester branch (out of service many years now).
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia is on the northern side of the CN main line to the harbor and station there.
There was a similar thread here in Aug. - Sept. 2004 captioned as "Universities With Railroads Through Them" which eventually ran to 5 pages, at: http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/20836/294099.aspx#294099
Grinnell College, Iowa
Plymouth State University, Plymouth, New Hampshire
The original Concord and Montreal (later Boston and Maine) ran on the other side of main street in Plymouth, New Hampshire.
When I was a freshman at Plymouth State in the fall of 1979 there was still one or two trains a week running north to the paper mills on the old Pemigewasset Valley Line. The train crews used to stop and have breakfast at the lunch counter in the Five and Dime.
After trains stopped running in 1980 the roadbed became an unofficial hiking and cross country ski trail for the students.
Today the line is part of a tourist railroad and is quite active.
Kevin
By the way, do any railfans in New Hampshire know what happened to the old wooden boxcar with the link and pin (yes, link and pin) couplers on the siding at Beebe River, New Hampshire. The car was used as a storage shed on the siding of the lumber mill. I last saw it in the winter of 1982.
At Danforth Road in Madison, NJ Transit's Morristown Line passes next to and then through Fairleigh Dickinson University, then alongside the College of St. Elizabeth, which has its main entrance right across the tracks at the Convent Station stop. Also starting at Danforth Road running along the WB tracks is a paved pedestrian path atop former trolley line Morris County Traction Co.'s ROW.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=%22Madison,+NJ%22&gs_upl=1985l8969l0l11219l13l9l0l0l0l0l1453l7655l3-1.1.2.1.4l9l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=800&bih=468&wrapid=tlif131734810407810&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89c3a64c7ad8e723:0x505fb91ef2dfeaad,Madison,+NJ&gl=us&ei=EiOFTtuaHfTI0AHYm5XVDw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=2&ved=0CDgQ8gEwAQ
http://www.morrisparks.net/aspparks/tractionmain.asp
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