I haven't done any research, but I nominate the single track, much tunneled, twisting line between Old Fort and Ridgecrest in Pisgah National Forrest in North Carolina.
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=35.63604693598573~-82.2430630352228&lvl=12.999999999999998&dir=0&sty=r&form=LMLTCC
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Perhaps somebody else can fill in the details but the late Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods RR, the "crookedest railroad in the world", should be considered.
We shall have many comparisons because what constitutes a "RR Line" has not been defined. Can it be one mile as the crow flies, twenty miles or fifty?? Anyway it will be interesting to see the submissions.
I shall offer The Bradshaw Mountain Railroad between Cleator and Crown King in Arizona. This RR was operated from 1904 until 1924 to serve mining interests. It comprised sixteen route miles from Cleator to Crown King with a 'crow fly' distance of about eight miles. There were ten switch backs utilized to gain 2335 feet in elevation.
This railroad has been recently documented in the WARBONNET, the publication of the Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society. The Society's editor John R. Signor is the author.
Other than loops that cross over themselves, I would nominate the segment on the California Western west of Willits, CA where there are three double horseshoe loops. The line travels about 5 miles in a straight line distance of about 1/2 mile.
Modelcar I will enter a branch line. It has long been abandoned, but is still visible for most people on this forum that know how to see ROW's from any Satellite imaging. This was the Boswell branch of the B&O RR I refer to. As I said, long abandoned, but visible still for the most part. Especially the part between Friedens, and Ralphton, Pa. It continued on to Boswell, and then several more mining towns and on to Somerset to connect to the Somerset & Cambria line that connects {still}, to the main {now CSX}, over in Rockwood, Pa. The part I'd suggest to check out....The ROW between Friedens, and Ralphton....That part contains...We'll call them 4 horseshoe curves almost connected together. There is a loop that crosses a county road twice...It goes around a little rise and right back and crosses the same road, about a 100' or so distant, gaining a bit of elevation. If anyone cares to find that location: Go about a mi. northwest of Friedens and see if you can pick it up there. There are a few gaps, that farmers have recovered...but very few.
I will enter a branch line. It has long been abandoned, but is still visible for most people on this forum that know how to see ROW's from any Satellite imaging.
This was the Boswell branch of the B&O RR I refer to.
As I said, long abandoned, but visible still for the most part. Especially the part between Friedens, and Ralphton, Pa. It continued on to Boswell, and then several more mining towns and on to Somerset to connect to the Somerset & Cambria line that connects {still}, to the main {now CSX}, over in Rockwood, Pa.
The part I'd suggest to check out....The ROW between Friedens, and Ralphton....That part contains...We'll call them 4 horseshoe curves almost connected together. There is a loop that crosses a county road twice...It goes around a little rise and right back and crosses the same road, about a 100' or so distant, gaining a bit of elevation.
If anyone cares to find that location: Go about a mi. northwest of Friedens and see if you can pick it up there. There are a few gaps, that farmers have recovered...but very few.
WOW! Went to google earth to take a look. Just north of town comes one horseshoe followed by an almost 360 curve. Wow.
Quentin
Perhaps either the Clinchfield crossing the Alleghenies or the old L&N's "Hook & Eye" would qualify, or the SP crossing of the Siskiyous - as surmised, all mountain railroad lines.
- Paul North.
I think that would be any railroad line that made a loop like Tehachpi Loop, Georgetown Loop and the worst offender of them all being Canadian Pacific's Spiral Tunnels. Nothing beats a rail line crossing itself as it tries to climb a mountain. The crow sitting on the crossing point doesn't even have to move and the railroad still traveled a mile or so of track just to get back to that point.
What RR line in the past or present has the longest route in track miles going the shortest distance as the crow flies? I'm guessing it would be in a hilly or mountainous area.
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
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