Heydays vs. Nowadays

[Murphy Siding]

How about sharing (in a non-confrontational way if you please) an overview of the area you live in, lived in,or railfan in, comparing the Heydays vs. Nowadays.
Where I live: Sioux Falls, S.D.:

Heydays: Way back when, the town was on a through line of Great Northern, Milwaukee Roadand The Omaha Road( CNW ) , and at the end of branch lines of The Rock Island and Illinois Central. Railroads built the town from about 600 citizens to 10,000 in the decade of about the 1890's. The last passenger train to leave the city was the Milwaukee Arrow sometime in the 1960's. The lumberyard I work at was at the intersection of the Rock Island and The Milwaukee Road.


Nowadays: BNSF IS the railroad. About a half dozen BNSF trains come htrough daily. Lately, some big grain trains have coming through going north to Duluth,no doubt. The Dakota and Iowa has a mile long rock train come through town every day, on it's way to Sioux City,Iowa. Loaded in the morning, empty in the afternoon. They operate on old Milwaukee tracks, some now owned by the state,soon to be sold to BNSF. The Ellis And Eastern runs a little put-put operation on the old CNW line,hauling gravel through town all day, usually trying to get me on the way to and from work. Most all engines seen around here are old, worn out Geeps, in every color of the rainbow.

How 'bout you?

[blhanel]

Heydays: Milwaukee Road had alot of traffic coming through Marion, IA and northern Cedar Rapids. I've never lived more than a quarter mile away from that line since I moved down here from Minnesota back in 1974, and have spent many an evening walking along the Milwaukee tracks. MR also had a local spur that went from Marion into downtown Cedar Rapids, where it interchanged cars with C&NW, CRANDIC, Illinois Central, and the Rock Island. C&NW operated the busy east/west transcon on the south side of town.

Nowadays: MR is long since gone and torn up, including the local spur- one small segment of the line remains in No. Cedar Rapids, allowing CN (successor to IC) access to a cement plant after the line was rerouted on one end to tie in to their track. Until a couple of years ago, the line still serviced a couple of businesses in Marion as well, but now that section is overgrown with weeds and severed by road reconstruction. C&NW of course has been replaced by UP, Rock Island is long gone, with Iowa Northern running a few trains north to Waterloo, but the line south out of town is now a bike path. CRANDIC is still doing well, and between them and watching the UP transcon it can be very good train watching here.

[Murphy Siding]

blhanel: Is the CRANDIC that old? I guess I thought it was made up of Milwaukee trackage from after the bankruptsy?

[blhanel]

They've been around since 1904. Here's a link to their website-
http://www.crandic.com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/cr2_000231.hcsp
I don't think they got anything out of the Milwaukee Road break-up- they've always had their own line.

[miniwyo]

Rock Springs Wy.

Heydays: UP's Bigboys and Challengers thundered through town, full coal trains rolled through town on a regular basis, Pasengers were a regular sight, transporting people here looking for work in the mines.

Nowadays: Downtown no longer sees steam power, the old depot buildings are the only reminder that Rock Springs was once a main stop on the transcontental railroad. The buildings have been put to good use however, the passenger station is now a public use building, and the freight depot is now the clubhouse for the Bitter Creek and Western Model Railway. Diesel powered highball autorack and stack trains are the norm on the UP transcon theese days, some buildings downtown sit empty while others have been restored.

[Anonymous]

i wasn't around yet for the heyday but in the LaSalle-Peru, IL area there was the RI which ran thru town, the CB&Q chicago-denver main a short drive away in princeton, the IC freeport-centralia line and numerous branches throughout the area.

nowadays......the RI is gone, replaced by the iowa interstate and the CSX to ottawa, IL. the IC is long gone. the 'Q is now everyone's beloved BNSF, the chicago-denver line is now mostly the coal conveyor into chicago.

[daveklepper]

Blhanel. in 1952, age 20, I spent a day covering all the then operating Waterloo Ceder Falls and Northern interurban lines. One trip Waterloo - Ceder Rapids - Waterloo, then Waterloo - Waverly - Waterloo (both on the observation platform of one of the big wood interurban combines) and then the Perly Thomas steel streetcar Waterloo - Ceder Rapids - Waterloo. What of this trackage is still operating? While in Ceder Rapids, we did visit the Crandic passenger station, but no equipment was there and the schedule did not permit a ride in one of the high-speeds. Glad the Crandic is still is business as a freight railroad. Any talk of restoring some kind of passenger service?

[bbrant]

Heyday (early/mid 70's)
Chessie, B&O, C&O and WM power (mostly EMD) could be seen hauling trains over Sand Patch grade and every train had a caboose. Line was controlled with B&O signals and Sand Patch tower stood tall. Branch lines coming off of the main, such as the S&C branch and Berlin Sub hosted coal trains. The yard for the S&C branch in Somerset had just about every track full of cars along with some old B&O passenger cars that a guy once called home. And the yard office was a fairly busy place.

Nowadays
CSX power takes the freights over Sand Patch. The tower at the summit is gone and the B&O signals have, for the most part, been replaced with new C&O type signals. The Berlin sub is long gone and a true coal train hasn't traveled the now CSX S&C in years. The once full yard is down to a mere 4 tracks and the passenger cars are, I believe, at the B&O museum in Baltimore. The yard office still stands but it's doors have been permanently locked for years.

Brian

[gacuster]

Heydays: Manitowoc, WI C&NW ran north south between Green Bay and Milwaukee with daily freights and passenger trains until 1970. They also had a large yard and roundhouse (wood) in town. The Soo Line ran west to Neenah and had a small yard and wooden depot downtown. Both RR's served daily runs by Lake Michigan carferries at separate docks until ferry service ended in the early 1980's.
Nowadays: WC was the only RR in town after C&NW and Soo Line were absorbed. The old C&NW line north was abandoned and torn up. Then CN bought WC and still runs a daily freight from Neenah. One carferry (SS Badger, coal burning) still runs but only carries automobiles, trucks and tourists to Ludington MI. Both old depots in town were torn down and much of the yard trackage removed also.

[Murphy Siding]

gacuster: The car ferry is still coal burning?

[eolafan]

Where I used to live in Wausau, WI:
Heyday: Two railroads, Milwaukee Road and C&NW both had substantial operations in town. The Milwaukee Road came up from the Chi-MSP main up the valley and then on from Wausau to Tomahawk and on. Passenger trains came up the valley from Chicago and Milwaukee but that stopped just before Amtrak. The C&NW came over from Green Bay and went on to the Eau Claire area.
Nowadays: both are gone and only a remnant of service on the old Wisconsin Central line is left. The old Milwaukee Road roundhouse and yard tracks are all gone and the C&NW yard is also gone. The Milwaukee and C&NW passenger depots are still there and are either museums or local business offices..but still there. The Milw. Road yard which once was five tracks accross the street and very busy near the roundhouse is down to one track and no roundhouse.

Fast forward to Aurora, IL where I live now:
Heyday was Q passengers, freight and dinkies by seemingly the hundreds and NOW we have BNSF freights, Metra dinkies and Amtrak, still seemingly by the hundreds even though I am sure there are less trains. The Aurora depot is still there but empty as Amtrak stops in Naperville (next town down the line into Chicago). Still plenty of train action though.

[JoeKoh]

heydays
first satrted watching trains N&W ran through celina on the nkp line
cabooses on the end of trains
cpls in defiance
chessie was abundant
switch engines did the switching
fred was a guy on the railroad
nowadays
rj corman runs small trains through celina
no more cabooses
csx has an abundance of paint schemes leasers and borrowed power
cpls are holding on in deshler
now gp 38-2s and gp 40s do the switching
fred is the thing on the back of the train
stay safe
joe

[nanaimo73]

Murphy,
You seem to be replacing Gabe as the person who starts the best threads.
The forum will miss him.
Thank you, and keep it up.

As for the CRANDIC, they do a lot of interchange with the Iowa Interstate (exCRI&P) which runs 20 miles south of Cedar Rapids. The old line has a steep grade so they mostly use a former CMSP&P line instead.

[alstom]

I used to live in Ravenna, Ohio where an Norfolk Southern mainline bridges over an CSX mainline---nearly 100 trains passed by here in 24 hours!! Then I moved to Fairlawn, Ohio with a single Wheeling & Lake Erie track with about 2 trains a day.

Heyday for Ravenna: Pennsy used to bridge over Baltimore & Ohio, but that was changed when C&O merged with B&O in 1967 to form the Chessie Systems. A year later New York Central (who had trackage on the Pennsy) merged with Pennsy to form "Penn Central" who was ill-fated in 1968. PC went bankrupt two years later and eventually merged with other failing northeasterns to form Conrail. Thats pretty much Ravenna's heyday.

Heydays of Fairlawn: Northern Ohio Railroad built this single track in 1865. NOH went bankrupt to Akron Canton & Youngstown RR in 1920. Fairlawn used to be a major stop on this line and still is.

Nowadays of Ravenna: NS now bridges over CSX and Ravenna has become less busy averaging 2 to 4 trains in an hour. This is because the connecting tracks between the mains were torn out and now CSX trains take the former Conrail Indianapolis line at Greenwich, Ohio instead. NS continues to be busy here though. Nearly 100 trains pass in 24 hours and Ravenna has been a secondary hotspot since the mid-1900s.

Nowadays of Fairlawn: N&W picked up this line from the AC&Y in 1964. NS spun the line off in 1990 and Wheeling & Lake Erie bought it. W&LE now runs an average two locals a day and is very slow. Fairlawn still gets it's stop in a day by a local though.

.........for a short time I lived in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio where CSX's (ex-B&O) main passes through. Nearly 30 trains pass here in 24 hours.

This is pretty much it for me. And the rrs i've been living with.

Richard

[coborn35]

Well i'm not very old so there is not a way back when heyday but........

Heyday:
The Duluth,Missabe and Iron Range Railway Company ran proud and true.Even letting you get a pass to go see The Proctor Yard. They blew the horn in the middle of nowhere just so you could get a cool movie with your camera. SD9's and 18's ruled the ore lines.

The Duluth,Winnipeg and Pacific had a brand new state of the art yard: Pokegama. The dispatchers from "Poke" commanded respect from all employees's.

You could see beautiful BN units pulling all rail ore trains interchanged from the DMIR.

You could see the WC pulling trains a little farther up north bound Escanaba.

LTV Steel pulled ore with pride and odd motive power. S-12's and F-units were the norm on LTV Steel until 2002.

Nowadays:
Canadian National rules the roost with the takeover of the DMIR,DWP and WC. However, they have yet to repaint any DMIR units and DMIR units stll pull the trains. However, do not expect a blow of the horn or a visitors pass because CN is a VERY differnet railroad. The dispatchers at Pokegama have been moved to Stevens Point. (they were the last dispatchers in the Twin Ports.)
The WC is no longer seen up here any more because of CN.

The BN is now BNSF but everything else is the same.

And LTV Steel shut down operations in Spring 2002. However (i say that alot) they are
going to run a number of trains with excess ore from the plant very soon.

If I was older I could relate to the GN,NP,Amtrak and other RR's in the area. But becasue of my age, I am just relating what I remember.

[mustanggt]

Arlington, Massachusetts Heyday- Blue B&M Geeps with McGinnis lettering going through town every 20-30 minutes. Some F units left.

Nowadays- The RR line through town was shut down sometime in the mid 1980's after Guilford took over. In the early 90's the line was turned into a Bike path. Spandexed cyclists everywhere cheer.....

[gacuster]

Attn. Murphy Siding Yes, the SS Badger is a coal burning steam driven vessel built about 1950 when the C&O and Ann Arbor ran the car ferries. The TRAINS special magazine "Steam Glory" had a article about the ferries. The Badger makes two round trips daily between Manitowoc and Ludington MI. The local electric utility in Manitowoc stores coal by the lakefront adjacent to the carferry dock and this is where the Badger replenishes its bunkers. No ferries ran for several years after the RR's stopped running them in the early '80's but a group from Ludington resurrected the Badger several years ago. I believe a sister ship, SS Spartan, is moored in Ludington and used for parts. The ferry is pretty smokey sometimes and I think they had to get a pollution exemption to keep running.

[CShaveRR]

Grand Haven, Michigan

Heyday (late 1960s): C&O running through freight through town each way, plus local freight in each direction spending hours switching out local industries, and two passenger round trips through town, supported by mail business. Agents on duty 16 hours per day. Local on GTW three times a week, agent on duty during the day, industries to switch, kid on bike thinking about previous GTW heydays when town hosted passenger service, engine terminal, freight house, carferry port, and city had interurban service in addition to the two steam railroads.

Nowadays: No GTW at all--depot now a museum, yard overrun by park and specialty shops. CSX through train only, few, if any, local industries, no passenger service since Amtrak, railroad line about to be parceled out to Michgan Shore Railroad. Former depot bought by (among others) kid I went to school with, who uses it as his dental office. Track speeds down; looks like same old rail. Serious settling problem may surprise new operators, sever line (if the old swing bridge doesn't give out first!).

[Murphy Siding]

gacuster: Cool! A co-worker just went through there. He opted for the 2 1/2 hour trip accross at Milwaukee instead of the 4 hour (?) crossing at Manitowac. I went to a steam tractor event once that was pretty entertaining in itself. The best attraction, though, was a 100+ year old steam driven carrosel (sp.) I imagine a steam powered car ferry would be fun to check out.

[rockisland4309]

Heydays: Growing up on U.P.'s Marysville, Ks Sub watching U50Cs, DD35B's, GP9 and GP30 B-units. Also, seeing run-through power from Frisco, Milwaukee Road, N&W, MKT and Rock Island. Oh! I almost forgot the Northeast Kansas and Missouri Railroad which ran from St. Joseph, Mo to Upland, Ks on ex-U.P. trackage. Then U.P. had there meltdown and bought back the branch and runs empty coal trains, stack trains and autorack trains from Kansas City north to Hiawatha Ks then over west to Marysville.

Nowadays: I live in Phoenix and BNSF and U.P. have a few trains coming in and out of town everyday. Last time I heard, the Marysville Sub was running close to 90 trains aday. Good times!!

[Anonymous]

Baltimore Heyday.. camden yards.

Nowadays.. Baseball Stadium with a remant of a once mighty B&O Freight house serving as a outfield wall.

It is my understanding that the B&O Museum was actually part of what was known as the Bailey Yard and was on one end of the entire property now used and developed extensively.

I believe there was a shortline on the east side where the children would ride the steam train back in the 50's to the swimming holes. At a specific time late in the day the engineer would blow the whistle two blasts as a signal literally for the kids to board to get home for dinner and bed.

I have not yet been able to subsantiante this story but am digging into it.

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by farmer03

i wasn't around yet for the heyday but in the LaSalle-Peru, IL area there was the RI which ran thru town, the CB&Q chicago-denver main a short drive away in princeton, the IC freeport-centralia line and numerous branches throughout the area.

nowadays......the RI is gone, replaced by the iowa interstate and the CSX to ottawa, IL. the IC is long gone. the 'Q is now everyone's beloved BNSF, the chicago-denver line is now mostly the coal conveyor into chicago.

Howdy neighbor!

Don't forget the interurban.

[Murphy Siding]

blhael / nanaimo73 : You're right, it was the Iowa Interstate I was thinking of.

nanaimo73: How 'bout the heydays around Nanaimo parts?

[CSXrules4eva]

Heyday: I live in the great state of PA in the Philly region. Back in the day there was tons of PRR, RDG, UMP, NYC, CNJ, B&O, C&O, L&N, Lackawana, Susquhanna, EL ....etc action all around the area, you couldn't go within one mile w/o runing into a mainline. There were also tons of industral spurs.

Nowdays: I know more abandoned spurs, branch lines, and mainlines than I do active ones. A bulk of the freight traffic now is NS, mainly GE power. There is also lots of passanger action over here, tons. We have Amtrak, Septa, and NJT. I also know of more passenger lines than freight lines. The busies line over here is the NEC, which is only 15 mins from my house. I peraonlly know of 10 Septa stations within 3 miles of my house. Lots of abandond right of way to walk on, there are also lots of rails to trails projects in effect.

[Murphy Siding]

Wow! passenger trains! Quite different from living in a sparsely populated state!

[Kurn]

Akron,Oh
Heyday-B&O,Erie,Pennsy,AC&Y.All the feature trains,Capitol Limited,Shenandoah,Chicago and Washington Expresses,Lake Cities,Phoebe Snow(EL).All the rubber industries and peripheral shops,lots of interchange and movement.
Nowadays-CSX,W&LE.No passenger trains,all the yards gone,all the rubber shops gone,very little industry left.Not exactly a hot spot,but at least the CSX main to Chicago is still here.

[Bob-Fryml]

HEYDAYS any afternoon at CHICAGO UNION STATION included both the arrivals and departures of the "Lowey Green" North Coast Limited, the green-and-orange Empire Builder, and the incomparable California Zephyr. Fresh from the wash rack the westbound Denver Zephyr, dripping wet and shiney as all getout, looked really spiffy while elsewhere one could always count on seeing the dozens of expertly tailored "suits" boarding the pride of the Pennsy, The Broadway Limited. Any passenger consist equipped with an observation car and a drumhead held me in awe.
Throw in a few secondary trains, some "tired iron" operated by the G.M.& O. plus the dozens of dinkies scooting in-and-out - and it was quite a show! Oooh, and let's not forget all of that normally aspirated power - no turbocharger whine anywhere! And best of all a teenager with a twin-lens reflex, behaving responsibly, could have the run of the platforms and nobody would say anything.

NOWADAYS at CHICAGO UNION STATION the commuter trains don't look all that much different, but what Amtrak operates all looks pretty much the same. The variety is gone. Boring! The only really awesome sight is watching the crush of commuters at rush hour pour through the concourses and flow onto their respective trains. Oh, and forget that "run of the platforms business" ... that's all ancient history now.

HEYDAYS along the CHICAGO LOOP featured those ancient, mid-1920s-built "Cincinnati Heavyweights" protecting the rush hour schedules of the Lake Street 'L, the Ravenswood line, and the legendary "Evanston Express." Homely in architecture, full of rivets, carrying distinctly rhythmic air compressors, and equipped with traction motors that sang with a voice ranging from basso profundo to coloratura soprano, these elements combined to make them the most wonderful passenger equipment I've ever known. Imagine an oppressively hot and muggy summer day with the windows wide open and having your senses bombarded with the sounds of roaring traction motors, squealing flanges around hairpin turns, the clickety-clack through the rail joints, plus the combined perfumes of creosote oozing from the station platforms, hot traction motor grease, and ozone eminating from the third rail shoes. These made for an experience that was as elegant and exotic as it was elegant and erotic. For those of you in the railfan community whose interests fall somewhere between "Traction Phreaque" and "The Rapid Transit Lunatic Fringe," you know the pleasures I'm addressing here. The old boys who designed and built these classics were paid for their efforts in gold coin - and it showed. They may have thought that they were creating utilitarian chariots for the common man, but in fact created trains of uncommon wonder. Sam Insull did well for the people of Chicago.

NOWADAYS along the CHICAGO LOOP features an operation equipped with remodeled stations having no charm (Quincy & Wells being the possible exception); harsh flourescents replacing the warmth of incandescent lamps; and quiet, comfortable, air conditioned equipment completely devoid of charm or character. The magic is gone.

[Murphy Siding]

Bob -Fryml: I don't know wether to drool,or cry. In various posts, I've seen the word "dinkie". What exactly is a dinkie?[%-)]

[blhanel]

QUOTE: Originally posted by daveklepper

Blhanel. in 1952, age 20, I spent a day covering all the then operating Waterloo Ceder Falls and Northern interurban lines. One trip Waterloo - Ceder Rapids - Waterloo, then Waterloo - Waverly - Waterloo (both on the observation platform of one of the big wood interurban combines) and then the Perly Thomas steel streetcar Waterloo - Ceder Rapids - Waterloo. What of this trackage is still operating? While in Ceder Rapids, we did visit the Crandic passenger station, but no equipment was there and the schedule did not permit a ride in one of the high-speeds. Glad the Crandic is still is business as a freight railroad. Any talk of restoring some kind of passenger service?

Wow! I suspect you probably rode the line that is now the south end of the Iowa Northern, which pretty much follows the Cedar River. That line maybe sees two trains a day currently. Every now and then they have a story on the news here about someone proposing or pushing for passenger service between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids via CRANDIC, but nothing concrete is in the works yet.

nanimo73: you are TEH correct. The direct route into Iowa City has quite a grade from North Liberty into town, so CRANDIC has gained trackage rights on Iowa Southern from the Amanas to the west, and runs its trains down to there via the line you mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Heyday: Pomona, California (circa 1970's and 1980's)- Both the UP and SP had tracks that paralleled each other through town. SP tended to run more trains, with UP putting in an appearence now and then. I got to see lots of relatively clean SD45s, SD40T-2s, SD45T-2s, U33Cs, moving trains at a speed where it was easy to keep up with the trains, plus a one-time only sighting of a pair of Alco C415s with a bay window caboose in tow. The UP trains would come flying through town powered by SD40s, DD35As and DD35Bs, plus the celebrated DDA40X Centennials. There was an SP station that I recall visiting with my grandmother a few times before the station was closed, and there was some sort of local powered by a pair of SP GP9s.

Nowadays: I left California in 1992 and moved to Utah, but at that time, the SP and UP were still separate railroads. The UP DD35s and DDA40Xs were long gone as were SP's U33Cs, and the GP9s were on their way out. However, there was still plenty of trains, and ideas of reopening the old SP depot for use as a commuter rail stop.

Of course UP and SP are now one, and I wonder if that station was ever reopened.