Heydays vs. Nowadays

[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

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Murphy Siding]

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

[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]

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?