Yes, I believe it was actually between kent and Shaniko back on a creek bed away from the hiway. I remember crossing the tracks going into grass valley, and cars at the elevator in kent in the 70's and also waiting on a train or two in grass valley. Ive had alot of fun and headaches trying to find old photos of the old equipment. I know of a photo of a 4-4-2 at the depot in shaniko, anyone else know of photos of the old equipment let me know. Jeff
NYC's "Auburn Road" & LV's "Geneva Buffalo Road" Hi Y'all.. Newbie here. Grew up as a kid in Fishers, NY. Lived a few houses from New York Central's "Auburn Road" which ran through the middle of our hamlet.. and about a half mile or so from Lehigh Valley's "Geneva Buffalo Road" which was just on the outskirts. I can remember my mother making me a brown bag snack lunch and I would sit on the depot's loading dock for hours watching the various runs. I can still see the "mail" train dropping.. and then "hooking" the mail sacks. We had a switched siding with (as far as I can remember), either 3 or 4 side lines, all of which could be accessed from either end. Right across from the depot stands "the second oldest Railroad Building in the United States". Here's a link from "New York Way Marking.. Dept of Education" showing both a sign and the "Pump House" itself. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM40RW_Auburn_and_Rochester_Railroad_Pumphouse_Fishers_NY Now THOSE were the days. Now that I think about it.. "Boy do I miss seeing all that went on there". Today though, I'm associated with the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum.. thus the Seaboard avatar. http://www.frrm.org/ ...and am in the process of getting into "Rail Car" ownership and operation. Here's a link to http://www.narcoa.org/ .. the North American Railcar Operators Association. Rail Car Fan RailCarFan@Gmail.com
Tonopah & Goldfield/Bullfrog and Goldfield I actually have two, but really in the beginning they were one. (A Yogi Barraism.) The Tonopah and Goldfield ran from Mina, Nevada to Tonopah and Goldfield, Nevada. (1905-1946) My great grandfather, R. S. Titlow, was the Chief Auditor and later the Traffic Manager for the railroad. I grew up in Tonopah and have been all over what's left. The only structure left on the railroad is a trestle at the Tonopah Mining Park. The other structures left (Silver Top Grizzley and Kelley Brothers Warehouse) were owned by the mines. I'm modeling the Tonopah area in N scale. When Rhyolite was booming, the President of the T & G wanted a route to the mine area. So, they built the Bullfrog and Goldfield into the Bullfrog Mining District (Beatty and Rhyolite). The road was one of three serving the Rhyolite area. The Tonopah and Tidewater and the Las Vegas and Tonopah. T & T wanted wanted trackage into the Goldfield area so the line was leased from the T & G in 1913 and the final train was run on the line in 1928. More on the T & T can be found at: http://www.ttrr.org/
North Shore My favorite is still the North Shore line. The main reason is that it was way ahead of its time; having trains that went >100mph in the early 1940s. From Milwaukee to Chicago, non-stop in < 1 hr. Cool looking also. Pictures can be seen here: IRM Photo Gallery :: Electroliner From there, you can browse the site and look at all kinds of cool stuff.
Actually, the KCS picked it up. I railfanned this line in the late 1980s, and they were running an MP15 and SW1500 for power at the time. Still swaps cars with KRR in Ashdown, and the UP at Nashville.
Thanks for the update. I haven't been up there since my parents moved from Mineral Springs in the early 80s. It was still a blast to ride those old Alcos.
There is a book I used to have about Central Oregon Railroads that I actually bought in the Shaniko resteraunt cause I was really into the City of Prineville RR at the time, but it had alot of pics and history about the C&S RR. Seen it? I drove thru there alot going to Prineville-that was quit the piece of trackage coming up out of Biggs!!
My favorite is the Mississippi Central that ran from Hattiesburg, MS and Natchez, MS. My father was ther hostler at the Brookhaven, MS yard. The line started life as the Pearl & Leaf Rivers Railroad which was a logging line. It started out with 4-6-0 and 4-4-0 power as well as a couple of early type 2-8-0s. By the early 20s the line had aquired several unique ALCO 2-8-2s that were designed for export. They cane in three distinct series, 120, 130, and 140s. The 140 series were the heaviest of the series equipped with trailing truck boosters. Mikados similer to the MSC engines could be found on the Tennesee Central and the Louisiana & Arkansas Ry. Later the line aquired three low-drivered Pacifics from the IC. The line dieselized with 10 SW9 locomotives in the early 50s and in 1964 bought a GP28. The line was purchased by the IC in 1967.
For those that might want a more in depth history of the MSC, it is featured in Locomotive Quarterly Winter 1984 Vol. VIII No. 2, the book Natchez Route, A Mississippi Central Railroad Album by David S. Price and Louis R. Saillard, and the June 1998 issue of Model Railroader. There is also a web site called Mississippi Rails that features pictures and histories of a wide range of rail lines that ran in that state. Included are the Southern, IC, GM&O, as well as a multitude of logging lines (dummy lines) and shortlines. http://www.msrailroads.com/
My hands down favorite is the old Detroit, Bay City & Western and its somewhat shorter successor, the Detroit, Caro and Sandusky that once operated in Michigan's thumb area, serving pretty much all the wrong places in terms of traffic generated. It was an interesting railroad that operated a lot of hand me down steam from GTW, D&M, and others, being reorganized in the 20's and becoming shorter every year after that, finally giving up entirely around 1953-54. It hauled a lot of grain and sugar beets and in its early years even served a coal mine! (Yep,we had those in Michigan at one time, but few lasted through the twenties) It is the prototype that my own shortline (a more prosperous version that will survive into the 2000's) is loosely based on.
PC&Y It would hade to be the PITTSBURGH CHARTIERS AND YOUGHIGHENY RR they had a few hard working SW7s that would go past my grandmothers when i was a kid i remember them clawing their way past with a long train of gondolas full of pig iron.exhaust shooting 20ft up.
Mine is definately the Detriot Toledo & Ironton. Because their former Detriot to Washington Courthouse main is now what makes up one of my other favorites, the Indiana&Ohio. And my great grandfather worked for them in the railroad's early stages.
im a fan of the Apache Railway (APA) that runs from Holbrook, AZ to Snowflake, AZ. Runs a bunch of old Alcos with the distinctive "blue looper" coal cars that make the run from mines in New Mexico via BNSF to the paper/packaging plant to feed the power plant. Has a rich history of logging operations too but that ended in the late 70s to early 80s.
Starting to get into the Michigan Central "Joliet Cutoff" Not much left of it now as it runs from Griffth In to Chicago Heights Illinois and that segment has a short time left it seems.The part that goes through where I live is now a trail but for somereason instead of saying its "a rail trail" they call it the old plank road. IDK why. Over in downtown Frankfort they have built a "depot" stage. Its a scaled down version of an old school depot but its mainly a stage for performances in the park. I will go get a pic of the semaphoer signal that is next to it later ( been up all night) and post it here.
My interests lie solely with those I've seen in and around Houston, what I would have seen in and around Houston and those on which I've ridden. Of the shortlines, Houston Belt & Terminal, Sugar Land Railway and Buckeye Central Scenic hold interest for me. HB&T for the infrastructure still seen and used all over Houston. SLR for my hometown. BCS, because it ran about a quarter-mile from my grandmother's house in rural Ohio. We rode it once or twice and flattened a few dollars' worth of pennies and such at the crossing.
My heart always hugs the Feather River Railway, ran north and east out of Oroville CA. Basically a wye, with logging sides at the northeast, a mill in the middle and an interchange at the southwest/other leg. Now most of it is under Lake Oroville, but a walk about at Feather Falls can show you what it was. Last time I got to be up there the Forestry Guy was really friendly and gave me a copy of a picture taken from an airplane of the mill and the track arrangement. Can't recall his name right now, never forget his kindness and knowledge. Bos
Why? I grew up around it, Grandpa worked in the woods, Dad worked at the mill, the train was literally across the street, what's a boy to do after homework and chores?
Spokane Portland & Seattle. BN, BNSF incorporated it and still use it's Western Oregon main line and I think P&W use some of its remaining track too. The SP&S 700 looks much better then the UP 844 in my opinion.