The Boston / Providence line is just over the fence and I was waiting but had to leave with the Director of Land (and time) Management for the grocery store.
The sign says 5215 Feet. It gets a bit thrashed during winters with snow removal activities tossing tons of ice against it.
A little further east. Regardless of sun, rain, snow, the east slope of Marias Pass is almost always windy. Downslope pressure winds. But it is beautiful to behold. So, a decade or so back, while awaiting a westward Z train, I grabbed this view of the northern US Rockies:
Bright sun and long shadows March 21. Note the dome of the Greek Orthodox Church and a bridge about to be replaced. in Roslindale Square. View attachment 240907 and a close up
That's a little bit the same as the new Rock Island.. Nothing to deal with the original one, except owner's love affair with it and motive power's paintscheme.. Dom
It is weird. What's more odd is I though I posted this in a totally different, more appropriate thread...
Was that building at one time rail served? Looks grain style, but more often these are parallel to tracks on a siding.
Deep within the Loops between Asheville. NC and Old Fort are seven tunnels, including the two short McElroy bores as seen 04/15/2017. It's a long hike to these and I never captured a train here. Sadly, NS has since diverted nearly all of the trains that used this route to the N&W's main some 85 miles north. The only regular train that remains on the Loops is a feeble local.
Sad when such a scenic route is downgraded to that level. I would assume so, but the elevator is no longer active in any capacity, by the looks of it. https://goo.gl/maps/mc7xLLuevcvtwLqK6 I am having a hard time seeing evidence of a spur, maybe a group of discarded ties is a clue, but I cannot discern a spur.
It was once SOU's "crossing of the Alleghenies" route at 2,518 FT, a vital mainline. Its downgrading also illustrates how operational cutbacks compound loss of carload traffic. When NS ended service on Saluda, the tonnage was diverted via the Loops. Now several decades later, the diversion is via the N&W! The cost of hauling what traffic might remain has to be high and transit time much longer. When we drive I-26 on the route that parallels the Saluda line, dozens of woodchip trucks are now seen, down on their knees, slowly grinding their way up the mountain on their way the Canton paper mill. All of this tonnage and more used to move by the Saluda line and later by the Loops. NS's eternal cost cutting reigns supreme regardless of its resulting loss in revenue.
I sadly clicked "Like". What you are saying is exactly true. I have seen it all over the Pacific NW region. The railroads have done a magnificent job of driving away customers. Somehow that makes them more profitable. But the real mystery is how it drives up stock prices, while they are cutting off their own legs. But on the other hand, they should be lauded for their contributions to the trucking industry's bottom line, costly road construction, environmental degradation and our National hiking & biking trail system. Oops. Did I say "lauded"? I meant loudly criticized and condemned!
Former Lehigh Valley mainline bridge in Flemington, NJ crossing the South Branch of the Raritan River [04/2017]. Line now operated by Norfolk Southern.
Among the most recognizable and photographed bridges on the Royal Gorge Route, the graceful curves of the 1940-built US Highway 24 steel cantilever arch bridge spans both Water Street to Red Cliff, the Eagle River and the Tennessee Pass mainline just east of the east switch of Belden Siding. If the rock feature at left has a name, I'm not aware of it, but its multi-colored strata adds a pleasing element to an otherwise poorly-lit (high sun) photo.