In 1975 a group put together a train which spent the next year touring the United States celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with various artifacts and displays. My brother and I arranged to intercept the train at several points as it passed through South Bend. Here I show it passing through Union Station and later going up a freight-only spur to the back of a high school property where it sat for a day so people could go through the train and look at the displays.

Today Amtrak stops at a shack on the edge of town, the former Union Station is used by an Internet company, the freight spur has been torn up, and the high school was torn down last year.

[IgorZ]

I looked up a map of railway lines in Saskatchewan for my thesis. I was shocked to see how many there were, and how few remained...

[reh321]

I'm guessing Saskatchewan developed much as Indiana did. Before the depression railroads built with a mania, trying to provide market access for every possible grain elevator location. That was followed by years of rationalization, with some elevators found to be unneeded, and for many of the others, trucking the grain out made more sense than running an occasional short, inefficient train did.

[PenPusher]

I looked up a map of railway lines in Saskatchewan for my thesis. I was shocked to see how many there were, and how few remained...

In the 1960's the UK embarked on a "Rationalisation" of their railway network and closed down many tracks, something they seem to be regretting today with the growth of motor traffic. Some lengths of tracks were purchased by steam enthusiasts who run old restored steam trains for tourists, quite successfully in some cases.

The UK had a large canal system which gradually became disused as goods traffic moved to railways and then to trucks, canal enthusiasts then took over some of the canals and restored them which actually made them popular for recreation purposes.

Back in the middle ages, roughly speaking, you could sail your ship up into the centre of Tralee, the town grew and the river was bridged and then built over, ships got bigger and a canal was built from Blennerville at the mouth of the bay into Tralee but Tralee bay is gradually silting up resulting in the canal becoming disused with ships now stoping at the port of Fenit 7 miles or so away. The Canal's towpath is now a nice well lit public walkway out to the lock gates at the seaward end and the canal is used by the rowing club.

The wheel turns

[Janse]

Nice!

[reh321]

In the 1960's the UK embarked on a "Rationalisation" of their railway network and closed down many tracks, something they seem to be regretting today with the growth of motor traffic. Some lengths of tracks were purchased by steam enthusiasts who run old restored steam trains for tourists, quite successfully in some cases.

The UK had a large canal system which gradually became disused as goods traffic moved to railways and then to trucks, canal enthusiasts then took over some of the canals and restored them which actually made them popular for recreation purposes.

Back in the middle ages, roughly speaking, you could sail your ship up into the centre of Tralee, the town grew and the river was bridged and then built over, ships got bigger and a canal was built from Blennerville at the mouth of the bay into Tralee but Tralee bay is gradually silting up resulting in the canal becoming disused with ships now stoping at the port of Fenit 7 miles or so away. The Canal's towpath is now a nice well lit public walkway out to the lock gates at the seaward end and the canal is used by the rowing club.

The wheel turns

The US went down almost exactly the same path. I've posted recently photos of the old Erie Canal, which tied New York City to the then-growing "Midwest" where I live

[normhead]

I live and drive or walk quite often on the rail bed that was the lifeline of Whitney in logging days. My friend Paul remembers when the train was the only way in and out. Then the highway was built, his younger sister Leona remembers using the abandoned train station to play house in.

A km down the old rail bed from our house.


The same line 10km up the road in Algonquin Park, it's completely unused in the park, though many have been lobbying to have it turned into a bicycle path.



Back in the day, one of the locomotives that travelled this line.


One of the locals remembers hopping the train in the morning to get to Barry's Bay for high school, and then hopping it on the way home. Totally illegal of course but you did what you had to do. You had to break the law to get an education.

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Last edited by normhead; 07-12-2018 at 08:15 AM.

[gaweidert]

The US went down almost exactly the same path. I've posted recently photos of the old Erie Canal, which tied New York City to the then-growing "Midwest" where I live

Well the Old Erie Canal was rebuilt in the early 1900's as the New York Stat Barge Canal. It is still in operation today but with very little commercial and some recreational traffic. A few years ago the state renamed it the Erie Canal again. The state constitution decrees that the canal is to be maintained and operated in perpetuity. What this means is that everybody who pays for electricity in NY has a surcharge to cover the operating costs of the canal. Before that recent surcharge, the money came from tolls on the New York State Thruway. As near as I can tell, about 10 boats a year use it.


I saw the Freedom Train when it came to Rochester, NY in 1976. I think I may still have a few souvenirs from it somewhere.

[reh321]

Well the Old Erie Canal was rebuilt in the early 1900's as the New York Stat Barge Canal. It is still in operation today but with very little commercial and some recreational traffic. A few years ago the state renamed it the Erie Canal again. The state constitution decrees that the canal is to be maintained and operated in perpetuity. What this means is that everybody who pays for electricity in NY has a surcharge to cover the operating costs of the canal. Before that recent surcharge, the money came from tolls on the New York State Thruway. As near as I can tell, about 10 boats a year use it.

From the earliest days, the US saw the need for an economic way of carrying freight and people from the Northeast to what was then known as the "Northwest Territory"

In the 19th century, New York built the Erie Canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, and today we read about it in history books. Pennsylvania tried to build the Allegheny Portage Railroad, which carried barges up and down ramps built into mountain slopes; my wife and I saw the remains of one of those ramps while traveling through there on our honeymoon, but I don't remember whether they moved very much or for how long. Early in the 20th century, the New York Central Railroad ran along the same general route followed by the Erie Canal while Pennsylvania built the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was known for various exotica such as Horseshoe Curve. In mid 20th century, Pennsylvania turned a failed second railroad into the Pennsylvania Turnpike and New York built the New York Thruway. I think future historians will say that New York's "water level route" was more successful than the more direct, but mountainous, route through Pennsylvania, and that had a major role in NYC growing so much more than Philadelphia did.

[reh321]

I live and drive or walk quite often on the rail bed that was the lifeline of Whitney in logging days. My friend Paul remembers when the train was the only way in and out. Then the highway was built, his younger sister Leona remembers using the abandoned train station to play house in.

A km down the old rail bed from our house.

The same line 10km up the road in Algonquin Park, it's completely unused in the park, though many have been lobbying to have it turned into a bicycle path.

Back in the day, one of the locomotives that travelled this line.

One of the locals remembers hopping the train in the morning to get to Barry's Bay for high school, and then hopping it on the way home. Totally illegal of course but you did what you had to do. You had to break the law to get an education.

Thank you!

You've posted photos from this rail bed before, and I'd been wondering what the story behind them was.

[normhead]

Thank you!

You've posted photos from this rail bed before, and I'd been wondering what the story behind them was.

It was built by the logging companies to get the big pines out of the park. These days there are lots fo mills and lumber is sawed and planed before it's shipped. There's very little logging with high commercial value because of a century of the "we will never run out of trees" attitude. They cut all the trees 200 to 500 years old and now they claim it's government legislation (as opposed to their disgusting and barbaric management skills) that's holding them back. But the bottom line is, the government didn't take charge of the lumber supply until it was too late, (there's very little marketable lumber in the park despite ALgaonquin being 7000 sq. km) the local mill makes a go of it cutting polar for skids for U.S. steel pipe product, Despite Oak, Maple, Ash and Black Cherry growing in our forests, it will be two hundred years before there's a premium lumber market again. And with the govenerment planning cuts on a 100 year cycle, it's possible Algqonuin will never again see the kinds of trees that made the railroad possible.

[reh321]

It was built by the logging companies to get the big pines out of the park. These days there are lots fo mills and lumber is sawed and planed before it's shipped. There's very little logging with high commercial value because of a century of the "we will never run out of trees" attitude. They cut all the trees 200 to 500 years old and now they claim it's government legislation (as opposed to their disgusting and barbaric management skills) that's holding them back. But the bottom line is, the government didn't take charge of the lumber supply until it was too late, (there's very little marketable lumber in the park despite ALgaonquin being 7000 sq. km) the local mill makes a go of it cutting polar for skids for U.S. steel pipe product, Despite Oak, Maple, Ash and Black Cherry growing in our forests, it will be two hundred years before there's a premium lumber market again. And with the govenerment planning cuts on a 100 year cycle, it's possible Algqonuin will never again see the kinds of trees that made the railroad possible.

Even if the trees come back, it is unlikely that the railroad will. You are seeing two effects at once - (1) failure to replace trees in a timely manner, and (2) moving production "up stream". In recent years, production has been moved closer to the raw materials; for example, at one time trains were used to move cattle to the great slaughterhouses, while these days smaller slaughterhouses are located much closer to the cattle, so they can be trucked to market. The only place I see that trend reversed is in petroleum. In the early years of the 20th century, crude oil was moved to refineries by train .... then Rockefeller had the idea of constructing pipelines for that purpose. In recent years, activists have blocked pipeline construction as a means of preventing drilling in "new" areas, but almost every area has train tracks already - no new construction needed - so now we have long trains of nothing but crude oil going through our area taking crude oil from North Dakota to somewhere east of us {Cleveland, perhaps, the original home of Rockefeller's first refineries}

[foxandcrow]

Thanks for sharing. Here in Colorado I've taken a trip from Denver to Glenwood Springs, the one in Georgetown, the one in Durango and the one at Royal Gorge all lots of fun. Great topic.

[LSR]

Thanks for sharing the shots, I enjoy anything to do with the railroad.

I've always thought that truck drivers would love it if the old rail lines were paved and made for heavy transport vehicles only. They go direct from city center to city center, are almost always level, and they wouldn't have to deal with passenger vehicles sharing the roads. I'm betting there would be dramatically less accidents on highways, and freight would be delivered more efficiently.

[reh321]

Thanks for sharing. Here in Colorado I've taken a trip from Denver to Glenwood Springs, the one in Georgetown, the one in Durango and the one at Royal Gorge all lots of fun. Great topic.

The only train I've ridden in your area is the Cumbres&Toltec Scenic Railroad, a bistate entity which runs between Antonito CO and Chama NM. It has the origin as the Durango & Silverton.