Western Railroad Discussion > Abandoned Track To Amazing Places --- Gone In 50 Years

Looking at some depressing pictures on another thread of the dormant Tennesse Pass line got me to thinking . . .

Here's a list of scenic / historic / engineering marvel rail line segments that have been abandoned in my lifetime.  We've paid a high price, folks!

<> SD&AE's Carriso Gorge
<> NWP's Eel River Canyon
<> the Camas Prairie Grangeville Branch
<> Tennessee Pass / Royal Gorge
<> CP's line through Coquihalla and Myra Canyons / Farron Hill
<> SP's Modoc Line
<> MP's Pueblo Line
<> MILW's Western Extension
<> The St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County covered bridge line
<> The CN on Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and the Gaspe Peninsula
<> CN & CP trackage on Vancouver Island
<> WP&Y into Whitehorse
<> The NS wooden bridge over Abblemarle Sound
<> UP's branches to West Yellowstone, Victor, McCall, New Meadows, Burns, Wells, Wallace and Burke
<> NP's branches to Wallace and Gardiner
<> SP's branchlines onto the western slope of the Sierra
<> DRGW's line to Marysville
<> CN & CP lines through the Ottawa Valley
<> NdeM's line through "Hand Canyon" near Iguala 
<> CH-P line from La Junta to Juarez
<> DRGW from Chama to Durango

​This list is certainly not all-inclusive.  Can other readers come up with some other noteworthy candidates?  I'm referring to stuff that has been abandoned just in the last fifty years or so.  Obviously the Colorado Midland, Yosemite Valley and the FEC Key West extension qualify, but they happened long ago.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/15 19:21 by CA_Sou_MA_Agent.

T&P (MP & UP) Weatherford, Mineral Wells, and Northwestern.
T&P Texarkana Tx to Shreveport La.
RI   Ft Worth to Graham, Tx
MKT  Waxahachie Tx to Hillsboro, Tx
MKT  Waco Tx to Rotan Tx
MP from Waco to Ft Worth Tx
Santa Fe  Most of the Orient
FW&D   Wichita Falls to Abilene, Tx
FW&D   Estelene Tx to Lubbock Tx.
QA&P  Quannah, Tx to Floydada Tx
ATSF   To many Texas branches to mention.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/15 20:01 by tomstp.

The SP and PE branches in the LA Basin
The SP Mina Branch
The SP Jawbone Branch
The SP and SF branches in the San Joaquin Valley
as said, you can go on and on and on.

Out

Pueblo Colorado got a double whammy with the loss of both the MoPac line and the Tennessee Pass line.

No wonder I find little desire to "go home"!

Rob

I agree, Rob, even with my son living there and free lodging, I can't find much of a reason to want to go there. A personal loss for myself and many northern Colorado fans is the UP, then Wyoming/Colorado Railroad Coalmont branch which only went as far as Walden, CO in its later years. Of course there is also the unrelated Colorado & Wyoming Railroad Northern Division, from Guernsey, WY to Sunrise, and Southern Division out of Walsenburg, CO. Then there's the UP Julesburg cutoff shortcut to Denver severed between Union, CO and Monfort, rendering the whole line of little use except Sterling to Union for BNSF but nothing through for UP. The Dent branch passenger bypass from Lasalle, CO to Denver via Dent, the Burlington "Buckwheat" line severed from Lafayette, CO to Longmont, and does the Rex Branch northwest out of Fort Collins, CO, once thought to be a Transcontinental, count? === === = === JLH



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/15 20:11 by highgreengraphics.

ATSF Phoenix division in the 1960s and again in the 1980's. The first portion falls out of your 50 year range by a few years, but ATSF abandoned the Peavine between Skull Valley and Prescott in 1962, eliminating a helper district, 3% grades, passenger service to Prescott, putting Prescott at the end of a 28 mile branch. The passenger trains, unofficially known as the 'Hassayampa Chief' continued to run between Phoenix and the connection with the ATSF mainline at Williams Jct. for a few years after. 

In 1984, ATSF filed for abandonment of the Prescott branch. By the 1980's, carloads along the line had fallen just a few cars a month and in 1984 several washouts along the line spelled the end. Santa Fe couldn't justify the cost to make repairs to the damaged areas. The line was kept in place for a few years in the event that something positive may happen to the line. The City of Prescott tried to buy the line from Santa Fe in hopes of turning it into a tourist line, but Prescott could not afford what ATSF wanted for the line. The line was finally torn up in 1991, I believe. There was a short spur that ran from the branches connection with the modern day Peavine at Abra that extended about a half mile and was used as recently as BNSF days for car storage. Today a 700' spur labeled by BNSF as 'old Prescott branch track' is all that's left of the trackage. 

As mentioned above, the PCE, Modoc, Jawbone, Mina lines
McCloud...might as well.
SP's Jefferson St branch, in limbo last I saw.
SP's Tillamook Branch
OC&E
O&NW
OP&E
SP's Vasona line
UP's Pioche branch
CP&LT
BN's Seaside line
Portland Traction
SP's Hollywood line.
 

Interesting list of now gone rail lines around North America,
I've chased trains on a few of them before their demise!

But I must say that while the SD&AE through the Carriso Gorge is
once again dormant, it has never been abandoned. At least not yet!

The current owners as well as the current designated operator, don't seem to
be interested in reopening this line in anything like a timely manner! IF EVER!!!

I hope that the SD&AE line through the Carriso Gorge doesn't end up with the same
fate has these other lines!

There still is some great potential to the whole SD&AE line, but it will never happen
as long as the line is owned by the Metropolitan Transit System in San Diego!!

Mike

I miss the Great Northern main line from Stryker to Jennings, Montana.  It was replaced by the new route via the 7 mile Flathead Tunnel.
While that is interesting in itself, it does not make up for the splendid scenery from Stryker through Fortine to Rexford and the beautiful
Kootenai River route from Rexford down to Jennings.

Although not officially abandoned, you can add the former GN / BN / BNSF line from Great Falls to Helena, Montana, undoubtedly one of the prettiest lines in the West, now embargoed.

Most of these lines succumbed to either lack of traffic or high cost of operation, or both.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

And from my roots:
Practically all of the SA&AP that SP was operating 50 years ago including:
Elmendorf to Sinton
Skidmore to Edinburg Jct.
Kenedy to Cuero
Yoakum to Arenal
Eagle Lake to Houston
Beckmann to Kerrville
Gregory to Corpus Christi
Add to that other SP lines in Texas:
Giddings to Hempstead
Coleto Creek to Beeville
Bremond to Waco
Commerce to Paris
Plano to TP Jct.
Briggs to Nacogdoches
Prosser to Loeb Jct.
And SSW:
Corsicana to Waco
Lufkin Branch

rdb




 
 

Let's not forget:
CNW's Cow Boy line
Oregon California & Eastern
Very soon, we could lose thw Weyerhauser Woods Railroad and or Yreak Western
Simpson Timer
Mc Cloud River

How 'bout the Pennsy's Panhandle and ALL the track Conrail tore up. (Not placing blame. The NE was WAY over built.)

SP, former EP&SW, Mescal to El Paso
SP&S Spokane to Pasco.
Most of the Erie.
Most of the Lackawanna.
Most of the Lehigh Valley.
Most of the Reading.
Most of the Western Maryland.
You get the picture.

Posted from Android

In Washington State, we also lost:

- The SP&S mainline between Pasco and Spokane (really paying for that one now).

- U.P.'s Yakima Branch (small pieces still exist and actually generate a fair amount of traffic for the Central Washington Railroad).

- Milwaukee Road's isolated branch between Port Townsend and Port Angeles. Fascinating barge operation to connect it with the rest of the railroad.

-Northern Pacific's (BN) Naches & Tieton branch lines west of Yakima.

- U.P.'s amazing electric Yakima Valley Transportation Co. with lines radiating west of Yakima. Connected numerous fruit packers with U.P.'s Yakima Branch.

While we've lost these lines, both U.P. and BNSF have seen their mainline traffic in Washington State soar. 25 years ago, I never would have guessed U.P.'s Washy Line (Hinkle-Spokane-Eastport,ID) would see so much traffic or that Stampede Pass would reopen!

Posted from iPhone

You are so right....
The Van Nuys Branch
Santa Paula Branch from Saugus to Piru
The Ojai
Alla
Santa Monica (Airline(
bellflower
Hollywood
Culver City
San Fernando
Numerous spurs, industrial leads and manufacturing busineeses just to name a few



-------------------------------------------------------
> The SP and PE branches in the LA Basin
> The SP Mina Branch
> The SP Jawbone Branch
> The SP and SF branches in the San Joaquin Valley
> as said, you can go on and on and on.
>
> Out

gnfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I miss the Great Northern main line from Stryker
> to Jennings, Montana. 
>
That made me think about the GN in Minnesota.  Considering main lines or secondary mains, from memory and without looking at old maps: (1) The GN from St. Cloud to Fergus Falls.  Dying in the late 70s when I lived there, driving along it on I-94 about a year ago, it now looks to be mostly hiking trail.  (2) Didn't GN also have a line from Brainerd up to Bemidji or Cass Lake?  (3) And two from the Soo Line: From Duluth to the current main line near Glenwood, and from Duluth across the north to up near Thief River Falls, kind of parallel to GN. 

From my Mopac heritage, the KO&G line between Muskogee, and KO&G Jct. 177 miles. I got to ride this on a freight back in 83 with a engr friend of mine  out of Muskogee. Somewhat scenic and remote through the foothills Eastern Oklahoma.
The Wichita Sub between Wichita and Bronson,KS 133 miles. I missed riding the 30 or so miles to Ft.Scott by a few years and it used to extend all the way to Rich Hill, Mo; today only the 28 miles between Wichita and Eldorado are left.  In 1994, the Wichita NRHS Sponsored a E unit trip between Wichita and Durand.
Bonham Sub between Texarkana Whitesboro 173 miles. I was down there a number of times,but never could catch a train on the line. Seems like a shortline tried to make a go of it,but to no avail. There are others ,but I would have to look them up.

Almanor Railroad which ran between the Collins Pine mill in Chester, Ca and Clear Creek Jct.