Canadian Railroads > 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 19:24 by CA_Sou_MA_Agent.

The Lake Cowichan Branch and the Port Alberni branch of the CP (E&N) on Vancouver Island.
CN operations on Vancouver Island
CN in Newfoundland
CN on Prince Edward Island
And I am sure there are many, many more ...

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

And add all the  lines in Ontario except the present CN mainline and CP mainlines.  The Canada Southern, the CN Cayuga Sub save for a spur from St. Thomas east to Courtland, all the railway lines
from Stratford north known as the Bruce lines including the heavy built short lived line to Douglas Point, the CP line from Orangeville north to Owen Sound, The line from Barrie to Collingwood, the Beach Sub. from Stoney Creek to Burlington, the Beeton Sub. partly reincarnated as the Halton Sub. In many cases particularly the lines known in the Bruce, better roads plowed in the winter along with much better constructed vehicles did in the railways, as it was in so many other areas. The abandonment of the CASO and the Canada Air line were political decisions, perhaps also to remove competition.  The weekend pursuit used to be to go to Canfield Junction, it is now all weeds and a house...  In many parts of Ontario railways are but a memory, many children will be raised and never see a railway of any sort.   Our hobby people, in many places is a fossil.

Bryce Lee
Burlington, Ontario
 

As someone who worked on the Kootenay and Kettle Valley Divisions of CP as a young man, I'm really noting the passage of time as those who spent their working careers operating these railways are passing on.  A friend who hosted a "Kettle Valley Reunion" every August at Brookemere BC noted that there are only 16 surviving Kettle Valley Division railroaders from all departments, down from 200 at the turn of the millenium.

When I worked as a trainman on these Divisions, I was in my twenties and my co-workers were in their fifties or older. Still, they were accepting of an eager young co-worker and passed on some of the legends.

Sadly, much of the social history of these lines will be lost as those who know it pass away.

A  late friend of mine who worked the Coquihalla route over the Coast Mountains of British Columbia told me how brutal a job it was firing a hand fired steam locomotive eastward out of Hope BC, and also of the vicious snow and rock slides that plagued this line. He also described the "final straw" rock slide that made CP management decide to close the line forever in 1958.  It remained in place as a "suspended" operation for three years. The operating crews, facing indefinite unemployment gradually drifted away to find other employment. One of the more unlikely encounters I had was with a Greyhound bus driver who was a former KV Division locomotive fireman.