Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

Drachen Fire was a late model Arrow Dynamics looping coaster, built at Busch Gardens Williamsburg for the 1992 season.  Building on the success of Arrow's numerous Mega-Looper roller coasters, the ride was supposed to be an incredible addition to an amusement part that had great success with Arrow coasters beforehand, such as 1978's Loch Ness Monster , featuring the only interlocking vertical loops remaining in the world, and Big Bad Wolf , a now-defunct, but fondly remembered, suspended coaster , running from 1984-2009. Aerial of Drachen Fire . Image: Corey Green via Theme Park Tourist At 150’ tall, with a diving inversion for a first drop, as well as other unique inversions, and an airtime hill immediately after the first drop, Drachen Fire was an ambitious project, and was meant to be the signature ride in the park. The ride was stylistically different from previous Arrow projects in a few ways. For one, it did not feature a vertical loop, and it the first time the comp...

Before the days of globalization, heavy industry used to build this country had to come from right here. As such, the manufacturing of steel was of the utmost importance in the late 19th century. And while steel continues to be an extremely important industry , much like the railroad industry, steel production has become much more efficient over time, making relatively small plants obsolete, which is what would happen to the Joliet Iron Works.  Joliet Iron Works in 1901. The mainline of the Illinois Central (now CN) ran right through it. Most of the side tracks are abandoned. One can even see this consolidation in the corporate history of the Works. The Joliet works was built by the Joliet Iron and Steel Company in 1869. Twenty years later, the Illinois Steel Company acquired it, and Illinois Steel itself was acquired by Federal Steel, which would form US Steel, which is still in business to this day.  Over 4000 workers were employed at these works in 1926 . T...

Grosse Ile, MI, an island of the Detroit River, once was served by the Canada Southern Railway , which later became part of the Michigan Central Railroad. ( Right of way ) Bicyclists on railroad bridge, 1897  (Grosse Ile Historical Society) A railway bridge connected the Island to the mainland of Michigan. Canada Southern Bridge Company, a subsidiary of the Canada Southern, built the rail bridge in 1873. East of the island, railroad cars would be ferried across the river into Canada , where they often would travel to Buffalo and other eastern US cities, that were quicker to access via Ontario than Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. This bridge, pictured above, would carry rail, automobile, and bicycle traffic until 1932, when it was converted into the Grosse Ile Free Bridge , which remains standing today, although not for rail traffic. Notably, it was closed in 2020 for repairs but is planned to reopen at some point. Grosse Ile Michigan Station, 1900. This station location now h...

Railroads, in their early days were a significant force in geopolitics. This continues even today, as countries and regions vie for influence in today's globalized world. An admittedly small, but nonetheless, a part of North & South Korea's conflict involves connecting the two countries together via the railroad . However, the railroad industry has actually built countries, and not in the physical sense, where a railroad builds cities and towns along it's route, but were actually responsible for developing a national identity and connectivity. Canada, with it's extremely large and spread out population, partially owes it's existence as a single transcontinental country to railroads. It is possible, if not likely, that Canada would look a lot differently today politically were it not for the railroads. The Guarantee Act of 1849 ensured that any railroad investment in Canada would yield returns on their bonds. Of course, while the Act indeed spurred railroad...

One of the more recent railroad abandonments in the United States is the Bedford-New Albany, Indiana line that CSX abandoned in January 2018. Eight years earlier, revenue service was discontinued along the route . The abandoned right of way is of course on our abandoned and out-of-service railroad lines map. Image: New Albany City Hall . (WHAS) Just before abandonment in 2018, this is how the right of way looked. The tracks have since been salvaged. The Monon Railroad , also known as the New Albany & Salem Railroad , constructed the line from Bedford, IN to New Albany, IN, in 1854.  As part of abandonment or discontinuance requests, environmental reviews, including historical information on the line, are usually required, and the following information comes from the STB's abandonment document environmental review, albeit abridged. Reflecting its reaches, this name was changed to the Louisville New Albany & Chicago railroad in 1859, and reorganized as the Chicago, Indianap...

The Laramie North Park & Western Railroad connected Laramie, WY with Coalmont, CO along a 112 mile route that ran through incredibly treacherous terrain. ( Right of way ) Laying rail for the LHP&P  (Wyoming Tales & Trails) It was established in 1901 as The Laramie Hahns Peak & Pacific Railway, it was built to tap into the mining interests of Southern Wyoming, and was later extended down to Colorado at a steep price. Initially, however, it was planned to extend much farther south and west, with over 500 route miles planned, although none would be constructed beyond Coalmont. "By the time the rail line reached Centennial in 1907, the town's latest mining boom was fading, so the company's owners turned their sights to black gold. Coal seams near the southern end of the Medicine Bows beckoned, and the LHP&P followed. The rail line turned south through the mountains, reaching appropriately named Coalmont, Colo., in 1911." ( Rails to Trails ) Map of por...