Rediscovering our history with the land, settlements, and how we moved from place to place.
Railcars in Storage
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The US railroad network is an engineering marvel. And just as important to the industry as the rails themselves are its rolling stock. After all, without railcars, the rails would be nothing but iron.
But the demand for railcars is not constant, and different kinds of cars are needed at different points of the year. While the exact number of railcars in service in North American railroads and holding companies isn't known, it's about 1.6 million.
On any given day however, about 900,000 won't move. While many of these are simply waiting in large railyards, many more are redundant at certain points of the year, and yet will be needed in the future. Thus, there is a market for train tracks to hold excess cars.
While many of these can be stored away in yards, an alternative to placing a line out of service or abandoning it outright is to lease the space and store railcars and other rolling stock on it. However, the practice isn't without controversy. Some of these cars can stay parked for years, leading to environmental and blight concerns for some nearby residents.
Between Welton, AZ and Goodyear, AZ lies a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad that it inherited from Southern Pacific. While much of it appears to still be in service, a stretch of railcars near Kofa can be seen on Google Maps. On the latest imagery, it appears to extend all the way to Growler, AZ, about 11 miles south.
2) Mescal, AZ
Arizona is also home to another long line of rolling stock; in this case diesel engines. Union Pacific holds about 300 diesels west of Mescal, AZ that can be seen from I-10. As such, they've attracted quite an audience of railfans and urban explorers.
3) Abandoned Passenger Car on the San Diego Arizona & Eastern Railroad
The San Diego Arizona & Eastern, perhaps better known as the "Impossible Railroad", is a treasure trove of abandoned artifacts, despite the fact that is potentially going to be reactivated in the next year or so. On a siding, you can see several old Metra passenger cars covered in graffiti.
Between Crivitz and Marinette, WI lies a line in very rough shape. Using Google Street View, it's quite easy to see miles upon miles of cars stored here. In each of the shots, you can tell that cars have been moved, but how often this occurs is unknown.
Lakeville, MN has been one of the more controversial railcar storage lines in the United States, given its a suburban area as opposed to a more rural place where storage is much more common. For Progressive Rail, it nonetheless made sense to store cars on the ex-Soo Line tracks between Lakeville and Savage, MN, given they were headquartered nearby.
While owners fought the storage of cars here for years, as of 2018 on Google Street View, it appears the line no longer serves that purpose, and is now out-of-service.
North of Sauk City, WI this line is abandoned, but it appears as though this corridor still serves as a temporary holding spot for freight cars. You can look on Street View and see the change of cars over the years. 7) Corydon Jct, IN
Much like the Mazomie-Sauk City line, heading south from Corydon Junction is still serving railcar storage interests. Sadly, no street view exists of the rolling stock.
Another long stretch of railcars exists, or has existed, near South Fork, CO, where immediately west of here begins an out-of-service stretch of this ex-Denver & Rio Grande Western line from South Fork to Creede, CO. 9) The Adirondacks, NY
The Adirondacks were another place where railcars were stored, but much like Lakeville, MN, this generated significant controversy, in this case, environmental groups against them being stored in and around forests. Eventually, politicians got involved and the idea has been shelved for the moment.
This is actually a storage facility located within a business park, that has been home to a few vintage pieces of rolling stock, and has thus caught the attention of railfans, both near and far.
There are many, many more places railcars are stored in North America, many of which are inaccessible without trespassing. As always, please do not trespass on railroad property to view any kind of railcars.
With how much Area 51 has been in the news recently, I figured it would be a good time to talk about one of the facility's more interesting (to me) pieces of infrastructure, at least that the US Government acknowledges exists, its railroad . An L.A Times article from 2014 notes the railroad as well. It states, "[Thornton "T.D"] Barnes worked on a nuclear-rocket program called Project NERVA, inside underground chambers at Jackass Flats, in Area 51’s backyard. “Three test-cell facilities were connected by railroad, but everything else was underground." This implies that this is the extent of visible railroad operations at the facility, but more might exist underground for testing purposes. First, let's talk about what we know. In the middle of the Nevada desert, or the "NERVA Test Site" on topo maps, exists a small railroad operation less than 7 miles in combined length. It is west of Groom Lake, otherwise known as Area 51, in an area known as...
It's been awhile since I've made a state level map of any of the US States, but I got a recent request to map the State of New Mexico, and figured it was time to put another feather in my cap! New Mexico's railroad history extends far beyond the busy mainlines that still cross the state today. From mining railroads in the mountains to agricultural branch lines on the plains, hundreds of miles of railroad corridors once connected communities that have long since lost train service. The map below highlights many of these abandoned and out-of-service railroad lines across New Mexico, revealing a hidden transportation network that helped shape the state's development. The map shows former rail corridors stretching from the mining districts near Silver City and Dawson to agricultural branches around Clovis, Tucumcari, and Roswell. Many of these routes served coal mines, timber operations, ranching communities, and small towns that depended on rail transportation during the l...
Almost eight (!) years ago, I came up with my own list of ideas for new rail trails in the Chicago area , that might piggyback off of the success that The 606 Trail has had with regards to community redevelopment, developing excellent bike infrastructure, and connecting neighborhoods across Chicago's North Side. One of the proposals at that time was just gaining steam, the Englewood Trail, which would use a abandoned spur owned by Norfolk Southern Railway between 58th and 59th St in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, and if all goes according to plan, will be opening as a linear park late next year! While projects like the 606 or the High Line focused heavily on recreation and aesthetics, the Englewood project is designed as an economic and ecological engine. It aims to serve the people currently living in the neighborhood by addressing decades of systemic disinvestment through urban agriculture and local job creation. For those following the history of Chicago’s industrial ar...
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rspicture.aspx?id=597861 it looks like that Ex reading car in the first picture is now alone, and on it's side.
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