Abandoned & Out of Service Railroad Lines Map

Looking for abandoned railroad tracks near you? Here's our map of abandoned and out-of-service railroad lines, where hopefully you can discover some history hiding in plain sight! It is most accurate in North America, but we are adding new lines across the world almost every day. As a crowdsourced endeavor, this map is incomplete, and will almost certainly remain incomplete. Please provide your knowledge! Know of some lines we don't have? Help us out and Submit a line to the map!

If you find this resource valuable, consider leaving a one-time, monthly or yearly contribution to support this website. Your generous donations help sustain the memory and visibility of this and other maps. As always, nothing is expected, all is appreciated!


The abandoned railroad map is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning about the history of transportation. The map shows the location of abandoned railroads all over the world, and it provides information and links about the history of each railroad line, to the best of our ability. This is a crowd-sourced, and thus continuously updated map, of abandoned railroad lines across the world, in addition to unbuilt and unfinished railroads in various states of completion.

The map is a great way to learn about the development of transportation over time. It shows how railroads were once the primary means of long-distance overland travel, and it shows how they have been replaced by other modes of transportation, such as cars and airplanes.

The map is also a great way to find abandoned railroads to explore. Many abandoned railroads have been converted into hiking and biking trails, and they offer a unique opportunity to experience the history of transportation firsthand. This map is most accurate in North America, and as a crowd-sourced project, remains incomplete across the world.

For the purposes of this map; the legal descriptions of railroad property, i.e: rail-banked, out of service, disused, mothballed and abandoned are ignored. An out-of-service line that is still owned by a railroad company would still appear on this map, as the point of the map is to show were trains no longer run, not its current legal status. Looking for operating Heritage and Tourist Trains? Here's a link to that map!

This map is owned and maintained by Forgotten Railways, Roads & Places, any data gathered from this map should provide a link to the map, as well as a citation. This data is viewable free of charge. Any commercial use, or reproduce, of this data needs prior approval. Email railtrace91@gmail.com for inquiries. 

This is the imaged version of the map in North America:

North American Abandoned Railroad Lines as of 2023. This is a snapshot of all the lines we have on the map, but even in the US and Canada, remains far from complete.

© Forgotten Railways, Roads & Places, 2024



Comments

  1. Thank you for doing such a great job in recording these lost rails.

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    1. Mark, thanks for the kind words. It is an ongoing process to add these corridors, and while I've done plenty myself for finding lines, I also have to thank all of those who have contributed and supported the map as well, as it would be much less full were it not for their contributions!

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  2. Any way to incorporate some of this information in https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ ?

    The Google Maps UI is a lot better in getting details, but the Open Railway Map lets others share in the work. ;-)

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  3. Hammy,

    Thanks for the comment. I love OpenRailwayMap, but the UI limitations are the exact reason why I continue updating this map, and have people email me their contributions to add to it.

    Abandoned rail lines are more than just that, there’s history here as well as appropriate links to more information than I or any other map could provide. Context is key!

    That said, this map will almost certainly never match the amount of content that ORW has. But at the same time, I would love to find a solution which allows users to upload information, and if another UI has a better system for that while allowing pertinent information to be displayed, I would be very interested in that!

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    1. OpenRailwayMap's data comes directly from OpenStreetMap.org . It has a built-in editor. All you need to do to contribute is create an account and start tracing. Then tag the line with the name of the railroad, and tag it with railway=abandoned and you're done.

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  4. The NS line from just northeast of Clemmons NC to the Y in Winston-Salem has been out of service for a good many years, tracks and crossing signals still in place but not maintained. Similar situation with the Great Smokies line from the Nantahala Gorge to Murphy NC. Maintenance used to end at the runaround siding on the west end of the gorge, but now they're putting in a turntable about a mile west of there, for their steam engine. -- R. Hampton

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    1. R., Thanks for the information. I have added the Winston-Salem line to the map. Hope to be able to take it off someday. Please let me know if there's anything else you know of to add!

      Andrew

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  5. I have made a better map for the Cowichan Valley Trail- these two combined railway lines have videos of each trestle or bridge - Click on icons for distances between points, Click on pictures for video https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1mCmK4HHjFGmwLYfvAzmueEd6NfI&msa=0&spn=0.123099%2C0.363579&ll=48.69669265027417%2C-123.80961695000002&z=10

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  6. theres a lot missing in Portugal and Spain tho!!!

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    1. Sotavento,

      Thanks for your comment. Indeed there is plenty missing in Spain, Portugal and around the world. If you know of a particular line not on the map, please send an email to railtrace91@gmail.com with information. Thanks!

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  7. Missing an important historic abandoned railline. The old C&O connection between Hampton, VA and Fort Monroe. On Fort Monroe was the original Mile Post 0 of the Chesapeake and Ohio. Zooming in on Fort Monroe on your Google Earth Map, the icon for the MP0 is marked. Follow East Mercury north offpost and you can still see remnants of the causeway over the Hampton Rive where E. Mercury and East Mellon Street split. It connected to the still used portion of rail you can see clearly near East King Street just south of I-64.

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    1. Thanks for the comment, this line has since been added!

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  8. I live along the Historic Cheshire Rail Trail in NH - I am trying to save historic infrastructure and the rail trail for the public, which it belongs to. I have 2 fb pages, named 'Cheshire Rail Trail - Keene to Connecticut River' and "CT River-Cheshire Rail Trail' - they have petitions and many, many photos, videos, documents, deeds, maps, etc... Please check them out and help me save this old rail line for the people! Thank you, Patricia Rodrigues, 52 Old Route 12 North, Westmoreland, NH - my fb name is 'Pat Rod'

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  9. Three more suggestions, all spurs off of the Rock Island. One is the line running to Midlothian Country Club in Midlothian, Il, another is the line running from by the Oak Forest, IL train station to the OAK Forest Hospital grounds (a short length still exists by the station, and the rail bed is still visible on the grounds), and a spur to the DuPont gunpowder factory that blew up over a hundred years ago, near the hospital. The cutting is still visible in the forest preserve, as is the square of the buried factory foundation at 41.607558, -87.731575.

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    1. Thanks for the information! Added the Oak Forest Hospital spur. The Midlothian Country Club Railroad was already on the map, and I don't add spurs less than a mile in length to the map. Thanks! Andrew

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  10. Very cool database. The one between Kansas City and Lees Summit Missouri has the south seven miles converted to the Rock Island Trail (opened last year), with the northern remaining 11 miles under trail construction.

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  11. The Roswell Railroad ran from Chamblee GA to Roswell GA. It included a branch to Morgan Falls Dam as well. It was abandoned in the 1920’s

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    1. Thank you! This line as well as the Morgan Falls branch has been added to the map!

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  12. I was wondering how I might be able to contribute. I live in Northern Minnesota and have some very old plat books that show some railroads from around 1900 that were only around for 20 years or so during the logging boom. The plat books show the railroads and on Google Maps they are visible yet. These railroads are quite obscure and I am sure few people living ever knew they existed.

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    1. Hello,

      Please submit via email to railtrace91@gmail.com any lines you might have that aren't on the map! Thanks in advance for your contributions!

      Delete
  13. Concerning "name
    Woodville, IN to near Door Village, IN
    description
    ROW of the proposed Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad. This particular stretch was built, but according to Mark Kiefer, there was never any activity on the line."

    That last line about no activity is not true. The line transported thousands on the weekends from LaPorte to Westville to an amusement park from 1908-11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_%E2%80%93_New_York_Electric_Air_Line_Railroad

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    1. Thank you for the clarification! The entry has been changed on the map. I am unsure of the right of way between present-day La Porte Municipal Airport and LaPorte itself but will update as further information comes to light. Thanks again!

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  14. There is a short line on this map that I am pretty sure was never there. Is this a correction you would be interested in? (Or at least investigating more...)

    I only noticed because I was looking at this map and following a line that is currently a dirt path on which I sometimes run. Then I saw (on this map) a branch line off it that I'd never noticed before. I tried to find trace of it in the real world but there's not the slightest evidence that I can see.. Not at any of the road crossings, no property lines on Google Maps, and not even vaguely recognizeable linear features whatsoever on the satellite view.

    But the part that I run on - just a short distance away has remnants everywhere, every crossing. Even beyond where the path ends. I'm wondering if maybe it was a mistake?

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    1. Joe, what line are you referring to?

      Lines on this map may have been abandoned for over 100 years, and unlike OpenRailwayMap, we specifically map out lines that don’t have any real-world trace for the history behind them.

      Of course it could also be a mistake as well, but until we know more, we cannot say.

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    2. The Line is in Massachusetts. It is a spur off the Narrow-gauge rail line that heads North from Bedford MA. I have run on that line (now it's a dirt trail) many times. Accordiing to this map, there is a spur that bears off to the right, just North of Route 3. The very first road it crosses is "Hattie Lane". It supposedly then crosses "Dolan Road", then the "Middlesex Turnpike", "Fardon St" "Glad Valley Road", "Boston Road" etc. etc. until it comes back almost back to the main line.

      The thing is, there is not the slightest bit of evidence of this spur at any crossing or on any satellite map. Literally nothing. Yet look at the main line and you'll see clear visual evidence at every single road crossing there is. Both on Google Street View and on satellite images.

      I'm really not trying to waste anybody's time. I hope I'm wrong. And being so familiar with this area, I was sort of excited to discover this new line. But I cannot find it anywhere, even when I go there in person.

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    3. Joe,

      The right of way you're referring to is the Bedford & Billerica Railroad, one of the earliest abandonments in Massachusetts. Its 2' narrow-gauge alignment was only active between 1877-79, which is why hardly any trace remains of it today. It was not a spur of the mainline, it was the mainline before the Boston, Lowell & Nashua Railroad rebuilt the right of way in 1885, which became the Boston & Maine Railroad.

      Additionally, there is a bit more visible on aerial imagery from 1938, the earliest of which is available on Historic Aerials. A lot of railroad history is no longer visible in the real world, which is part of why this project exists in the first place.

      Jim Haines sent us this email last year regarding the line. "When the B&M replaced the old narrow line with a standard line, they deviated to the west of Billerica Center because the grade was better. The narrow line went east of Billerica Center up the steeper grade of town hill.

      You can watch my video on the abandoned Billerica & Bedford railroad on my YouTube Channel (jph0917). The video title is "Abandoned Railroads of Massachusetts - Billerica & Bedford"." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcn93Y1Zh0U

      You can read more about it here: https://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,369943

      Thanks!

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    4. This is great stuff, thanks. Can't believe I missed that sign on Hattie road!

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  15. I honestly did not know that there are other people into this. Thank you so much. Here in Texas many rural towns are still laid out around the non-existent lines and stations.

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    1. YES! I've said it so many times before, a lot of rural towns in Texas either have, or have had rail lines. I know quite a few towns I pass through on my way from Austin to Houston (vice versa) that had a line now long gone.

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    2. Yes Davis. I thought all my work would go to history when I fell of the perch. Now I can send it here and it will last forever.

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  16. For the short line in New York running from Martisco NY to Marietta NY, here is the correct link to the story of the Marcellus and Otisco Lake Railway ... http://marcellushistoricalsociety.org/railway.html

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  17. There's one line in Baytown TX where the former MP line hasnt seen action in about 2 decades. Still owned by UP, however the crossings are paved over and many of the signals are newer LED lighted gates. Strange. Also. Street running through there.

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  18. I'll bet you'll get a crop of new ones out of the American Ancestors' newsletter mention! Do you include old cog railways (eg, up Cadillac Mt in Maine) and old lumber lines out in the woods?

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    1. Hello and thanks for the comment. We do map selected logging routes. I use the term “selected” because of just how much depth these operations had, it is an incredible amount of data to map! For someone who does map entire logging operations, I suggest taking a look at Tony Howe’s incredible website, msrailroads.com.

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  19. Can the base map background be changed to the "transport map" version of openstreetmap like the openstreetmap site, instead of the "standard" version? That way it would be easier to see the base map/current railways.

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    1. Delvin,

      Thanks for the comment. You can change the basemap to anything you like on the box in the bottom left corner of the map screen.

      Delete
  20. Thank you for bringing back the Google map. It's so much easier to use. Thanks, again.

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  21. tried to submit through the google form but anyways, an ACL line in Washington NC starting at the historic station on Gladden st, curving onto 3rd st then northwest to Latham, Pactolus, Whichard, Stokes, Oakley, and ending at a junction in Parmele. Also the original alignment for the Chocowinity branch at porter junction with a bridge across the river to a wye interchange in between tarheel drive and hackney avenue in Washington

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    1. Ethan,

      Thanks for the comment and sorry that the file submitter did not work for you. I have added the railroad line to the map. Thanks a lot for your help!

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  22. I will send map files. I live in western Maryland and there's alot missing or needs correcting. As far as missing, majority of the Hagerstown and Frederick, B&O's branch into Hagerstown, and PRR's Frederick branch between Frederick and Taneytown. As far as corrections, "Northern Central" in Frederick was actually PRR, former York, Hanover, and Frederick. this was part of the Frederick Branch. the ex-B&O line at Guldens, PA is actually ex-WM, this was the original alignment for the Hanover Sub.

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  23. Hello, We recently purchased property in Stark County Ohio, Osnaburg Township that has an old railroad bed running through it. We were told, by a neighbor, that the home on the property was formerly the Mapleton Depot. I'm trying to research . Can you offer some suggestions? The land is south of Mapleton and East of Indian Run. Thank you!

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    1. Hello, Thanks for reaching out. I believe the line you're referring to is the Waynesburg Branch of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. I hadn't traced the line before you pointed to it, so it's on the map now, although I could not pinpoint the location the Mapleton Depot that you alluded to, since I don't really map stations, and don't on this map. I suggest checking out Ohio Railroad Stations Past & Present (https://www.west2k.com/ohio.htm) to see if they've mapped or have information for you. Thanks!

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  24. Line I submitted in Dollar Bay Michigan was the Mineral Range Railroad

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    1. Thanks for the clarification as well as sending us the original line, Mike, it's been updated on the map!

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  25. First of all, this is a fantastic effort, and is much appreciated. I do have a correction on a couple of the lines you've marked, though. The "Webster, MA" line with a description of "East Village Branch, New York New Haven & Hartford" should be identified as Boston & Albany, not New Haven. The same change needs to be made to the line named "Auburn, MA to Webster, MA". Both of these are part of the former Boston & Albany Webster Springs branch, that once went under the full name of "Providence, Webster, and Springfield". The line was abandoned in the 1950's as a result of the construction of several flood-control dams that flooded parts of the right-of-way.

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  26. Fantastic Map! Would love to contribute, but did want to ask if "interurban" lines (not city streetcar but longer distance passenger and freight trolley cars) are among the lines that are to be included in this?

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    1. Adam, thanks for the kind words! We do include interurban lines in Yellow. We don't anticipate having full streetcar networks on the map, at least yet, but yes we do include interurbans.

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  27. Is the map down? Has not loaded for me in the past few days.

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    1. Thanks for letting me know, I don't know what the issue is but it appears to be working fine on our end and is not, and has not been down.

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  28. Hello,

    I am from Indiana in the USA. Awesome maps! All the abandoned lines where I live are listed. QUESTION, do you guys also map out abandon Tolley lines? I had the Gary, Hobart, and Eastern traction comp. go right through my home. I just completed a land survey (for a new fence on my property) and the surveyors marked all the railroad stuff on the map. I also found the maps of the railroad line in the local history museum. Thank you, MRC

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    1. Hello, thanks for the comment! We do map abandoned trolley lines if we have the information for them. If you'd like to contribute, please fill out the form or email railtrace91@gmail.com.

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  29. Only just discovered this site. Fantastic. Discovered some errors and omissions in Melbourne Aust. Would love to correct and contribute. Have all on Google Earth, explain how an old hack like me can do this please. Cheers, Paul.

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  30. The USRA Penn Central Muncie Yard Track was originally owned by the Chicago, Indiana and Eastern Railroad.

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