Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

 J. Neils Lumber Co. engine in the rain at the Illinois Railway Museum. (May, 2019) “ J. Neils Lumber Co. No. 5 is a three-truck Shay locomotive that was built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1929 for the J. Neils Lumber Company . The engine was designed to work for the J. Neils Lumber Company hauling log trains. The locomotive was moved to the company’s logging plant in Klickitat, Washington in 1939. The locomotive fell into the ownership of a new owner - the newly-merged St. Regis Lumber company - in 1957 for only one year. In 1958, No. 5 was retired and it was put in storage in an engine shed near Klickitat, Washington. No. 5 used to operate on the subsidiary Klickitat Logging & Lumber line in 1960. The locomotive was purchased by and donated to the Illinois Railway Museum in 1969 and it became the first steam locomotive to operate on the museum's mainline.” It still operates today. Thanks as always for reading!

The 150th Anniversary of the completion of the original transcontinental railroad occurred on May 10th, 2019. In honor of the anniversary, there were many events going on, including a re-enactment of the event, and Union Pacific firing up their "Big Boy" engine, UP 4014 , which visited West Chicago a few weeks after the fact. Likewise, today I'm going to talk about this momentous occasion. UPDATE: Since I wrote this blog in 2019, Union Pacific has created a fantastic visual story map about the Transcontinental that you should check out, after reading my blog of course.  "The Central Pacific's engine Jupiter and the Union Pacific's engine No. 119 meet on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah." Image: Andrew J Russell. Via  lindahall.org Through a very cynical lens, one could consider the Original Transcontinental Railroad the ultimate marketing gimmick in the 1860's, for a nation yearning for unity and technological advancement ju...

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry" Many railroad proposals are never seen through to completion, even if significant infrastructure along the route is built, both here in the United States and abroad. This was especially true in the early days of railroad companies, which were quite often small operations that did not have much support from governments, and were also competing against such charters that did.  One such example of an unbuilt railway is the Leeds & York Railway , a proposal from the 1840's to connect its namesake cities in the United Kingdom. Promoted by the Manchester & Leeds Railway , it was eventually a casualty of a non-compete agreement between the M&L and rival York & North Midland Railway . Before the proposal was abandoned, workers had completed the Tadcaster Viaduct, which still stands today. While the company that built it came and went without laying track on it, it briefly did serve its purpose as a rail bridge, a...

There are numerous online resources for almost anything you could want to know about railroad history. That being said, there are still some questions that I've been unable to find a definitive answer to, and I'm not alone. An old  Ghan  Locomotive. Image:  RadioMuseum.org For example, it's quite easy to find information on the longest train trip in the world, the  Trans-Siberian Express.   But what is the longest stretch of  abandoned  railroad right of way in the world?  The answer is hard to come by, because of several reasons, mostly in how one defines "abandoned". This even comes into play on this list, as most lines are abandoned piecemeal, and some stretches can reactivate over time. Thus I'm not sure if I'll ever have a definitive answer to that question, but in my time mapping the world, I've come across five lines (and one incomplete line) that are among the world's longest stretch of abandoned right of way. It would...

This month, I made my first trip to one of my favorite countries. Going to Japan was a childhood dream of mine. It was definitely an experience that I will always cherish and never forget about. One of my favorite things about Japan was the development of their railroads and trains, especially the Shinkansen ( Bullet Trains ). What I am also intrigued in about Japan is the utilization of space. To me, the Japanese are the most  efficient when it comes to using up any land space they can find, and this is exactly what they do when it comes to their abandoned railroad lines, of which there are many. The abandoned rail lines in Japan that have been found on the  abandoned and out of service railroad lines map , including Okinawa. Much of these were  secondary JNR lines  abandoned in the 80's, but at least a few lines were  damaged beyond repair in the 2011 Japan Earthquake . While some of the ruins of old rail lines exist , such as the Shihoro Line , and som...

My project to map the abandoned railroad corridors of the world began in my home state of Illinois, and as such, I thought it would nice to revisit the area and discuss some of the many railroad bridges in the state that no longer serve any traffic, including those lost to history. According to Bridgehunter.com , there are over 1,400 bridges that were built in Illinois that are no longer standing. And even bridges that still exist, there are many hundreds that no longer serve any traffic whatsoever, including pedestrians. Today, we're going to look at just 10 of these, which barely scratches the surface of how many lost bridges there are in this state, and indeed the rest of the country, but if there's enough interest, this can certainly be revisited in future blogs. Any other bridges you have photos or information on, please share in the comments! 10) Alton Bridge over the Mississippi River at Alton, IL Image: Clayton B. Fraser for the Historic American Engineering Rec...