abandoned lines

[legsbluetrain]

Rock Island line in North Little Rock and Lonoke,AR
http://twitpic.com/igvlu
http://twitpic.com/ih9h9
http://twitpic.com/ih9j7
http://twitpic.com/ih9ji
http://twitpic.com/ih9zu
Best for last.
http://twitpic.com/ihaex

[legsbluetrain]

Old railroad ties dug up by my railfan spot.

MOPac Junction Bridge,view from Little Rock River Market pavillion.
http://twitpic.com/j4m5o

[AndyWS]

The recent Street View updates show some of the several abandoned and out-of-service lines in remote parts of northern Wisconsin.

Starting on the west end at Almena, WI. The line turns into a trail somewhere west of here.

A paved over crossing with some rail sections missing:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 5,,0,12.64

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 6,,0,13.65

The next street to the east, it's hard to tell if anything at all remains here:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 5,,0,18.98

Next street east, paved over with a signal relay case remaining:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 45.13,,0,5

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 55,,0,7.56

Further east, paved over:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 8,,0,11.03

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 9,,0,16.46

Next one, crossbucks and Yield signs standing:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... ,5.79,,0,5

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 03,,0,7.51

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 68.94,,0,5

Former crossbuck posts with low "TRACKS OUT OF SERVICE" signs:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 15,,0,8.22

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 8,,0,11.03

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 84,,0,7.41

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... .19,,1,4.2

Next one, crossbucks and Yield again:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 1,,0,10.43

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 89,,1,4.55

A few blocks further east, the line is cleared by the old depot but there are no customers west of here:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 1,,0,-2.44

One more street to the east...this is the last active crossing on the west end of the line, has 8" signals, it probably gets one local train three days out of the week...AND THEY CAUGHT IT IN ACTION!

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... .2,,0,5.91

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 78,,0,0.37

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 3,,1,-0.23

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.4 ... 9,,1,-0.43

[legsbluetrain]

[luke]

The recent Street View updates show some of the several abandoned and out-of-service lines in remote parts of northern Wisconsin.

The one shown here is part of Progressive Rail's Wisconsin Northern division.

The line begins in Chippewa Falls at an interchange with UP & CN, then heads north to what is presumably a diamond in Cameron.

The line continues north of Cameron and dead-ends at Rice Lake.

The branch to the west goes to a costumer in Barron, then is out of service to its end in Almena.

The other through line into Cameron, a CN branch from Ladysmith, is out of service.

[AndyWS]

The other through line into Cameron, a CN branch from Ladysmith, is out of service.

The one shown is the Barron to Almena segment. There are some crossings on the Cameron-Ladysmith section that got added, too. Some have complete signal systems remaining. A couple of the cantilever ones have the lights removed and have "TRACKS OUT OF SERVICE" signs on the masts below the crossbucks.

Looks like the line may have a future after all, although things are moving slowly:

From the October 7 Barron newspaper.

With Barron County poised to begin--possibly as soon as next
spring--rehabilitating rail lines that run from Rice Lake to Cameron and west to
Barron, a recent suggestion that renovations continue west from Barron as far as
Almena isn't gaining much traction so far.

Interim County Administrator Jeff French expressed frustration at Monday's
extension/land conservation committee meeting regarding a request he had
received about extending rail service west of Barron in order to accommodate a
prospective sand mining operation that could be coming to Almena.

"Last month I told this committee no word from the sand mine. Lo and
behold at our last WWRTA meeting (Sept. 30), a person showed up and identified
themself as a citizen . . . This gentleman said, well, they're going to put
about $25 million into a sand mine in Almena and wanted to know if WWRTA was
going to be supportive of infrastructure to make sure it was successful," said
French, adding that the man mentioned that two other businesses were interested
in getting rail access in Almena, and these interests wanted the rail
operational by the spring of 2011.

Hooking Almena into the rail renovation project would be problematic,
French said.

"I'm concerned because, when the WWRTA was formed, its primary principal
interest was the rail preservation that was existing. Well, everybody realized
that the rail from Barron west to Almena no one in their right mind would
consider that existing. You have trees growing in the track."

Supervisor Don Horstman said that it appears that the sand mining company
would have to help pay for Barron to Almena rail renovations if it's going to
come about in the foreseeable future.

The interim county administrator suggested the real sticking point was
finding enough funding to rehabilitate that stretch of railway. Upgrading rail
lines just between Cameron and Barron carries with it a $582,500 per mile price
tag. The county would have to borrow approximately $1 million to fund about 10
miles of additional track rehabilitation in order to reach Almena.

"There's no money, and there's never been any money, Don, in the county
plan to go further west than Barron," he said. French noted that the "aqueduct"
at Sweeny Pond Creek is in poor condition, another factor that could derail
attempts to fix up tracks between Barron and Almena.

Although many of the comments at Monday's extension/land conservation
committee meeting were critical toward the idea of extending rail service to
Almena, Supervisor Mark Rogstad reminded the group that rail preservation had
been pitched to the county board as a way to get freight traffic off of the
roads. The sand mining operation proposed for the Almena area could translate
into "a large number of carloads" by itself, he said.

In any event, Horstman said that at this time the county should not suggest
in any way that rail service will be extended to Almena. Doing so might give
investors to the proposed sand mine the wrong impression and lead to hurt
feelings if things didn't work out for them as planned. French agreed.

"Because what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Shouldn't they have
asked about the infrastructure, I mean, first?" French said.

The interim county administrator also cautioned that Almena could
potentially set up a special taxing district in the village to attract the sand
mining operation. Such an agreement could effectively block the county from
receiving property taxes from the sand mine for just shy of 30 years.

Overall, French said that the rail rehabilitation process for Rice Lake,
Cameron and Barron is going well, and he has reservations about foisting the
Almena rail project onto the county board now.

"This is the proverbial curveball here," he said.

U.S. Proppant is the company considering placing a sand mining operation in
Almena. Speaking to area residents at a meeting last July, a company
spokesperson outlined plans to establish one facility at a sand mine site in
Barron County and then build a plant in Almena for loading sand onto rail cars.

U.S. Proppant is in search of high quality, course sands that can be mixed
with water and pumped into oil wells. The solution helps prop open underground
fissures and let the oil through, back to the surface.

Considering excavation, management and other duties that the two sand
mining plants would require, both facilities are expected to employ about 20
people.

French said that the request to extend rail service to Almena would be on
the WWRTA's next meeting agenda.

[gedunk]

In North Carolina:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 9,,0,-0.87

[cabman701]

In North Carolina:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 9,,0,-0.87

Wow... those signals don't look like they are that old... but that track sure looks like it has been abandoned for quite a long time. Wonder what the story is there?

Looks like someone got themselves a gate motor off that one signal. You can still see the shiny parts where it was mounted.

[legsbluetrain]

In North Carolina:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 9,,0,-0.87

This was exactly how 6th Ave crossing in Pine Bluff,AR used to be.Gated on one side,lights on the other.The gate was on the west side of the crossing,and the lights were on the east side of the crossing.Plus the gate was at a 45 degree angle in up position.

[legsbluetrain]

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=93011