Do you know your hometown R.R. history?

I used to live in New Egypt, NJ.  I moved away from there about 10 years ago. The old Union Transportation Company (Pemberton and Hightstown RR) used to run through there.  Although the tracks were ripped up years ago, there were (are?, haven't been back for awhile), still remnants to be found.  I know some of the right-of-way is now a paved walking path.  I could point out where the Armstrong turntable pit is behind the Ace hardware, across the street from where the New Egypt station used to be.  There were still some ties left behind.  The company office is a house next to the hardware store.  There is also a freight station being used as a garage by a homeowner.  There is a significant trestle still standing along the way.  The only tracks that I knew still present were embedded in an old gas station's pavement in Wrightstown near Fort Dix.  The line was severed by the NJ Turnpike back in the 50's, but the right-of-way, along with a wire, can still be seen about a mile or 2 south of exit 8 (Hightstown).

I currently live in Edison, NJ and the old Lehigh Valley line to Perth Amboy was within the last year converted to a paved walking path.  Unfortunately it seems, when they do that, they remove every shred of evidence that it was once a rail line.  I used to walk it when it was an overgrown, dirt path and there were still some tracks back there.

Funny thing when I was walking there one day I met a man who marveled at the deep cut in Metuchen.  He was a bit of a hippie and he said it was amazing how mother nature did this.  I corrected him and said it was the Lehigh Valley railroad that did it!

I consider myself somewhat of a railroad archeologist.  When we live in Matawan, NJ we used to walk along the Henry Hudson Trail.  A former CNJ line.

My hometown of Shenandoah, PA, was the only borough in all of PA to be served by the Lehigh Valley, the PRR, and the Reading Railroads.  (And during the hard coal boom, Shenandoah held the distinction of highest population density in the country, as well as the highest number of bars per square mile!) You wouldn't know it now, though.  Evidence that trains ran ANYWHERE in town is slim, and you have to know what you're looking for to recognize it.  

Here in Palmerton, our area was rich in railroad history. Our town was founded by the New Jersey Zinc Company in 1900, which had it's own railroad line, the Chestnut Ridge Railway. This line connected with the CNJ double track line along the Lehigh River, and the Lehigh New England up above the other tracks (the high bridge over Lehigh Gap). On the other side of the river was the double track Lehigh Valley Railroad mainline.

It's a pity that out of 5 tracks that ran through the gap, only one of the CNJ remains (operated my NS), and the Chestnut Ridge still runs cars in and out of the Zinc Co. plant.

Here, in Media PA, our RR, as well as one of our trolley lines (both going into Phila.), are the same as they always were. I did find our that where my daughter's family lives, in Medway MA, the RR, up until the 1920s, used to run though their back yard. It was a branch line connecting Boston with Woonsocket, RI.

For those of you who live in the NYC, Northern NJ, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago areas...there is a wonderful book "On the 8:02 an informal history of commuting by rail in America" by Lawrence Grow. You can get a used copy on Amazon for $4. ($3.99 for S&H and one penny for the book).

OMG!  Yep!  Just a little.  Born and raised in the "Juniata" portion of Altoona, PA.  Just a little bit of US Railroad history there.  Dad worked for the PRR from the end of WWII to 1976.

After being at York on Thursday we spent the rest of the weekend in Altoona visiting Mom.  Great memories.  I'm glad NS is keeping the great Juniata Erecting and Heavy Repair Shops alive and well.

My 'Minds Eye' sees many sights that are now physically long gone.

I know a fair amount of my area's history, in fact the borough was named from a railroad-related incident: I live in Ambler, PA, which was named Wissahickon originally.  A Reading train had crashed on the edge of the main area of town, and a woman who was instrumental in the rescue of survivors was named Mary Ambler.  In honor of her, they renamed the area Ambler.

The Reading line still runs there, now part of SEPTA's Regional Rail line.

I grew up in Chicago. There was not much happening there.

Being from Baltimore and a regular visitor to the B&O Train Museum, grew up as a boy playing around the tracks a mile from the house, and as a teen a jumped a few freights to see where they went (drove my Mom nuts "Hi Mom I am in Cleveland can you get me a bus ticket home?" lol)  I know a fair amount of the train history of the Baltimore and Maryland area. I am always learning new things though.

Same here. However, I've been learning a lot more over the past years about the two roads that had tracks closest to my childhood home, the GTW and the Belt Railway of Chicago. 

Well, growing up in Chicago, it's hard to keep track of all the railroad histories, but the Chicago & West Towns Railway was a street railway that is pretty facinating (and I'm not particularly interested in traction.)  I only knew of it as a bus line that eventually faded into oblivion after we moved out to the 'burbs.

The medians where the C&WT ran through Cicero and Berwyn on Cermak Road are still present.

The C&WT is covered in a surprizingly ox-stunning book put out by the Central Electric Railfans Association.

Rusty

I know a little, LOL.  the original railroad's track still are in town, though one is used to go to a major industry as a lead, the other part of the line hasn't seen much traffic, maybe some car storage.  The main line, built some 20-30 years after the original line has a good amount of freight traffic and Amtrak Service

I was born in Verona Pennsylvania. Before my time it was a busy railroad town with PRR and AVR shops, a large RR yard and a full round house. Lots of Railroad History here. The bad part is there aren't many pictures of it all. Now the AVR still runs freight through twice a day. The Bessemer and Lake Erie now CN runs through my town Of Oakmont.

We have an Amtrak station in my small town of Culpeper, VA.  It was originally built for the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad in 1904.  That replaced the station built in 1874 and the 2 that predated that one built for the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. 

Lot of Revolutionary War and Civil War history here.  Many battles fought right in my backyard. The town was strategically important due to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and was occupied by Union and Confederate troops during the War.  Over 100,000 Union troops camped out during the winter of 1863-4 and used the railroad for supplies. 

Due to our close proximity to DC (about 60 miles), an emergency shelter for the president is buried in a hillside right outside town limits.  It is now used by the Library of Congress. The town had to fight and save the downtown and depot about 20 years ago.  Now it's booming!   Just this summer my kids rode Amtrak Crescent from Culpeper all the way to NYC and back.   Lot of freight comes through here too.

Here's an article from a series called Great American Stations and a few pics.

http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/CLP

Most definately.   The town I grew up in and live a short distance away from, Lansdale, was named after a surveyor for the North Pennsylvania Railroad and the surrounding area is called the North Penn area.   Very interesting history, though not much is available as compared to larger railroads.

---Greg

I grew up in Russell's Point, OH, about a half hour's drive north of Springfield.

Used to be a big amusement park there and many of the old Big Bands played there too. The T&OC had branch that ran though town and a station near the park. The NYC bought the T&OC, then it eventally became a Penn Central branch. By that time the park was on it's last legs. By the mid 70's both the railroad and the park were history.

Union Pacific named its Streamliner after my hometown!

If you'll do a bit of searching, you'll find that Shenandoah shares that honor with Mt. Carmel, PA.  There was once a busy LV switching yard in Mt. Carmel, and both the PRR and RDG maintained trackage there.

I was born in Mt. Carmel.

I grew up in Sidney, NY.  At one point in its heyday, it was a junction for three railroads; D&H, O&W and Unadilla Valley (UV) (via trackage rights on the O&W). The O&W was abandoned in 1957 ( thus the UV was out of the picture and was abandoned itself in 1958).  By the time I entered this world in the early 70s Sidney was a one railroad town, the D&H. It was a turbulent era, but colorful (in terms of engine paint schemes). In the 70s D&H was owned by N&W via a holding company DERECO (that also owned the EL until 1972).  As a result, I vaguely remember blends of D&H blues, grays, N&W and even LV (until 1976) run-through power.  In 1984 the D&H was bought by Guilford where you saw D&H, MEC, B&M plus the Guilford charcoal gray engines.  That lasted until 1988 when Guilford spun off the D&H and it entered bankruptcy while being operated by the NYS&W until a suitable buyer could be found.  Since it was power short you at that time, you would see anything from Guilford units with the "G" painted out to D&H blues, NYS&W, Chessie System, NS and plenty of leased units.  Finally, it was purchased by CP in 1991.  Today, when I visit I see a steady flow of red and black with CP and NS trackage/haulage rights trains.  

When you get into railroad history of the Twin Cities, it's a pretty big topic, though not nearly to the level of Chicago. And yes, I know a fair amount about it.

But it's the second part of Stewart's question that is most interesting to me. My entire layout is based on local railroading. I've chosen to model a 60 mile chunk of mainline that connects the 3 major western railroads, and features Amtrak's Empire Builder.

I was born and live in Scranton PA, Anthracite coal, silk and a myriad of products were produced here.  To reach the rest of the country five major railroads once came into the city and all had freight/passenger stations here.  The DL&W, Delaware and Hudson, Erie, New Jersey Central and the New York Ontario and Western all had Scranton on their timetables.  Add one the electric suburban line the Laurel Line and you get six.  I know about and because of my father's collection, have a large amount of photos and video of railroading in my hometown. 

Weirton, WV occupies a prominent place in railroading on the PRR Panhandle Division.  For one thing, there's Grif Teller's painting:

The Panhandle was a real secondary mainline (up to 4 tracks wide at points) for the Pennsy and connected Pittsburgh to St. Louis.  The biggest customer on the Panhandle was Weirton Steel.

Oddly enough, I didn't get re-bitten by the model railroading bug until the Panhandle had passed into history (mid-90s). 

The tracks from Ohio over the bridge are still in place and still lightly used (I think) to supply coal or haul product to / from Weirton Steel (now Arcelor Mittal).  I think the New Cumberland secondary may also have some refractory customers.  But the tracks leading east from Weirton Junction have been removed.  The Panhandle (at least from Weirton east) is now a biking / hiking trail. 

It might be time to repost my Ghost of the Panhandle thread.

George

If I may amend my above post, I was born and grew up in Philadelphia, near the B&O line.  My family lived right in that area for years, even with my Grandfather being able to sometimes be allowed to hop on one of the engines to get a ride into work, which was the yard in West Philly.

Then years later, I remember seeing the Chessie diesels on that same line, which was only a block or two from my house.

I live in White Plains, NY, MM22.5 from GCT and the Harlem Div of Metro North railroad runs on the same embankment that the NYC built in 1909. It is used by dozens of trains going to and coming from GCT everyday. Closer to my house is the right of way of the New York, Westchester and Boston. It ceased operation in 1939. It is a trail in White Plains and developed on in the rest of Westchester. In the Bronx is the Dyre Ave line of the NYC subway.

Da Bronks and I love it all......

The subways and ELs

New York Central (Hudson and Harlem Divisions)

New Haven (Grand Central and River Divisions)

New York & Northern (became the Putnam Division of the Central)

New York Westchester & Boston (became the Dyre Avenue subway)

Peter

My mother's family was from, and I was born in, Trinidad, Colorado, one end of Santa Fe's Raton Pass segment and where a lot of helper engines and such were kept (along with all the smoke they made.).  I had relatives who worked for the railroad including an uncle who drove 2900-series Northerns and F3s.  As a kid I rode on the Super Chief twice and also on UP and D&RG trains.  The town on my layout I modeled after my memories of main street in Trinidad and my country road is based on the old, pre-interstate US highway from Trinidad up to Pinon Plaza and down to Raton.

I lived in sandwich Ill as a kid , the Burlington Northern ran through the middle of town. Lots of heavy fright and Amtrack passenger trains.                                           

I live in ohio now along the NS west virginia secondary , a lot rail history here Kanawha & Michigan , New York Central , Penn Central ,Conrail all ran across this line over the years .

We were the last Bell System telephone exchange in New York State to go from manual to dial service, in 1963.  We are still waiting for a rail connection.  We are not holding our breath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelter_Island,_New_York

Yes.

As a boy, I discovered rusty rails in the woods behind my home. No roadbed was present, and the vegetation had grown back as if there was never a right of way there. I later discovered it had been a trolley line.

Here is a 1947 photo from Wilkes-Barre, PA.

My hometown of Wausau, WI had the Milwaukee Road and the CNW. The Milwaukee Road depot there is famous for a advertising campaign by a now bought out insurance company, Wausau Insurance. The North Woods Hiawatha went through Wausau and further north to Minoqua and Star Lake. I used to take the Milw Rd southeast to Milwaukee when I was younger and they still has passenger trains.

The depot is still there but only the ghosts of the Hiawathas!

Havre de Grace Maryland.  PB&W built a bridge across the Susquehanna River here as did the B&O.  Trains used to cross here by ferry until the river froze over.  One winter it froze so hard they laid tracks across the ice and ran the trains across the river.

What was once practically my second hometown, Union, Ill, (well, weekend retreat, anyways...) with their approximately 4.5 miles of the old "Arnold's Folly," the Elgin & Belvidere Electric Railway Company.

Outside of the old rite-of-way, the old E&B carshop still exists in Marengo, Il, now home to Arnold Engineering, maker of transformers, coils and magnets.

Rusty

Sugar Cane and Pineapple  were the reason for railroads operating on five of the Hawaiian Islands at one time. Three islands still have parts of the old railroads running as tourist lines today. Maui's first railroad started in 1890. The last rail line gave way to trucks in about 1950. Our tourist line reintroduced steam back in 1969 and is still running five days a week. Two steam engines and a little narrow gauge Plymouth diesel are all in operating condition. There are also three steam engines on display on the island. Don  http://youtu.be/I0tHWkpN26U  

Certainly  lived a block away from the classification yard.

The main railroad that ran thru my area, Brisbane, CA, was the Southern Pacific.  They had a fairly large yard 5 minutes away from my house called the Bayshore Yard.  It had shops, a roundhouse and a classification yard.  It started in about 1910 and closed down by the late 1980's.  When I was a rookie cop I patrolled a beat that bordered the yard.  My dad's best friend was the yardmaster.  I used to drive my patrol car into the yard and have coffee with him and the SP Police on the Graveyard shift.  The only things left are the roundhouse and the tender shop.  On the east side of where the yard was are the present day UP and CalTrain lines.  Photos then and now.  Matt

Matt, they must have had a nice selection of donuts there. Don

I grew up in Bastrop, Texas.  Not a railroad town.  My grandfather worked for the Katy in Smithville, Texas (13 miles away).  The old depot in Bastrop is gone now, but the rails are still active.  MKT had a "Dinky" that ran from Smithville to Waco, and I took it once to visit a classmate that moved to Dallas. Hitch hiked from Waco to Dallas.  Texas was not an industrial powerhouse at that time, so not a lot of train activity.

When I went in the USAF in 1949, I rode the trains to places in Ohio and Florida, and loved it.

Mineola, Texas, where I have lived, is a RR town.  Named after the wife of a RR tycoon.  There is a Mineola in NY and maybe Ohio.  Of course, Dallas became the prominent town in northeast Texas, because the RR bypassed Jefferson, Texas in favor of Dallas.

There is a perfectly good bridge and RR track near Vernon, Texas that was the Texas Mexican RR that is now an unused relic.  On a hunting lease.

Commerce, Texas, where I once had a business is a RR town.  That's where I learned that RR employees are a fraternity, just like oil field hands.

This epistle is too long.