RR archeology

During WWII most of the abandon trolley tracks near me were taken up in support of the war effort.

In my native Providence,  Rhode Island many of the old trolley

tracks were paved over in the 1950's when the old street cars

were retired.

My father told me that the old street cars were burned in a huge

bond fire during the 4th of July in the early fifties.  If the streets

in Providence were dug up for new paving, I can only wonder what

would be found with the old street car tracks.

A  very good article regarding the same way towns and cities gave

way to the Automobile across the USA after World War II. Nylbfan

many thanks for that interesting history of buried tracks in Ames, IA.

Billy C

I love these kinds of stories!

i do too!

near my NYC apt at Broadway and 106th street, one can see rails peeking through the asphalt every once and a while.  certainly, trolley remnants.

the forgotten NY website has a lot of rail stuff.

Very cool!

Peter

Do you still live on 106 & Broadway? If you do I'm your neighbor at 106 and Manhattan. 4 blocks away. 

I like those finds. We had a couple out here in Los Angeles. They were digging out a porch and driveway for a remodel and found buried Pacific Electric tracks down in San Pedro a few years ago. Years ago, Broadway Street in Downtown Los Angeles ended south of Olympic and a bridge to Main Street, Broadway Place, merged the traffic. There were streetcar tracks which merged into PE's line on Main Street which eased some of the downtown traffic. When Broadway was continued south of Olympic, Broadway place was decommissioned and turned into a parking lot. The PE tracks had been paved over earlier and were rediscovered when they were expanding the parking lot and repaving. The SP tracks down the middle of Alameda are still there -- buried under a couple of inches of asphalt. But they poke through in places and you can trace where some of the industrial tracks ran.

There are probably hundreds of miles of buried railroad tracks throughout the country. 

And it is not just tracks that are buried out there.  My grandfather and father told me that, according to long-time-employee tales, there are locomotives and freight cars buried beneath areas of the former Westinghouse Electric plant in East Pittsburgh.  They were obsolete at the time and were used as fill.  Since the plant is now an industrial park, and still in use by others, I doubt that any of this equipment will be found any time soon.  Still, it makes me wonder what is really down there.

Andy

A few years ago I was speaking with one of the dealers at the Allentown show and lamenting that Jersey Central hadn't saved one of their 4-6-0 Camelbacks. He said he had heard of a Camel that was wrecked and just buried in the ditch where it lay, now under a highway in PA. All we need is a magnetometer equipped aircraft and an infinite supply of time and money and all these rumors can be tested...

"Do you still live on 106 & Broadway? If you do I'm your neighbor at 106 and Manhattan. 4 blocks away."

Looks fine when I post it from here. Looks like crap at the forum.  Don't know why.

What I was trying to say was that I also lived in that neighborhood.

Currently or in the past? If you are around I would like to meet a fellow urban 3 railer. 

Now a retired pilot, I used to fly into La Guardia airport.  I noticed a significant error in my magnetic compass in one location.  It turns out, prior to the airport, that area was a dump with a small steam locomotive to haul trash to several areas. After a very wet period, the train tipped off the tracks as the roadbed sank.  They could not lift it out so it was allowed to sink out of sight, to be later paved over when the airport was built.  I suspect it is all rust now but the "bad" compass spot is still there.