Abandoned Railroads

[Grant's Tomb]

I love train travel so I'm sad to see it dying. But I do love the rail trails that have sprung up on the old beds. We have one that runs through our town - it's wonderful for walkers, runners, bikers - even skiers in the winter. One of the old stations that survived is being turned into a visitors center, which is great for everyone using the trail (and also for the local businesses - the trail is so popular they are complaining about crowds in their bathrooms).

At least we have several tourist heritage rail lines like the Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire, the Cass Senic Railroad State Park in West Virginia, the Durango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad in Colorado and the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania. In the summer of 2003, when my parents and I were going to Virginia hiking and camping in Shenandoah National Park, we stopped in Martinsburg, West Virginia where they have a B&O Railroad roundhouse next to the Amtrak line that was burned by Stonewall Jackson's Confederates in the Maryland Campaign. It was also where one of the railroad strikes of 1877 took place. If I get the chance to go to Baltimore one day, I want to visit the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum

 

[Grant's Tomb]

So many of those abandoned rail lines have been repurposed as civilian walking/hiking/biking paths. There is an abandoned elevated rail line in Manhattan that was once the New York Central that has been converted into a beautiful landscaped pathway.

The idea and design for the High Line came from Paris's Coulee Verte Rene-Dumont also referred to as the Promenade Plantee that opened in 1993 in the 12th arrondissement neighborhood of the city. I took a walk on it with my parents when we were visited Paris in 2013. Now there's the Reading Viaduct in Philadelphia the city opened in 2016. I'd like to take a walk on that someday.

 

[Grant's Tomb]

Yes, I was sorry that the map wasn't zoomable-- my first question was, "Are they including former railroad rights-of-way that aren't even there any more?" Ohio is developing a statewide bicycle trail system on the Cincinnati-Columbus-Cleveland route, roughly paralleling I-71... not complete yet, but it will be awesome once it is. It goes close by where I live, and the city even built a little "depot" rest stop along it in the center of town, with restroom facilities (which presumably have been closed recently due to COVID, unfortunately), water fountain, bike racks, and even bike lockers for an extended rest break.

https://cloudfront.traillink.com/photos/westerville-bw_137192_lg.jpg

(I'm old enough to remember when freight trains traveled that route...)

Last October, I was up in Highland in Ulster County at this park on the Hudson just below the Walkway over the Hudson Bridge and a long CSX freight train came passing by.

 

[Grant's Tomb]

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has several guides books for all the former rail lines converted into bike and walking trails. I have a few for New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and all the New England States. I rode the Cape Cod Rail Trail a lot when my family and I spent several summers there back in the 90's.

 

[Grant's Tomb]

Yes they do

New York State just completed the long distance Empire State Bike Trail linking several bike trails from NYC to Albany and west to Buffalo. One section of the trail is linked to the Walkway over the Hudson Bridge a former railroad bridge built for walking and biking over the river between Poughkeepsie and Highland

 

[lupaglupa]

Last October, I was up in Highland in Ulster County at this park on the Hudson just below the Walkway over the Hudson Bridge and a long CSX freight train came passing by.

New York State just completed the long distance Empire State Bike Trail linking several bike trails from NYC to Albany and west to Buffalo. One section of the trail is linked to the Walkway over the Hudson Bridge a former railroad bridge built for walking and biking over the river between Poughkeepsie and Highland

Walkway over the Hudson is the most amazing use of a former railroad track I have seen - it has the best views! I remember when the old railroad bridge burned and it sat there unused for years. This was a wonderfully imaginative way to repurpose it.

 

[Lubliner]

I was on youtube the other night and chanced upon a family that actually bought the property of an abandoned rail. They began cleaning the overgrowth, and plan to straighten the rails. Should be easy enough to find with a proper search.
Lubliner.

 

[jackt62]

Walkway over the Hudson is the most amazing use of a former railroad track I have seen - it has the best views! I remember when the old railroad bridge burned and it sat there unused for years. This was a wonderfully imaginative way to repurpose it.

It is fantastic. I did the walk about 5 years ago.

 

[steamman]

It is fantastic. I did the walk about 5 years ago.

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I never thought i would want to visit New York, but now I do.

 

[jackt62]

I never thought i would want to visit New York, but now I do.

You should. I've been to Georgia many times and have always enjoyed my visits there.

 

[lupaglupa]

I never thought i would want to visit New York, but now I do.

Oh don't say that! We have among the most beautiful of states - and I've travelled all over the US. Gorgeous mountains, beautiful parks, picture perfect villages. The Hudson Valley (where the railroad bridge is located) is so stunning it inspired an entire art movement. And we have so many historic sites - weeks of effort wouldn't cover them. New York is wonderful and full of great places to visit.

 

[Lubliner]

You should. I've been to Georgia many times and have always enjoyed my visits there.

I Love New York City! At least from the standpoint of 1970, 1973 twice, 1974 twice, 1976 once, 1985 the last. I can't really tell you whether it is loveable now. I knew it when it was nitty, gritty and dirty. My Crocodile Dundee experience coming out of the swamps of Virginia, came out of the Bus Terminal after dark, and couldn't keep my eyes to the cement. Looking up and around at the skyscrapers until someone came over and told me I was obviously and outsider. I stayed at the Webster, at the Times Square Hotel, the Plaza in 1970, saw the Broadway Musical 'Hair'. I've seen the hustle, been hustled more than once, and been to festivals in the park, and one indoor concert with 'Nectar'. I know Georgia too, but never Atlanta. I will take the Okefenokee any day.
Lubliner.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Oh don't say that! We have among the most beautiful of states - and I've travelled all over the US.

Most people think of New York City when the state is mentioned. It reminds me of a poll taken back in the 1970s to see if New York City and New York State should be two separate states--- this might have been a joke, but I seem to recall that the most popular answer was that NYC should be a separate country.

 

[lupaglupa]

Most people think of New York City when the state is mentioned. It reminds me of a poll taken back in the 1970s to see if New York City and New York State should be two separate states--- this might have been a joke, but I seem to recall that the most popular answer was that NYC should be a separate country.

People who live upstate always say they want to separate from downstate - until they look at the price they'd have to pay. NYC generates a huge percentage of the state revenues. We'd be poor (in many ways) with them.

 

[Grant's Tomb]

Most people think of New York City when the state is mentioned. It reminds me of a poll taken back in the 1970s to see if New York City and New York State should be two separate states--- this might have been a joke, but I seem to recall that the most popular answer was that NYC should be a separate country.

On January 21, 1861-fearing that war would destroy the cotton trade and cripple the city's economy, Mayor Fernando Wood had proposed to the common council that New York itself secede from the Union. In 1969, Norman Mailer and Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin ran together on a independent ticket for mayor and the city council against incumbent Mayor John Lindsay with an agenda to make the city the 51st state. Even Nassau and Suffolk counties have wanted to separate from New York State. It's amazing how much of a secession movement there has been throughout New York State's history since 1777 with a disputed claim over the governing of the territory that became the state of Vermont. In 1764, King George III ruled that the disputed territory belonged to New York and not New Hampshire. Back in 1993 a non-binding referendum was held in Staten Island to consider whether it should be allowed to secede from the rest of the city

 

[Grant's Tomb]

I Love New York City! At least from the standpoint of 1970, 1973 twice, 1974 twice, 1976 once, 1985 the last. I can't really tell you whether it is loveable now. I knew it when it was nitty, gritty and dirty. My Crocodile Dundee experience coming out of the swamps of Virginia, came out of the Bus Terminal after dark, and couldn't keep my eyes to the cement. Looking up and around at the skyscrapers until someone came over and told me I was obviously and outsider. I stayed at the Webster, at the Times Square Hotel, the Plaza in 1970, saw the Broadway Musical 'Hair'. I've seen the hustle, been hustled more than once, and been to festivals in the park, and one indoor concert with 'Nectar'. I know Georgia too, but never Atlanta. I will take the Okefenokee any day.
Lubliner.

With the pandemic taking a toll on the economy, New York seems to be resembling the period of the 70s and 80s again. Times Square is empty

 

[jackt62]

Most people think of New York City when the state is mentioned. It reminds me of a poll taken back in the 1970s to see if New York City and New York State should be two separate states--- this might have been a joke, but I seem to recall that the most popular answer was that NYC should be a separate country.

It gets even more complicated. There has always been on and off talk about the secession of Staten Island, 1 of the 5 boroughs of the City of New York, to form its own municipality.

 

[jackt62]

With the pandemic taking a toll on the economy, New York seems to be resembling the period of the 70s and 80s again. Times Square is empty

Hope not. Me personally, I believe that New York will eventually emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever.

 

[Grant's Tomb]

Hope not. Me personally, I believe that New York will eventually emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever.

I'm sure it will but it might take a year or two

 

[Lubliner]

With the pandemic taking a toll on the economy, New York seems to be resembling the period of the 70s and 80s again. Times Square is empty

No no. Times Square and Broadway were never empty the times I was there, though the crowds thinned out after midnight. My last visit, staying on the 11th floor of the Times Square Hotel, seedy as it can get and be comforting, if you like hard mattress and close cropped carpeting, I raised the window at night so the street preacher's sermon could be heard. I visited the Empire State building that trip, 1985. It was cleaner than the 70's when I would stay at the Webster. The time in 1976 I stayed at a hotel I can't remember the name to, and I couldn't find my way back. Luckily I had the key in my pocket and was able to call for the address. Wonderful memories, though I was hustled out of 100 dollars that trip, and another time 250. Anyway on my return the last time, I was broke, round-trip ticket, and got five dollars back when I returned the key. That allowed refreshment for my journey home. We could smoke in the back three seats of the Greyhound busses back then.
Lubliner.