Abandoned Railroads

[Lubliner]

How I wish we had done something like that! Here in New York they proposed using that middle grassy area to lay fiber optic cable. Don't know if they did it or not.

Aren't most of the center medians used for drainage now? (Interstates).
Lubliner.

 

[DaveBrt]

Aren't most of the center medians used for drainage now? (Interstates).
Lubliner.

The center meridian is intended to stop vehicles from crossing into the opposite lanes of travel. When there is not room for the space to do the job, fencing is added, especially the fences designed to shred the front of the vehicles and pull off its forward energy.

 

[USS ALASKA]

Sirs, if you want to explore abandoned railroads near you - or anywhere in the US - please see https://www.abandonedrails.com/

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

Yes, I was sorry that the map wasn't zoomable

...and another site with a zoomable map like the one posted above!

Abandoned & Out of Service Railroad Lines Map

An interactive, continuously updated map of abandoned and out-of-service historical railroad lines and corridors across the entire world.

www.frrandp.com

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

The O&W is on this map...

Sir, a book you might enjoy and can be had for less than 10 bucks on Amazon - O and W: The Long Life and Slow Death of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway by William F. Helmer

There is one hardback copy listed for $1500...let's just say I didn't pay that much.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

High Bridge in Virginia is a biking trail now.

Pennsylvania has her own slightly younger version (1882) - Kinzua Bridge. The rail trail comes to a rather abrupt ending however...please click on pic for full effect

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinzua_Bridge

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[JeffFromSyracuse]

Sir, a book you might enjoy and can be had for less than 10 bucks on Amazon - O and W: The Long Life and Slow Death of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway by William F. Helmer

There is one hardback copy listed for $1500...let's just say I didn't pay that much.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

I think my dad actually has it. I'll check next time I'm up there!

 

[Lubliner]

Pennsylvania has her own slightly younger version (1882) - Kinzua Bridge. The rail trail comes to a rather abrupt ending however...please click on pic for full effect

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinzua_Bridge

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

I believe I saw a documentary on this a few years ago. The use of these abandoned structures are sometimes more useful than tourism. Out on the James River near the point of Newport News there was a structure built across into Smithfield that was for many years 'the longest bridge in the world, circa 1917 (?)'. Within my lifetime it still stood as the prime artery of traffic to the south side of the James River, and sometime around 1970 they put a new structural drawbridge in place and let the northern section of the old bridge remain as a fishing pier next to it. It was a good distance to walk the remains to the standing end, the sides lined with people, poles and fishing lines hanging down into the water.
Same as Fort Monroe. There was always a connector bridge that allowed vehicular passage, the shoreline buttresses lined with riprap. Crabbers would be out there with nets and traps and hooks for blue crab, standing on the rocks and jetties as traffic coursed over the bridge. Ah, for those days again.
Lubliner.

 

[th'anchoriticsybarite]

How interesting! Didn't know that second part. The first is pretty obvious when you see a massive double four lane highway coming to an abrupt end at Ft Benning.

As a child in the late 50's, I remember seeing and counting trucks in massive convoys of over a hundred trucks. Of course it was in the heighth of the Cold War and as a child I did not realize that the purpose of the interstates was the same as the autobahns in Germany. A quick way to move troops and supplies to ports to be sent wherever they would be needed.