View allAll Photos Tagged abandonedrail
That's Chestnut Street in the center. The place looks vastly more civilized these days. Long gone are the abandoned tracks, array of crooked poles and acres of weedy, overgrown railroad right-of-way land in front of and behind this view. A large condo development named Chestnut Manor now occupies the space.
Taken with my late, great 1985 Nikon FG SLR.
A long line of ABB ALP-44s sit idlily in the snow along the former Lackawanna Cut Off on the Sussex County-Morris County border in Stanhope. These units previously ruled the rails of New Jersey and provided service along the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coastline, Morris and Essex Lines and the Montclair Boonton Line. However after the introduction of the Bombardier multilevel coaches these units were gradually phased out as they lacked adequate head end power to haul the new coaches
Finally nabbed a picture of this 4 arch viaduct that sits right next to I-81 south. A shot for the brave with cars and trucks zipping by at 70+ MPH.
Quite the history on this line. Reading the info on the link bellow the line was troubled from day one. I think I recall the tracks were pulled in the 50's on this section. For those that saw my "The Railroad That Never Was" set this line would have connected with it.
The set is still up in most of it's original form.
A former Penn Central and Conrail caboose still wearing its "big blue" colors sits on display in Youngwood, Pa across from the Youngwood Railroad Museum.
After the Central Railroad of New Jersey stopped service in 1967 and before the very beginning of Liberty State Park in the early 1980s, this was an amazing horizon to horizon no-man's land of utter abandonment. Jersey City. November 1976.
This place was so quiet, all you could hear was the wind blowing through the reedy plants and the occasional distant beeping of a car horn. Such a different scene than just a half a mile away in Manhattan.
My dad worked for the Port Authority on the 58th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower and I would often commute with him on the train during those days when school was closed.
On this occasion, I asked my dad if it was OK to do a little exploring and he replied "sure", so I took the PATH train from the WTC to Exchange Place. (35 cents in those days!) This was the first time I ever stepped foot in Jersey City.
I remember being awed by the clean modernity of the Twin Towers against the 19th century industrial background that it was framed by. That little Pocket Instamatic came right out of my jacket and this view was captured on a tiny 110 film negative.
Part of the Valley Railroad, the tracks here were abandoned 1942 the tracks were scrapped and used for the war effort. For more information about the Valley Railroad:
www.abandonedrails.com/Valley_Railroad
DSC_5032
Ozark Mill rail siding.
Abandoned rail siding and mill.
Ozark Missouri USA.
My Day 2-19-2017.
Nikon d7200
Abandoned CRRNJ train shed at Liberty State Park. Forlorn but somehow strangely relaxing. Almost like repurposing a 19th century technology for a post-industrial indoor greenhouse.
Taken on one of my teenage urban adventures exploring the massive abandoned and forlorn Jersey City waterfront railroad yards. I've uploaded a number of photos from that particular day, but held out on this one because the focus isn't crystal clear.
Whenever I'm in Liberty State Park these days, I just can't forget how forlorn and deserted this place used to be.
This place was amazing to explore after the railroads went bankrupt in 1967 and before the creation of Liberty State Park destroyed all vestiges of what used to be here. Using my dad's old 1950s Kodak Retina 35mm, I shot this view of what were once very busy railroad facilities. As with most of my JC shots of the era, the Lower Manhattan skyline appears in the distance and the REAL World Trade Center hovers over the rest of the city.
Railway cars on abandoned siding..
Eureka Springs & N.W. Arkansas Railway.
Eureka Springs Arkansas USA.
10th anniversary trip..
By Brenda K.
Sony SLT-A58 Tamron 28-70
A crop from a slightly damaged 110 film negative. This required a bit of work to bring it back to its original condition. Taken during one of my teenage Jersey City explorations.
I've placed a number of Flickr notes on this image for more information.
Today, this is the main entrance to Jersey City's Liberty State Park.
The link below to Google Earth shows the exact same place as it appears now...
www.google.com/maps/@40.7099479,-74.0520252,3a,75y,109.96...
Times sure have changed since I snapped this view of the entrance to the abandoned property of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. This is a deep crop of a black and white 110 film negative - giving it a grainy and dystopian look.
Johnston Avenue in Jersey City toward Manhattan. Nov 1975.
The tracks at the crest of the Saluda Grade, conveniently in the town of Saluda NC, sit mothballed and silent today. Norfolk Southern stopped running trains on these lines back in 2001 as safer routes were then in existence. The grade which crosses the Blue Ridge Mountain range, hits grades up as high as 4.9%, which made it the steepest mainline railroad grade in North America......and also one of the most dangerous. Many-a runaway train was the cause of quite a few deaths on this mountain. This point is where the grade hits it's highest point and starts back down the other side. Trains were restricted to no faster than 8 MPH on their descent down the mountain on either side lest they be directed to the runaway sidings as a precaution. I'm sure traffic was nuts in this small town, when trains were passing regularly through here.
Here's how the exact same place appears now....
www.google.com/maps/@40.714178,-74.0344782,3a,75y,110.83h...
The rails still sit over Homestake Pass. Seeing photos of Amtrak and other trains over this line is so neat. I would love the chance to see trains on this line. I think pigs will fly before that happens, though.
Former Burlington Northern tracks lay over Homestake Pass at Homestake, Montana, May 14, 2024.
The remains of the abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad Redstone Branch in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Most of the railroad has been long torn up but there are some remains like this crossing that still exist as a reminder of what once was PRR's connection between West Brownsville and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
I've added some Flickr Notes to this view.
Below is a photo of the same place taken during better years...
My wife, friends and I were on one of those 3 day "Cruises to Nowhere". (a great excuse for drinking!) As our ship passed through New York Harbor, just about all of the tourists were on the OTHER side snapping photos of Manhattan and Brooklyn. I preferred to capture some images of the old abandoned railroad land that I had explored on the ground many times in prior years.
Ran into this long abandoned CN spur track while going for a walk at lunch in east end Montreal near where I work. This track may have served the Montreal Locomotive Works.
It's amazing how quickly nature conquers even the most inhospitable spaces once all the people disappear. The New Jersey Central Railroad stopped running in 1967 and looked like this only 8 years later.
Today, there's absolutely no trace that any of this existed. The entire abandoned Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley Railroad property has long been converted into Liberty State Park. Where this roundhouse stood for decades is now the "Grove of Remembrance", a fenced off area of wild native trees and other growth.
I've read that the soil in this particular area was so contaminated after 100 years of railroad use, the designers of the park decided to fence it off and allow nature to grow and slowly absorb the chemicals.
As I was getting ready to take the shot, the Goodyear blimp slowly drifted into the view. I waited until it was right in the center, then snapped the photo.
This is a still from a work scan of a Super 8 movie some friends and I shot. When the high-def DVD version returns back from the professional movie scanner, I'll post more images from this film.
An old wooden bridge built by the Southern Railway still stands in Shelby, North Carolina. It's on the old SB Line which has mostly been abandoned.
This is a still from a work scan of a Super 8 movie some friends and I shot. When the high-def DVD version returns back from the professional movie scanner, I'll post more images from this film.
Built in 1913 and abandoned in 1967, by 1975 nature had definitely started taking over. Amazingly, this old train shed STILL stands and together with the restored Central Railroad of New Jersey terminal are the only parts of Liberty State Park devoted to its railroading history.
Here's the exact same view as it appears today...
www.google.com/maps/@40.7084547,-74.0388529,3a,75y,135.68...
Saluda North Carolina like many towns across the US, owes a decent part of its existence to the railroad which was completed in 1878. The "Saluda Grade" as it's called, is a 3-mile stretch of track where the grades hit close to 5%, which makes it the steepest section of mainline railroad track in the US as the line gains or drops 1,016 feet in elevation. Due in-part to the dangers of such a steep grade, the line was eventually mothballed by Norfolk Southern. It's not "officially" abandoned yet, but all signs seem to point to that being the case.
Hopper cars left to rust on an old siding..
These have been here for a long time..
Approx. 1/2 mile off Hwy 41.
Betweem Earl Park and Kentland Indiana.
Homecoming Trip 2016.
Sony SLY-A77MkII
By the way, I found this footage on YouTube. It shows the Jersey Center Railroad while it was still running in the 1950.
One of the gentlemen that I follow here on Flickr took a couple pictures of this bridge a few years back, and I've wanted to get there to take a few of my own shots ever since. This old abandoned railroad bridge, from the little information that I could find, was part of the "Mercersburg Branch" which of course was abandoned, in the 1970's. I can't really find a lot of info on the bridge or line, but I was happy to get here and take a few shots of this old relic to the past before it's gone someday. I wish I had a ton of spare time to just find and photograph old beauties like this. But I gots-to work to pay for my hobbies.
Info on the Mercersburg Branch that I could find is here: www.abandonedrails.com/Mercersburg_Branch
Looking straight across Newark Bay to what was once called Elizabethport in the 19th century. The old, no longer existing Central Railroad of New Jersey bridge in the background. Today, this view consists of a large shopping center containing a Planet Fitness gym and lots of other stores.
Wow! What a difference from the same view today where the background is actually scenic. Oil spills in New York Harbor aren't even a memory these days. The Statue of Liberty was completely restored between 1982 and 1986. The Jersey City Medical Center is now The Beacon, a rehabilitated complex of apartment buildings which some people claim to be haunted. By the way, I didn't take this photo. It was sent to me by a friend who knows about my fascination with the old version of Jersey City.