Modeling abandoned lines?

[Randy Earle]

Does anyone else model an abandoned or long abandoned railroad line? I live near the old PRR Erie & Pittsburgh line, or what is called the old E&P. The line was abandoned in the early 1970s by Conrail. I find it interesting to Google the satelite photos of the abandoned right of way and plant. The tracks in Erie County Pa are gone, but a couple of old steel truss bridges still stand. I have the old Conrail track plans and profiles also. I knew a couple of ex Pennsy engineers that ran the line and got a lot of history from them. The line originated at the docks in Erie Pennsylvania, and ended near Sharon Pa. Some of the line still exists near Sharon. If I ever get the room to model a small layout, I'll probably model Linesville Pa, as there was a connection with the Bessemer & Lake Erie there. Until I get the room, I've modeled the entire line and connections in Trainz Simulator.

[simulatortrain]

When I opened this post I thought you meant modeling them in abandoned condition, with nothing that actually moves...

[deez]

My freelance Midland Belt uses many abandon Pacific Electric lines. My future layout will feature mostly these former abandon PE/SP beat up trackage on jointed rail.

[dekon]

My switching layout is based on the Allens Ave. area in Providence, RI. It was almost all street running trackage that served the factories and warehouses in that area. All the sidings are gone but the track down te middle of Allens Ave. is still there. I have no idea why they left it. It hasn't been used in at least 25 years. It was former New Haven trackage. The last time Providence and Worcester ran an engine on it, it got impaled in the fuel tank by a rail that had loosened up.

[jwhite07]

My Acadia, Halifax and North Coast Railway is based on the former Maine Central Calais Branch, most of which is now abandoned, torn up, and converted into a hiking trail, except for some active track now used by the Downeast Scenic Railway and bits of dormant but extant trackage on both ends of the branch. It also includes several real and "imagineered" branches off that line. I also included in AHNC's "empire" the former Canadian Pacific St. Andrews Subdivision (abandoned) and St. Stephen Subdivision (active, now owned by NBSR).

[m a y o r 79]

I intend on modeling the Beer Line in Milwaukee. It's mostly abandoned now except for the first half mile or so, and the portion I'm modeling has been completely removed except for a few tracks still buried in streets at grade crossings. Not sure if that counts.

Definitely makes it harder to do research though now that nothing exists anymore of the area I'm modeling.

[poweredby251]

My Minnesota Midland subsidiary is based on the original narrow gauge Minnesota Midland running from Wabasha MN to Zumbrota MN.  Taken over by the Milwaukee Road and extended to Fairibault MN, it was standard gauged in 1906-1907, then slowly cut back starting in the 1930's.  By the 70's, all that remained was the Zumbro Falls - Zumbrota - Fairibault portion, and the trackage in Wabasha running down to the flour mill.  The last of the Zumbrota-Fairibault section was removed around 1980, and while the Milwaukee's main through Wabasha remains, now under CP ownership, the trackage to the mill came out around 1990, and turned into a trail.  The long abandoned mill was demolished around the same time, and replaced with condos and the Bald Eagle Center.

In my warped reality, the Minnesota Midland fared better, being taken under the wing of the St Paul & St Louis.  The conversion to standard gauge remains in the 1906-07 time frame, and the road expanded well beyond the prototype.  Originally dieselized with Baldwins, many are still running in the modeled 1973 timeframe, along with a handfull of EMD's.

John 

[T]

Do these count?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_and_Susquehanna_Railroad
You might recognize this its my profile thing... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1903_Poor%27s_Buffalo_and_Susquehanna_Railroad.jpg
www.wnyrails.net/railroads/jwnw/jwn_home.htm

Tlom

[brgp302300]

I was planing my next layout to be all abandoned R-O-W ......no finicky track work, no wiring, no DCC issues, no signaling, no DCC/Sound installs.........it`s a cheap way to model a RR with out having a need for skills or a lot of money.......the No-Track system

[icghogger]

Now, THAT'S funny, Dennis, I see "Rails to Trails" in your future!!

[westernmaine]

My 1970's era Western Maine uses a signficant portion of the former Wiscasseet, Waterville & Farmington narrow guage route between Waterville and Weeks Mills. The WW&F was abandoned during the great depression but in my world, it managed to become standard-guaged early enough to link with Candaian pacific in Quebec to connect interior Canada to an ice free seaport as well as the paper mills of central Maine.

[spike]

Before I settled doing a freelance based on B&M, it was Central New England. It ran from Hartford, CT to Campbell Hall, NY. Maybe I'll do it because I found out that a relative, who was a lawyer did the organizational work on a predecessor, Connecticut Western.He stayed on as corporate secretary.

CNE also had a line to Rhinecliff, NY, and W. Springfield, MA. That branch connected with Boston and Albany, with trackage rights to Springfield.

[morey2001]

My Thunder Bay Northern uses some of the ROW of the stillborn Iron Range and Huron Bay in Michigan's Upper Peninsula...well in at least one version of TBN's history...

Chris Morey

[perardua]

I am starting my renewed efforts at the former Northwestern Virginia Railway.   This is the former B&O main from Parkersburg to Clarksburg WV.   The original line was raised in 1985 but as a youth I got to see many Chessie and pre-merger freights going through West Union West Virginia, and thus the basis for the love of this line.   Reborn as the Northern West Virginia Rwy. My plan is start with Clarksburg and move west in select sections.   Along the way, I hope to detail some motive power that shares the Chessie and B&O heritage.   

[SD39dash2]

My version of the Denver & New Orleans is based on a long gone spur that used to parallel I-25 and Buchtel Blvd. in Denver. In my lifetime, it ended just past Holly Street, but it used to be another mainline to Pueblo when the real D&NO built it in the 1880s.
I'm still working out the fiction that keeps it alive, but the end result should be a KCS style line that bridges traffic to the Gulf of Mexico for the Hill lines and the D&RGW. The fictional main sticks to the original grade, diverting a bit to the east for the sake of Cherry Creek Reservoir, and then splits just south of Elizabeth, with the new main crossing Kiowa Creek and heading in the direction of Springfield or La Junta, and the old main between Elizabeth and Colorado Springs retained as a branch line.

I'm toying with the idea that the D&NO ends up with a better route for Powder River coal, with the result being that the BN hands off the trains to D&NO at Rice yard instead of going over the Joint Line with AT&SF crews. Palmer Divide isn't as big a deal for the D&NO, either, so that saves a lot of the grief moving the loads up to Palmer Lake and through the Co. Spgs. bottleneck.

The payoff will be when I see a quintet of SD39-2s pounding across Broadway beneath the I-25 overpass with a string of Thrall flat-bottoms and a pair of SD28s pushing. Don't worry...I'll be explaining the rest of that soon enough.

[jpwisc]

Apr 11, 2014 17:13:59 GMT -5 simulatortrain said:

When I opened this post I thought you meant modeling them in abandoned condition, with nothing that actually moves...

That would save a ton of money on rolling stock...

[roadkill]

There are several abandoned lines I've thought about modeling over the years. I've always been fascinated with the PRR's various branches here in Ohio, especially the Akron Branch, which ran from St Clair St yard, Columbus, to Hudson, north of Akron. Actually had probably the only named Pass in the state, Baddow Pass, at the top of a grade near Danville Ohio. The branch was severed near Apple Creek OH by a washout caused by the infamous July 4, 1969 storms that ravaged parts of the state. Conrail finished the job of ripping it up in '83. All that's left is a short stretch between Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson, which is heavily weedgrown and out of service.

[sambear]

I am going to model an abandoned line that was lost in the mid-1970's. The railway company still runs nearby though. My layout is a mix of prototype and my freelance railway; based on an idea of having an odd court judgment binding the two companies to share the area but not all trackage rights. Enjoy your abandoned lines, keeps history alive!