| Posted by bradley on February 24, 2017 | |
Fantastic shot, you can almost see the Eagle coming...
We all hate to read of a historic line owned by a "materials" company, surely it's fate is sealed. However, I traveled through this are in 2015, even followed this line for a while. If it's any consolation, this line appears to have no reason for existing any longer. Farther east in Kansas you've got lots of grain, but on the Colorado side of it, there is simply nothing for trains to haul. And with Tennessee Pass no longer being used, it's not even a good short cut to the west coast.
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Love this, PCA vote.
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| Posted by tsched on February 25, 2017 | |
Terrific photo, Zach. Well done!
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Thanks everyone. Out of the several attempts at capturing a bolt, I was pretty fortunate that one of the only ones I caught was almost dead center of the track.
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Why are the signal heads facing perpendicular to the direction of the track?
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Ry, my guess is that's done due to not taking any chances. They're out of service, so there's no confusion about relying on them. Of course, the tracks aren't used, so not much chance of that happening.
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I don't know what is exactly, but there's something especially fascinating about the fact that the outermost reaches of a regional railroad rarely survive. MP and Rock Island in Colorado, Milwaukee Road in Washington, Idaho, and Montana, C&NW in Wyoming, Soo Line in Montana, Great Northern and Minneapolis and St. Louis in South Dakota, SLSF in Florida, Northern Pacific in Wisconsin, etc. Every time these moribund appendages appear in a photo series, I am intrigued with what was the expansionist vision held by all American railroads.
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Excellently captured. I really like this image Zach.
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| Posted by PRR6755 on April 18, 2017 | |
I Think Watco if they wanted to Expand their Kansas and Oklahoma railroad they should restore this line to working order
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Regarding the comment from C.M.St.P & P questioning rail expansion of now fallen flags to their fringe map points. I too, appreciate the enthusiasm, risk, and vision from those old times in transportation. How they must have debated and fought for the incredible capital involved for a guess of possible service or successful connection. Today's large business vision in railroading seems to focus on efficiency models developed by computers loaded with data. Those old roads, I believe, looked for any business opportunity. Big RR's of today don't want to handle a car to a customer on a seasonal or infrequent basis. They seem to seek long trains or intermodal, and then, whisking those trains through to keep the few crews working on schedule. Plus, the competition from truck and air was not a factor in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Still, these type of comparisons in time are fascinating to me. Who wouldn't enjoy seeing the Frisco in Florida again or the Rock Island shuttling cars in Santa Rosa, NM?
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