Google Maps

[Virginia Atlantic]

I must presume I'm not the only one who used map websites to look at track layouts and railroad stuff.

I also presume I'm not the only one to sometimes get lost, following a track on the map (Satellite view, of course) to see where it goes, what industries are served, etc, i.e. satellite map railfanning.

But a side effect is how deeply sad this is.  Absondoned tracks, dead industries, empty tracks and yards no longer full of bustling industrious railcars.

The rotting corpse of old American industry is so very very sad.

Was mapfanning today, and took a peek at the CSX Columbia industrial track(s).  Much of it ripped up, most of the industries looking ragged or empty or worst of all, truck served.

Was struck by a profound sadness.

Meh, prolly just me.

[peteski]

In the New England region quite a few rights of way were converted into walking trails (at least in Mass. and New Hampshire).  Still sad, but at least there is a path you can follow on Google.

[Chris333]

I like to compare them to the 1950's   

1950


2012


Everything is a field now!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

One thing to take heart in though. Those warehouses that have tons of trucks at them?

This is likely how they got there...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh, another thing about maps. If you enjoy this, don't forget some of my favorite other map resources:
Bing maps' "Birdseye View": http://www.bing.com/mapspreview (one of my favorite spots: http://binged.it/22iEmq2)
And Penn Pilot, historical aerial photos of Pennsylvania: http://www.pennpilot.psu.edu/

[GaryHinshaw]

US railroading is in pretty solid shape.  US manufacturing - not so much, thanks in part to globalization, facilitated in part by containerization.   

Chris' example is pretty stunning.

[Dave V]

I feel the same way...especially here in Colorado when I consider the huge narrow gauge network that once existed here.

Take this to heart too...  American railroading is vastly more efficient (freight anyway) than it ever has been in the past.  It simply doesn't need the infrastructure of the past.  Yards choked with 40-foot boxcars are less of a symbol of past glory as they are of a hugely inefficient use of men and machines.  Today's trains move more tonnage than ever before with a fraction of the trackage.

That said, the inefficiency is part of the appeal of classic railroading!

[towl1996]

Everything is a field now!

That's what Mr. Byrne sang about, 

/>
This was a Pizza Hut
 Now it's all covered with daisies
 you got it, you got it...


I enjoy looking at the urban decay videos people have taken in Detroit, especially the auto plants, eerie to watch.

[mcjaco]

Last night I spent the better part of my evening tracing my way up the Southern Pacific's NWP line from American Canyon to Willts.  The maps had been updated since I last did it a few years back.  Lots of changes...and it ate up a good hour or more of time.....

[Virginia Atlantic]

I spent some time Map-Fanning Charleston S.C.

The amount of abandoned track, torn up old track and rotting industry was....just wow.

[JMaurer1]

How do you do the '50s lookup?

[Chris333]

The 1950's map is from the USGS. You have to create an account:
http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

[Lemosteam]

It is actually quite amazing, the indelible mark that ROW leaves on the earth. I have followed lines that have been pulled up for forty years.  The perfect curvatures are quite obvious as well as the split in the tree lines.  Makes me wonder about the heyday of a that line and its history.

[wm3798]

Delmarva is lousy with abandoned rights of way.  The last PRR branch that was more or less intact, the Cambridge Branch, is about to get truncated.  I've been told it's already embargoed west of Hurlock due to poor trackage and low traffic volume.

But yeah, when you follow the paths of many of the lines, some which have been gone since the 1930s, the routes are pretty easy to follow.  They say there wasn't enough volume to maintain passenger service...  so now I have to wait for 20 minutes for the light at 50 to change so all those idiots can "reach the beach"...

I'd rather see them packed into an RDC, or better yet, a beach bound limited with a luxurious diner...  Then when I'm waiting for them to pass, I'd wave at them with more than one finger!

Lee

[sirenwerks]

I must presume I'm not the only one who used map websites to look at track layouts and railroad stuff.

I also presume I'm not the only one to sometimes get lost, following a track on the map (Satellite view, of course) to see where it goes, what industries are served, etc, i.e. satellite map railfanning.

But a side effect is how deeply sad this is.  Absondoned tracks, dead industries, empty tracks and yards no longer full of bustling industrious railcars.

The rotting corpse of old American industry is so very very sad.

Was mapfanning today, and took a peek at the CSX Columbia industrial track(s).  Much of it ripped up, most of the industries looking ragged or empty or worst of all, truck served.

Was struck by a profound sadness.

Meh, prolly just me.