Rail roads and their tracks.

   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,541  
A bit more history about that very fateful rail line. It was only about 8 miles of track from Wawa to Chadds Ford.
in the map below, you see the red line. It is the path of the old rails. The rails are still there in the weeds and I farm the land near them.

Right where the red line crosses Ring Road is where artist and illustrator N.C. Wyeth was killed along with his grandson in 1945. He crossed the tracks without looking or some say his car stalled. The train killed both of them on impact and pushed the car a few hundred yards down the tracks. The property I farm is just below the red line. The residents of the farm heard the brakeman jamb on the brakes, but far too late.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,542  
I saw that quarry. Quite the hole.

I think I've mentioned I have an abandoned RR grade on one edge of our rural property. And an old trestle. There was a siding on the south side of the bridge, so it's double wide in there for about 1/4 mile. It was active line until the 80's. They removed the track and ties but left the ballast. I kinda wish they'd have converted it to trails, but now it's just abandoned and overgrown. I find spikes and metal occasionally, but the trees are starting to come up through the ballast.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,543  
A bit more history about that very fateful rail line. It was only about 8 miles of track from Wawa to Chadds Ford.
in the map below, you see the red line. It is the path of the old rails. The rails are still there in the weeds and I farm the land near them.

Right where the red line crosses Ring Road is where artist and illustrator N.C. Wyeth was killed along with his grandson in 1945. He crossed the tracks without looking or some say his car stalled. The train killed both of them on impact and pushed the car a few hundred yards down the tracks. The property I farm is just below the red line. The residents of the farm heard the brakeman jamb on the brakes, but far too late.
The RR that went through our property crosses a highway at the bottom of a large dip on both sides. Many car/train accidents occurred there I'm told. An older man that worked for me at the Newspaper said during the Vietnam war, he was a conscientious objector due to religious beliefs. He took a job as an ambulance driver during the war here locally. He recalls going to that crossing many times and pulling bodies from the wrecks. No flashers, just cross bucks. All gone now, probably for the better in that location.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,544  
Tractors and Trains

 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,545  
+ 1 on that Lou. One of my hunting buddies owns the local propane dealership (no I don't get a discount other than dryer gas which is tax exempt) and he has a rather large tank (bottle) farm in Adrian, Michigan with a siding. He usually fills them via truck because the rail is very inconsistent with deliveries and interestingly, if the deliver rail bottles, they have to be emptied in a very short time span or the rail charges detention (think it's called on them) and he told me this year, trucking was actually less than rail. If I remember correctly, he has 25 10,000 gallon bottles there. All fenced and key carded too.
For the cars that we get at work we have 24 hours from when they are "parked" at our rail dock to unload them (Sat and Sun do not count). We get heavy loads of product (~3000# per pallet space) shipped across the country via rail, that means 11-13 per truck or 48-70 per railcar (depending on the box car size).

Aaron Z
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,549  
829CC7BC-59BD-40E3-9621-D185DA5A4D12.jpeg
Derailment between Belen and Clovis New Mexico. Both lines blocked.
 
 
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