Rail roads and their tracks.

[RobS]

Katy trail by bike is on my list...

 

[MoKelly]

Katy trail by bike is on my list...

There are several wine areas with B&B’s to stay overnight along the way. Smaller towns that cater to bikes during the summer.

It can get great fun.

MoKelly

 

[cqaigy2]

Here in Missouri we have the KATY trail which is an old abandoned rail of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad. It is the longest recreational rail trail in the US. About 240 miles long.

Very popular with bikes.

Goes through beautiful country and follows the Missouri River.

View attachment 696275

MoKelly

Wow, is the whole thing paved? Never mind, i actually read all the way to the bottom.

That would be a pretty nice ride i bet.

 

[RoyJackson]

Just realized, somebody corrected the spelling in the title of this thread!!

 

[ArlyA]

About the rail road that US Steel built in WY in the 1950's to move taconite pellets. This went over the continental divide.

Atlantic City Mine Railroad​

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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The Atlantic City Mine Railroad was a private carrier mine railroad that operated in Wyoming from 1962 until 1983. Owned and operated by U.S. Steel, the railroad extended 76.7 miles from a connection with the Union Pacific Railroad in southwestern Wyoming to an iron ore mine north of Atlantic City, Wyoming. One notable aspect of the railroad was its crossing of the Continental Divide at South Pass, Wyoming. Another was the railroad's use of EMD F7 locomotives, quite often in the iconic A-B-B-B-B-A configurations, painted in U.S. Steel's own yellow and black livery.

 

[MossRoad]

here's some very nice photos of that line

1981 trip, Day 6: US Steel's Atlantic City railroad

What a sight: F-units leaving South Pass. . . June 11: We awoke the next morning in the middle of dead-ass nowhere. Actually, we were near ...

undertheweatherblog.blogspot.com

 

[Hay Dude]

Still shocks me how all that railroad infrastructure is built, then simply abandoned.
I get supply & demand, but man o man that’s a crap ton of money to invest in building a railroad that long and having to abandon it.
Just goes to show how much money these companies must have.

 

[MoKelly]

Still shocks me how all that railroad infrastructure is built, then simply abandoned.
I get supply & demand, but man o man that’s a crap ton of money to invest in building a railroad that long and having to abandon it.
Just goes to show how much money these companies must have.

It is fascinating history. Railroads once ruled the US. The Vanderbilts made their fortune with railroads. Jay Gould. Many others.

MoPac Railroad was once one of the largest public companies based in St. Louis.

St. Charles, MO was founded based on ACF who built railroad cars for MoPac and others. In the early 1900’s around 2500 of the 4000 people who lived in St. Charles worked for ACF at that time. The company was all powerful.

They built 8 huge buildings (85000 square ft) with NO structural support anywhere but on the side of the building. They are an amazing engineering feat for the time. 4 railroad tracks went thru the buildings and they built rail cars assembly line style much like cars.

They needed a completely open building to pass cars thru.

During WWII they built small tanks for the war effort.

Boom time 1900-1950.

Then railroads went downhill. Technology changed. Trucks and airplanes put railroads on the back burner.

MoKelly

 

[ArlyA]

It is fascinating history. Railroads once ruled the US. The Vanderbilts made their fortune with railroads. Jay Gould. Many others.

Boom time 1900-1950.

Then railroads went downhill. Technology changed. Trucks and airplanes put railroads on the back burner.

MoKelly

Rail roads are still moving huge tonnages. I resided in a small town in SW South Dakota which had a double BN main line of ribbon through and at that time, a full train every 20 minutes. So thats 120 cars give or take.

 

[ArlyA]

Still shocks me how all that railroad infrastructure is built, then simply abandoned.
I get supply & demand, but man o man that’s a crap ton of money to invest in building a railroad that long and having to abandon it.
Just goes to show how much money these companies must have.

It cost around 1 biliion to open up a new taconite mine. The do look for investors to join in when they do that.