Working rail roads and their tracks.

[MossRoad]

Looks like the Romans built that sucker.

 

[bcp]

Abandoned roundhouse and steam locomotives in Poland.

Pyskowice · Poland

Poland

www.google.com

In Russia

Кладбище паровозов (Пермский край) — LADA Vesta, 1.6 liter, 2017 year on DRIVE2

Story from the real owner of LADA Vesta — road trip. Прекрасным субботним погожим днем выбрались в небольшое путешествие из Челябинской в соседний (почти) Пермский край. В место под названием "Железнодорожный тупик недалеко от станции Шумково". Итак, немного вводной части, потом фотки ;)...

www.drive2.com

Kladbishche Parovozov · Ust-Kishert, Perm Krai, Russia, 617604

★★★★★ · Museum

www.google.com

Bruce

 

[BravoXray]

Since NS has started running longer trains, some with distributed power, they have been blocking crossings along US33 between Goshen and Elkhart (actually Dunlap). The longest I saw was a little over two miles, from the Ox Bow Park crossing all the way south to Eby Ford on the north side of Goshen. It was blocking the CR 28 crossing and just short of the Green Road crossing.
Ever since NS added the third track from behind the sewage treatment plant in Goshen to just south of Ox Bow Park, they routinely parked trains there and south from Hively Ave. in Elkhart, blocking crossings, sometimes for hours. There was an article in the paper that the Mayor of Goshen, Police Departmen, Fire Department, business owners and people living in the area that used the crossings regularly, collectively sent a letter to NS that if the practice persisted, legal action would be taken.
All of a sudden, you rarely see trains parked along US33 any more. If there is one, it's short enough to not block any crossings, or at least only briefly.
I'm not sure about the current volume of traffic, but a couple of years ago the daily average number of trains through the corridor was about 120. I think the number has decreased from that now, but they are running much longer trains using distributed power in a lot of cases.
Just yesterday I left the Martins grocery store on the north side of Goshen, and just as I got to the crossing to go to CR 45, the gates went down as a train approached. I put the truck in park, shut off the engine, and had the radio on. When the radio went off after 5 minutes, the train was still going by. The DP units had just passed and probably another
50 cars went by before the end, so it was probably a total of 7 - 8 minutes for it to pass.
Not a big deal for me, but a lot of people get really pissed off having to wait so long.

 

[the old grind]

I've seen shaking fists and 'friendly waves' in the rear-view mirror as if I should have beat a crossing gate in time to be followed by someone in a BFH. (hurry) Lights and bells begin before it comes down and sometimes I hear the two long, one short, one long of an approaching train before that. I'm not about to pass up a front row seat. Real men love trains.

 

[MossRoad]

Fun fact...

Indiana is #5 in automobile-train collisions!

Collisions & Fatalities by State | Operation Lifesaver

oli.org

 

[MossRoad]

Since NS has started running longer trains, some with distributed power, they have been blocking crossings along US33 between Goshen and Elkhart (actually Dunlap). The longest I saw was a little over two miles, from the Ox Bow Park crossing all the way south to Eby Ford on the north side of Goshen. It was blocking the CR 28 crossing and just short of the Green Road crossing.
Ever since NS added the third track from behind the sewage treatment plant in Goshen to just south of Ox Bow Park, they routinely parked trains there and south from Hively Ave. in Elkhart, blocking crossings, sometimes for hours. There was an article in the paper that the Mayor of Goshen, Police Departmen, Fire Department, business owners and people living in the area that used the crossings regularly, collectively sent a letter to NS that if the practice persisted, legal action would be taken.
All of a sudden, you rarely see trains parked along US33 any more. If there is one, it's short enough to not block any crossings, or at least only briefly.
I'm not sure about the current volume of traffic, but a couple of years ago the daily average number of trains through the corridor was about 120. I think the number has decreased from that now, but they are running much longer trains using distributed power in a lot of cases.
Just yesterday I left the Martins grocery store on the north side of Goshen, and just as I got to the crossing to go to CR 45, the gates went down as a train approached. I put the truck in park, shut off the engine, and had the radio on. When the radio went off after 5 minutes, the train was still going by. The DP units had just passed and probably another
50 cars went by before the end, so it was probably a total of 7 - 8 minutes for it to pass.
Not a big deal for me, but a lot of people get really pissed off having to wait so long.

Strange thing is, all of that traffic is going in and out of the Elkhart yard on the south. Those same lines come out of the yard to the west here in South Bend, and we see little, if any, distributed power over here. Maybe they're sending shorter trains between Elkhart and Chicago, and longer trains between Elkhart and Toledo?

 

[MossRoad]

While following the tracks into Toledo I grabbed this location for an old roundhouse foundation on the west side of Toledo.

41°38'24"N 83°35'18"W · 625 ft

And then saw an old roundhouse on the banks of the Maumee river, too.

41°38'22"N 83°32'08"W · 590 ft

 

[the old grind]

Indiana is #5 in automobile-train collisions!

I have roots in Indiana and lived there briefly in the '50s and '70s. One of Mom's Uncles retired as an engineer on the Wabash RR, probably in the early '60s. (can you say 'also BTDT' as a boiler operator in his era?)

btw, sad to say that Logansport's long ago 'Iron Horse Festival' fizzled in the early Millennium. Only an hour or so from Chi-town it was a lesser hub than Peoria, Illinois but a bedroom town for gangster molls.

 

[MossRoad]

We've been through logansport a couple hundred times in the past 10 years going back and forth to purdue. lots of abandoned rr and active too.

 

[BravoXray]

Strange thing is, all of that traffic is going in and out of the Elkhart yard on the south. Those same lines come out of the yard to the west here in South Bend, and we see little, if any, distributed power over here. Maybe they're sending shorter trains between Elkhart and Chicago, and longer trains between Elkhart and Toledo?

You may be right, as whenever I go by the NS yard, I don't think I've ever seen one westbound with DP. They probably don't dare blocking any more crossings than necessary in the Gary area if they have to stop before they get to the NS yard.