Rail roads and their tracks.

   / Rail roads and their tracks. #861  
East Penn Railroad still operates a large rail trestle bridge near Elkton MD and the top of the chesapeake. I have a picture somewhere.....
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   / Rail roads and their tracks.
  • Thread Starter
#862  
On Sunday we inspected trails we keep cleared that are next to a NFS campground. This is Bob lake CG in the Ottawa NF if that makes any difference. What do we see running through this CG in this pic and why is it almost in the lake?
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   / Rail roads and their tracks. #863  
We have an abandoned railroad spur grade that dead ends right into a lake. Oddest thing. It was dirt, then ties, then stacked ties, then short trestles, then longer, then plop! into the lake. Turns out it was an old peat mine. The tracks went from dry land into the swamp and the swamp eventually became a lake as the dug it all out.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks.
  • Thread Starter
#864  
We have an abandoned railroad spur grade that dead ends right into a lake. Oddest thing. It was dirt, then ties, then stacked ties, then short trestles, then longer, then plop! into the lake. Turns out it was an old peat mine. The tracks went from dry land into the swamp and the swamp eventually became a lake as the dug it all out.
No peat mines or farms here. (What are they called?) The tracks come up to the lake, skirt it for a bit, then head back into the woods.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #865  
Was it to load/off-load a lake barge?
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks.
  • Thread Starter
#867  
Maybe they sucked water from the lake for steam trains.
You got it! They say the water was good for boilers and they used it as a watering station for the logging RR from about 1900 to 1920. I'll ask our friend if he has a historical link to it.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #868  
Speaking of water and steam trains. I think we've discussed Jerk Water Towns.

Well, west of here in South Bend, in a small town (no longer a town, just an area) called Lydick, there was a long water trough down the center of the track that the trains would drop a scoop into (the scoop was sometimes called a water jerk) while running at speed. The trough was about half a mile long. Apparently, a train was scooping water, didn't lift the scoop before hitting the end of the trough, and did considerable damage to the tracks and finally derailed into the path of a passenger train. 22 were injured. Surprisingly, no deaths reported. Here's a interesting article about water scoops, that also mentions that wreck.

 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #869  
A friend's father worked for NYC and was a fireman on the 29th Century Limited for a few years. He told about using the track pans when running at speed, and how the water would erupt out of the vent when the tender tank was full.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #870  
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.

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MoKelly
 

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