Rail roads and their tracks.

[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.

True - but in 1890 railroads accounted for 25% of GDP.

I can’t even find the stat for 2000’s.

Back in the day railroad executives were top of the heap.

Today, it’s technology.

Times always change.

MoKelly

 

[RobS]

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

 

[MossRoad]

 

[MossRoad]

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.

Similar thing happened to canal builders. Canals were amazing feats of engineering. Right around the time some great canals were opened in the young U.S., railroads came along and killed them dead. Dead, dead, dead!!!

There's always a better/more popular technology in the works for everything.

 

[MossRoad]

Similar thing happened to canal builders. Canals were amazing feats of engineering. Right around the time some great canals were opened in the young U.S., railroads came along and killed them dead. Dead, dead, dead!!!

There's always a better/more popular technology in the works for everything.

Example:
The Miami and Erie Canal. Yes, there was a functioning 275 mile long canal between Toledo, OH, and Cincinnati, OH.

"At its peak, it included 19 aqueducts, three guard locks, 103 canal locks, multiple feeder canals, and a few man-made water reservoirs. The canal climbed 395 feet (120 m) above Lake Erie and 513 feet (156 m) above the Ohio River"

It took 20+ years to build and 5 years after it was built, Railroads started competing and that was that. It lasted about 50-60 years and was abandoned.

Miami and Erie Canal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ArlyA]

You got that right, most technology and projects get obsoleted by something better. But of course, we still do have rail roads and canals, just not all of the original ones.

 

[cqaigy2]

How did that song go? "Low bridge, everybody down, low bridge cause we're coming to a town"

 

[MossRoad]

The Erie Canal Song Lyrics​

I've got an old mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
And every inch of the way we know
From Albany to Buffalo

Chorus:
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal

We'd better look 'round for a job old gal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
'Cause you bet your life I'd never part with Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
Git up there mule, here comes a lock
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo

Chorus

Oh, where would I be if I lost my pal?
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
Oh, I'd like to see a mule as good as Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
A friend of mine once got her sore
Now he's got a busted jaw,
'Cause she let fly with her iron toe,
And kicked him in to Buffalo.

Chorus

Don't have to call when I want my Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She trots from her stall like a good old gal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
I eat my meals with Sal each day
I eat beef and she eats hay
And she ain't so slow if you want to know
She put the "Buff" in Buffalo

Chorus

 

[buckeyefarmer]

We sang that song in grade school.

There is also the Ohio Erie Canal from Cleveland to the Ohio river in Portsmouth.
1827-1861, then as a water source until 1913.

Ohio and Erie Canal - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[bcp]

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.

Mergers and acquisitions meant one railroad may have two or three routes between two cities. Usually the best was retained and the others scrapped.

If it was a single line to a resource, it would be abandoned when there was no more traffic to pay for maintenance and operation.

Bruce