who would build a train track down in the middle of a city

so i see and do not know why but why would anyone build a train track down in the middle of the road in a big city. to me it does not make any since.

switchmen37
 
If you study a map of railroad trackage in Denver, Colorado, there were tracks down all the streets in the warehouse districts. Remember that railroads came before large trucks.
 
Last edited:
Back in the old days in the US, you did not want to be from "the wrong side of the tracks", which referred to social status or wealth, and whether a guy or gal was a match for a marriageable possibility. Famed in song and story.

EDIT: I am also minded of the city of Reno, Nevada, which after over 100 years of train traffic running through the middle of the city, built the big "trench" through the middle of town, so now the tracks are below street level.
 
Last edited:
Virtual Railfan, run by Jointed Rail members 22alpha, norfolksouthern37 and yutzk, have two webcams that have trains running straight thru the center of streets: Ashland, Virginia and La Grange, Kentucky. Included are links to the webcams:
Ashland, Virginia:
 
I recall that Rockhampton in QLD has track that runs down the middle of the street. It was interesting being on the Sunlander and seeing the traffic just outside.
 
I recall that Rockhampton in QLD has track that runs down the middle of the street. It was interesting being on the Sunlander and seeing the traffic just outside.

Correct.

The north Queensland main line runs along Denison Street Rockhampton. It runs past small businesses and many 100+ years old Queenslander houses (wooden with corrugated steel roofs). Check it out on Google maps street view. https://www.google.com/maps/@-23.37...4!1s4Qih9U1WExM71BpVLjwzFg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656


I lived in "Rocky" in the 1950's when the first diesel powered Sunlanders passed through. Fond memories.
 
In the U.S.-
For anyone who doesn't understand tracks down the center of a town consider reading some about railroading history. At the time the towns sprang up it was due to the railroad being there. (Railroads were in compitition with canals in the early days. Read about Erie Canal.) If you were going to start a lumber mill and there were no roads or trucks to take your lumber out to other markets wouldn't you build as close to the railroad as you could? Having your business right on the tracks gave you a big advantage and many times was the difference between success and failure.
 
In Baltimore there were many tracks running along streets. When I got a job on the east side of town trains ran from there down to the harbor. I worked nights and got behind a train going 5mph or less for about 12 blocks. I was unfamiliar with the area so didn't know the streets that would get me around the train.

Rob
 
yes trains were there before trucks and cities built around the tracks ok, you have a train track and you built a city around the train track, station, but dont they think its strange to put a track in the middle of the street back then; have the street goes along the track not letting the track go down the middle of the road where traffic is . i guess i have to actually live in the city to understand.

switchmen37
 
I doubt people think it's strange since the trains move along just as the regular traffic does. You see sometimes it's easier to let the railroad move goods, including right down main street, because it's easier than relocating an important service. You see relocating the railroad in some cases is too expensive for both the city wanting to do that plus the railroad even with government assistance to do so.

The biggest users of street running are industrial lines, although that has been dwindling sadly over the years.

Up until the early 1970s, this was very common in many big cities including Boston Mass. In Boston the Union Switching Railroad, a New Haven subsidiary, did its mostly nightly duties switching the Boston waterfront along Atlantic Avenue, into the North End, and across the Fort Point Channel to Rowe's Wharf, Fan Pier, what is now where the World Trade Center is, and other places in that industrial district. This little railroad used small 44-tonners and small box motors to move their freight around. Today, the railroad is long gone, but there are still little signs here and there of their former existence such as the old tracks still embedded in the pavement across the now disused Northern Avenue bridge and in and around near North Station over in the west end. The company also ran a tugboat service across Boston Harbor to East Boston to serve the docks and industries over in that area as well. I remember seeing this service as a kid a short time before it all disappeared.

Lawrence, Lowell, Holyoke, and other industrial cities had a vast network of industrial tracks. These lines, some of which are still used today, served the many, many mills and large factories located along the various canals, and busy streets. Today, most of the tracks have been paved over as the mills gave way to arson, apartment lofts, and empty lots. In Lawrence, Canal Street had a whole network of tracks on both sides of the North Canal with some complex trackage, bridges, and unique switching to serve the various industries and warehouses. This branch line was used extensively until the mid-1970s, but as some mills closed, burned down "accidently on purpose" or not on purpose, the rails were cut back. There are still some signs there with cut-off switches, an odd angled Warren Truss bridge, and stubbed crossings.

Lowell's lines lasted quite a bit longer into the mid-1990s and today, even though the track has been clipped from the Pan Am mainline, are still used by the National Park service. Instead of abandoning the tracks and paving everything over, the city in conjunction with the NPS, setup a nice trolley network. The residents and UMASS Lowell students enjoy a nice trolley ride from Tsongas Arena, near the Lowell Spinner's baseball stadium to the downtown, and residents of now condos found in the various mills have a nice trolley ride to Market Street and other locations. The city's trolleys are a combination of new ones built to look old as well as some that are on loan from the Seashore Trolley Museum located up in Kennebunk Port, Maine.

Holyoke still has quite a bit of active track, although that too is dwindling. These lines serve a hydroelectric plant and other industries located in the area along the canal and within that industrial area.

Other cities had such operations such as Brooklyn, NY once had an extensive network in and around the navy yard and along their industrial and waterfront areas. Today, there's a small bit of switching still done there, but much has been sadly replaced by trucks for any industries that are left. The rest of the buildings have become NIMBY uppity and uber-expensive apartments and condominiums and empty parking lots.

The list goes on with many other short lines, industrial railroads, and even branch lines belonging to Class I systems.
 
Same as the UK, the railway was there before anything else. Perfect example would be some sort of industrial area had a small set of houses for the workers. These workers needed things so shops came and stayed. Then more houses were built beside the railway, then on both sides, then it was all cobbled, then it grew into a village, then a town etc etc. And so you ended up with towns that had industrial locos and wagons rolling through the streets from one end to the other. Some lived on into tramways but most were lost because truck and road tech overtook the railways.
 
Back
Top