On sunsets and happier days in April 1986 when Saluda Grade was still in operation, we're at Melrose, NC. I'm standing on the "escape track" which was set as the default route for a runaway train unless the train exceeded running time on a circuit that assured the train was under control moving at the prescribed speed. You can see the insanity of Saluda's grade, averaging almost 4-1/4%. NS now runs Asheville <=> Spartanburg trains on a circuitous route via the Old Fort line.
Some BNSF power on the line through Vancouver Wn. That connects the Portland-Seattle line with the Gorge line to Spokane. The train is headed east
IORY GP50 3102 picking up a cut of loaded Devco coal hoppers on the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway on Sept 05, 1998
The CBNS still operates from Truro to Point Hawksbury, NS regularly. There has been no freight traffic from PH to Sydney in a few months. Devco, now Sydney Coal Railway (SCR) still runs but I do not know their schedule.
Almost exactly 31 Years ago today in 1984, a MILW northbound is about to cross the EJ&E at Rondout, IL. Happily this tower still stands I think. Now it's a CP/CN crossing.
For now it remains in place, but as I recall what a former towerman there told me, it has been closed.
The rails are still intact, but it's very likely that the scrappers will arrive at some point. It's amazing that after 12 Years of inactivity, the line remains. I admire NS for their reluctance to pull up line from their system, unless they foresee it to be of no long term traffic value. If NS doesn't want a line, they first seek to sell it to a shortline. In the case of Saluda though, I see no salvation. I hope I'm wrong.
Their paint scheme looks a lot like that of the Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay Rwy. http://www.american-rails.com/asab.html
Oh, sad. Thanks for the update. Manned towers are becoming extremely rare. MILW's Tower A5 in Chicago remains too, but I'm not sure if it's manned. MILW's Tower A20 in Techny, IL pictured here in August 1978 is long gone.
This is Rondout (IL) in 1984. Rondout was quite the place back in the day, with trains of the CNS&M crossing over the MILW until 1963 on a bridge to my left.
As seen in July 2013 on the former MILW main is owner CP with a southbound oil train at the Milwaukee Airport station. We rode Amtrak to Chicago from here and the ride was fast and smooth. It was wonderful to see the railroad fly by, but also kind of depressing to see how much was gone, including Mayfair Tower (MILW/C&NW).
