Typical Thursday in Oklahoma during the spring/summer months. Actually, there has been a dearth of serious weather events as well as tornados for some years now. Near record lows for tornado touchdowns.
And a marked increase east of the Mississippi, interestingly enough. Don't blame us. We're not trying to pass the buck.
The storm track is moving east which can have the affect of making Western Oklahoma a desert. It has been in the past and will be again in the future.
"Lines" The former Soo "Wheat Line" that crossed North Dakota to Kenmare in 1905 is now the Northern Plains Railroad. A rural crossing west of Lansford basks in golden hour light. Milepost 574 meets County Highway 26.
Love the old depot. I did a quick look and their line is 46 Miles long, all former SAL. Now owned by G&W.
Went to meet some friends for lunch today in Waxhaw, NC adjacent to the former SAL main that once linked Hamlet, NC west to Atlanta and Birmingham. I shot this photo from a notable wooden footbridge. This was a fairly busy route until the darkness of Precision Scheduled Railroading fell upon it. We were there for three hours hanging out and nothing passed through. In fact, in the distance you can see freight cars set out on what was an active passing siding. Almost exactly 25 years ago to the day, I shot this eastbound from the same spot coming off the passing siding after a meet.
This is near Bridal Veil falls, the old roadbed is still evident all along the creek, This is the repurposed FE&MV RR depot in Deadwood. No trains anymore......
This is in Lead and from about where the back side of the turntable would be. At least the building is still here, though closed at the moment, And the name of the original RR that sat this building here.
I don't recall my posting in this topic... Anyhow, here is a favorite place for me. As I awaited an eastward BNSF, with beautiful Fall colors on display. This is Radnor, Montana. Most fans overlook it, as the turnoff from Highway 93 is easy to miss.
Just outside t he restored Columbia and Greenville Depot in Prosperity, aka Frog Level, SC. I waited....
Nice picture -- black & white works well with your composition. Prosperity, SC is served by CSX (former Columbia, Newberry & Laurens) and NS (former Southern and before 1894, the Greenville & Columbia). NS maintains its line from Prosperity to Newberry, but also has trackage rights over CSX on the same route and mostly moves pulpwood chips. CSX moves more tonnage (the CN&L is an important link for Spartanburg <=> Columbia trains), but the loss of coal traffic has significantly reduced train count. I shot this photo of the refurbished SOU Prosperity depot on 10/06/2017.
I'm not exactly sure where @COHiker06 stood for the shot. That heavy rail looks more like something seen on CSX in the area, but I'm not certain. The trackage gets confusing in there. Some years ago, NS abandoned its line's connection to home rails by linking it to CSX using trackage rights. This left NS with an isolated section of line, abandoned to the east and abandoned to the west. NS kept the isolated segment because it has some good forest products customers on it, including a plywood mill and pulpwood chip producers. The Columbia, Newberry & Laurens station also survives in Prosperity, SC, a more modern and compact affair that was closed long ago when local agencies were shuttered. "CN&L Railroad" can still be read on the door glass. Just up the line is Joanna, once the site of a giant textile mill that was a valued CN&L customer. Over the years I've watched the mill's demolition and today you'd never know what was once there. You can still read "CN&L Railroad" on the glass in the front door.
One more place that will probably never see another train again...Roy, Wa on the old Northern Pacific. There was one remaining customer, a grain distributor at the south end of the second pic, but was closed and torn down after an employee fell into one of the silos and passed away from suffocating.
The entire Tennessee Pass route thru Colorado certainly belongs in this topic, as trains belong in that scenery. Here's east Belden siding, as the tracks leave the confined Eagle River Canyon.