Exploring the DISAPPEARING Ellsworth Railroad Branch

Рет қаралды 14,237

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 56

@railsideproductions 2 ай бұрын

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much info about the Marianna Branch, including when the last train was. Please leave any history, memories, or stories you have of the Marianna Branch (or any of the rail lines in this video) down here in the comments! Thanks for watching!

@kerrymedvec8596 2 ай бұрын

NS was storing old hoppers on the upper end of the Marianna branch in the early to mid 2000’s

@Hail2Pitt412 2 ай бұрын

@@railsideproductions the last coal train from Marianna would’ve been in the very late 1980’s. The mine was permanently shut down in 1988 due to a fire on the underground belt line.

@robertlasher7461 29 күн бұрын

Considering the entire history of the building of the railroad lines that criss-cross america to see an incredible amount of old rail lines that have been abandoned and/or ripped up is so sad considering all of the lives lost not to mention the hard work of those who's blood and sweat was put into it's construction and the absolute marvel of it's engineering feat just rotting away without preserving it for the posterity of history makes me wanna cry !

@pmcaloon Ай бұрын

Thank you for an informative video with contextualizing details. It's great when people take the time to document old lines; it's fantastic when background information is added to that video. Thank you for putting so much work into this!

@jimmybraum942 2 ай бұрын

The last train to travel to Bentleyville was during 2020. There were Three sets of coil cars being stored on the line.

@tomy.1846 2 ай бұрын

Excellent! Wish I could have done something like this as a kid. Sadly, the old LIRR tracks connecting Mineola and West Hempstead were ripped out before i was born. Some of the tracks and signage survived into the early 80s. Gone now. Great video! People from the future will find this when there is'nt any part of the branch left.

@ShawnCalay 2 ай бұрын

Or even railways .... everything will be gone to automated highways

@tomy.1846 2 ай бұрын

@@ShawnCalay The only constant is change. Can't fight it, just savor it.

@aaronillig7903 2 ай бұрын

I’ve walked this railine multiple times. Really cool to see

@1046fireman 2 ай бұрын

This is sad, but fabulous documentation. Thank you.

@Hail2Pitt412 2 ай бұрын

Nice video. The switches at cokeburg junction were removed in the height of the PSR era during the annual hell week maintenance blitz on the former PRR/MGA. These switches were reinstalled at Shire Oaks replacing other switches that were in need of replacement. The railroad found it cheaper/more efficient to just remove and reinstall the cokeburg jct switches in their place.

@gregorynagy8448 2 ай бұрын

My grandparents lived just to the left, out of shot, at 3:52, and my parents were married in St Lukes that was just to the right. Walked those tracks up to Ellsworth many many times in between the long coal drags that were coming out of all of the mines. Sad to see it all in its semi abandoned state

@shawnpowell5876 2 ай бұрын

Great video of how things were years ago with the railroad. Sad to see tracks torn apart and weeds that have overtaken what use to be. If i lived near there I'd have a bunch of those signs put in my railroad man cave I'm creating. Cheers from Laurel, Delaware USA

@jims6323 2 ай бұрын

Jolly good show. Looks like some prime motorcycle back roads!

@LoriTobin-z8d 2 ай бұрын

All those miles of trackage with the nice heavier welded rail just going to waste.

@RACaptialRegion 2 ай бұрын

This is beautiful. Thank you for documenting!

@jamesburnside3023 Ай бұрын

Its happening up here to branch lines disappearing it sad to see. Great coverage

@hampton400 2 ай бұрын

Very well done. Thanks.

@thepozfromoz5166 2 ай бұрын

Maybe NS would create another shortline so these tracks can get active again? They dont look to be too far gone yet so now's the time! Just repair the sections that need it and proceed from there.

@tedfisk1211 2 ай бұрын

why would NS do that? if there is no current or prospective use of the line, then putting money into it would be a waste of money that could be wisely invested elsewhere.

@thepozfromoz5166 2 ай бұрын

@@tedfisk1211 very true but ya never know a customer along the line could pop up at some point.

@ToddKaufmann Ай бұрын

Most of these are on Open Street Map--at least that's how I learned about Ellsworth branch, when I was down in Marianna last spring for the Regatta and saw it on the map. Read up a little on the mining history there after that.

@mikedurhan9941 2 ай бұрын

Views like this cause my heart to be heavy with sadness. When will the shrinkage of the U.S. railroad system stop? Will it ever stop? Seems like such a waste to let this asset rust away..........

@tux_the_astronaut 2 ай бұрын

Agree trains are such a great method of transport and it seems like the US is the only country that doesn’t get that. Europe and japan have great rail networks while many in the US are left to rot now in favor of massive ugly highways

@erie910 2 ай бұрын

With a shrinking industrial base, there is less need for rail service.

@mikedurhan9941 2 ай бұрын

@@erie910 Yep. I'm well aware of that. And banning coal. And banning copper. And on it goes.........

@Mr.Tingus 22 күн бұрын

The day the trucking industry gets taken out, which may be soon considering how crap truck drivers are nowadays. I run a trucking company and in my experience from Detroit to Florida, it amazes me how 75% of drivers on the road even have a CDL. I’d rather the rail comes back and trucking sticks to minimal local routes like it used to. Not to mention Canada has the worst program for obtaining a CDL, and then those idiots get shipped to America for work. The trucking industry is busted and outta be cut down

@thomasschaefer9312 Ай бұрын

This would make a really nice rail trail.

@tedmaas3588 2 ай бұрын

Nice presentation...

@Joe-d7m6k 2 ай бұрын

Looks like alot of it was good, heavy rail. Wonder why NS did not salvage it for re- lay elsewhere.

@NSHorseheadSD70 2 ай бұрын

Because it's not abandoned. It's only out of service

@ericemmons3040 2 ай бұрын

@@NSHorseheadSD70But on the part of the branch where service has been legally discontinued, does that mean that THAT part of the branch is abandoned, or just "out of service"? Does the railroad still own the entire right-of-way, or has it given any of it to the State/County/City at this point?

@NSHorseheadSD70 2 ай бұрын

@ericemmons3040 I'd say the Cokeburg Branch and Marianna Banch are formally abandoned as there are no timetables or even people qualified on them anymore. I can't say for sure what their legal status or ownership is. All I know is when the new Pittsburgh Division timetables came out earlier this year, the Ellsworth was showing out of service. NS has a tendency to stop using lines and not actually abandon them

@ffjsb 2 ай бұрын

They probably have a ton of spare rail sections from all the Conrail lines that have been abandoned.

@robkrasinski6217 2 ай бұрын

Why do railroads abandon track and leave it sit and remove some rails and bridges but crossings are intact, etc.? Why would they leave the rails if there are no plans to ever use them ever again because the only customer closed? Some class 1 railroads like Conrail and now NS who owns some former Conrail lines were known for getting rid of stuff that they no longer used, including track, switch towers, etc. Branch lines were sold off to short lines or abandoned outright and ripped up as the class 1's wanted to concentrate on long haul freight service on the main lines.

@ffjsb 2 ай бұрын

They likely have plenty of rail sections, they pull the switches because they're more expensive, and can be reused since they didn't get that much traffic over them. A lot of the bridges that get removed are low, and you can't get fire trucks through those low bridges. It costs money to pull up that rail, more than what it's worth as scrap. There has to be a customer to sell a branch line to a short line. If the coal is all gone, who's going to buy a rail line???

@notyou6950 2 ай бұрын

Shame! Those rails can and always added value to the surrounding country side. Easy access for emergency response in case of natural disasters or strategic needs. All of western North Carolina is in need of good access and emergency supplies right now. How I wished the rails were kept in good working order just for that one reason.

@NSHorseheadSD70 2 ай бұрын

The Ellsworth is out of service south of FRY

@johnhirtle4300 Ай бұрын

Looks prime for running with a motor car!

@philhoward4466 2 ай бұрын

it would be nice to see where this is on Google Maps satellite view. i have found Ellsworth and the track east from there, but it is disappearing. can a railcar travel over this or is it so bad that nothing can?

@railsideproductions 2 ай бұрын

@@philhoward4466 between monongahela and bentleyville appears to be well maintained. Beyond ellsworth, the missing switches would make it impassable. Both the marianna and cokeburg branches have large trees and brush growing between the rails.

@clearlycaribbeanreb2895 2 ай бұрын

This is what pisses me off about NS

@ffjsb 2 ай бұрын

What?? Abandoning track that has ZERO customers???

@clearlycaribbeanreb2895 2 ай бұрын

@@ffjsb No smartass! Figure it out.

@LoriTobin-z8d 2 ай бұрын

@@ffjsb Class 1 railroads like NS don't put forth nearly as much effort as a short line does. Proof positive...look in Wisconsin where many of the ex-Wisconsin Central branch lines were sold off to Watco, which formed FOXY on those lines. The lines that Canadian National sold off to Watco used to have a lot of customers, then when CN purchased WC in 2001, over time these lines lost a lot of business. This was due to CN running customers away and running some of the lines to the ground. One such line was the Medford Subdivision that runs from Spencer to Medford in central Wisconsin. This branch used to have many customers but by the time CN sold it to Watco, there is hardly any business left for rail and the line deteriorated in such disrepair that Watco only used the line for 8 months and then embargoed it due to horrible track conditions.

@ShawnCalay 2 ай бұрын

@@LoriTobin-z8d I worked 21 years with Chicago Central then IC and CN, with my last 5 at Illinois RailNet....you have no idea what a railway has to go threw to get loads from trucks, it's not as simple as you state it....

@LoriTobin-z8d 2 ай бұрын

@@ShawnCalay In reference to the northwoods of rail now owned by Watco, much of that was put out of service by CN a while ago after the sale of WC to CN. WC did all they could to get and keep the rail customers. When CN took over, although they promised to keep giving the service WC provided or better, the service from CN went "downhill" and those customers were upset. They dealt with inconsistent servicing from CN which doesn't do good for businesses. There were countless meetings with CN and business leaders because there was interest to use rail, but CN refused, and wouldn't sell off the lines, until finally they sold to Watco a few years ago. With Watco ownership of the lines, business has already increased dramatically! CN couldn't care less in these northwoods areas like a shortline does.