Wabash trackage between Lovington and Cushman, Illinois is owned by mothers family. When the trackage was being torn up my Grandfather bought the scrape value to leave it in place . This I believed was in 1966. Cushman actually still has part of a grain elevator switch in place. The trackage is isolated and any display would have to be truck in. How many others who read this forum own parts of railroads who have no Idea what to do with it ? James French

Track and roadbed is the hard part for most people. I'd imagine many people here would love to stumble across property like that when looking to buy or build a home.

thats amazing land like that has been preserved, how much? How long?

A potential museum could have good interest. Or the railroads may see it and revive service if possible.

The owner of the former Lehigh & Hudson River station in Great Meadows, NJ bought about one mile of the track when Conrail ripped up the line in 1986 so that he would always have track in front of the building today.

Bryansville, PA:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37640374@N04/10820089703/

About 1 mile of Ma&Pa track still in place

The home owner next door to the row bought the land and the track in 1986.

Part of the Illinois Terminal interurban's trackage exists in Carlinville, IL. The trackage includes a bridge over IL State Route 4, which used to be U.S. 66. Within the past few years, some people have taken a speeder ride over the section. The track also parallels the old Chicago & Alton mainline through town, so you can see it from any one of Amtrak's Lincoln Service trains.

bigham- your photo of the Red Lion station brought back good memories. I rode many of George Hart's excursions between York & Red Lion, and one trip with the Reading #1251 from York to Delta. I was pretty young. Wish my dad took pictures...

I am old enough and lucky enough to have ridden the last scheduled passenger train on the Ma & Pa.
August 31st, 1954.

I have a brief 8mm movie of that trip. Someday (ha) I will get it digitized.

Ira Schreiber

My uncle sold some of the land about 160 acres in the mid 1990's, I have not seen it since 1994. Now only 3/4 of a mile remain in Cushman according to my mother. He also tore down the 1880 farmhouse that's what made the family mad. There is another 1 1/2 mile of rail still owned by another family closer to Lovington. This Is out in the middle of farm country and Cushman had a grain elevator (long gone) and Lovington had a flat land coal mine. I do remember 8-12 car trains that went into Sullivan pulled by what looked like SW type switchers. Decatur is about 25 miles away. I will post later about the railroad bridge on his land that he partially cut up and a 0-6-0 switcher used as a stationary boiler in Mattoon Brown Shoe factory. hocarsandtrains. James French

Does your family do anything to make sure they retain ownership of the land? If an adjacent farmer plows it up and makes it part of his field and your family does nothing, they could lose title to the land via adverse possession. I'm no expert but you should probably keep an eye on it. Walk it a couple of times a year. Maybe post no tresspassing signs; things to indicate that it is not abandoned. I'm sure others will have better advice.

Steve

These situations get at times quite technical, and at times quite delicate or even outright confusing.

I have witnessed a case where someone who believed he owned one long section of right of way, including a station, went into default on property taxes, and the county sold the property at tax sale, only for the title search by the attorney for the subsequent buyer discovering that the railroad had sold the station but retained the right of way....... that situation got very messy, as the guy had apparently been paying property taxes that the railroad should have been paying, and in the meantime the railroad had been merged into a bigger one....

I've also seen one intended preservation effort fail considerably at its original goal when there was a misunderstanding as to exactly who owned what and what was easement, with the end result that way too much money was spent on lawyers instead of restoration or acquisition, and the group got only about half the line they intended to save.

Based on such situations, I would strongly advise any prospective right of way owners to get a deed in writing, and ascertain/confirm it with local government and, if necessary, any applicable state agencies.

"Title Search"

I quite enjoy following old right of ways on aerial views, and I followed this right of way. Unfortunately, I couldn't find evidence of any remaining track.

Joshua

One example I can think of is a significant portion of the Eagle Lake & West Branch. When the railroad was built in 1926-27 a permanent easement was obtained from various land owners with the aid of Great Northern Paper Co. One tract of land (an entire township) was and still is owned by the Pingree Family and is managed by Seven Islands Land Company for timber production.

In the early 1970's the Maine Department of Conservation sold the track located within the area they acquired in 1969 to a Quebec salvage company who began removing rail from the Allagash stream trestle south. (approx. 12 miles of rail) They would have removed all the rail if not for John Sinclair of Seven Islands. I have in my collection a letter from Mr. Sinclair stating that the State of Maine may sell off its history but Seven Islands would not and very bluntly stating that the scrapping crew was not to trespass on their property.

In November of 2012 we hiked the section of rail bed that traverses the Pingree lands through Ellis Bog (NOT a recommended hike! It took us 5 hours to hike 3 miles) and just as Mr. Sinclair declared the rails end exactly at the township line.

What I find interesting is the fact that a state entity charged with preserving and maintaining numerous historic sites and wilderness areas was so willing to scrap a piece of history. Mr. Sinclair had a deep sense of historic value and to this day Seven Islands has never cut-over the right-of-way though approx. 1000 ft. of rail was removed around 1995 where it crossed the logging road just east of Umbazooksus Lake and extends south west towards the Umbazooksus lake.

My Aunt on my mothers side who resides in MAYVILLE,NY has land which was once was property of the J W & NW RR - Jamestown, Westfield & Northwestern Railroad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown, ... n_Railroad

or http://www.abandonedrails.com/Jamestown ... n_Railroad

Mr. Starr