Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

At first glance, there is nothing remarkable about Roy Hoppy Hopkins Drive. It cuts a clean arc through southern De Soto Parish, Louisiana, serving industrial traffic that moves between the parish’s plants and the industrial park. Or at least, it would if there was any actual activity in the Ward II Industrial Park , which as of late 2025, appears completely barren. Yet this road surrounds a much more interesting and historic place; quietly fenced and immovable, lies a small cemetery that predates the road that now encircles it. As is the genesis of many of my discoveries, I came across a cemetery located in the middle of a roundabout while looking somewhat-aimlessly at Google Maps: Harrison-Harrell Cemetery on our Abandoned Cemeteries Map This roadway is part of an industrial/logistics corridor that was constructed in the early 2000's according to aerial imagery. The cemetery was only accessible via LA 170 to the east before Hopkins Dr was both extended and improved to connect to ...

Tucked off a narrow, unpaved dead-end road just south of the hamlet of Dover Plains in Dutchess County, New York , lies a place that seems suspended in time, and drenched in myth. That place is Oniontown . Despite being only roughly 1½ hours by car from the bright lights of New York City , it sits in what feels like a remote no-man’s-land of folklore, suspicion, and social neglect.  Richard Wilcox Home, 1947 . Getty Images Having recently driven through the Hudson Valley between New York and Boston, the area that I'd first heard about from Atlas Obscura came to mind again, especially with how rich of an area I drove through in comparison to the zeitgeist surrounding Oniontown. If you imagine a more neglected corner of the Hudson Valley where the trees close in, the pavement ends, and a single strip of gravel leads you toward the woods, well your imagination is going to be pretty close to Oniontown. The paved road ends, and beyond it you’ll find trailers, modest ranch-style house...

If you zoom far enough into Cook County’s parcel data , you’ll find something strange. Beneath the steady roar of the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) under the lanes of traffic, the CTA Blue Line tracks, and the median embankments, lies a full grid of property parcels. Every one has a unique PIN, neat cyan lines drawn as though the houses, alleys, and corner lots were still there. To the eye, it’s all concrete. If you were only looking at the parcel fabric and not an aerial below it, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s still a neighborhood. Rather, it is all that is left of the neighborhoods that were destroyed to create the Eisenhower, and these parcels exist for all of the Chicago area expressways. Cookviewer Image of Active Parcels as of 2024, even though none of these parcels have had any separate land uses since the Ike. Cook County’s parcel fabric is a digital layer that represents the county’s property boundaries, as an enormous and constantly updated spatial dataset that...

The Hanford Site , also referred to as Hanford Engineer Works or Site W, is a decommissioned nuclear production complex located along the Columbia River in Benton County, Washington. Established in 1943, it was a secret facility of the Manhattan Project , selected for its abundant river water, hydroelectric power, mild climate, strong transport links, and remote location. Image: United States Department of Energy - Image N1D0069267., "Nuclear reactors line the riverbank at the Hanford Site along the Columbia River in January 1960. The N Reactor is in the foreground, with the twin KE and KW Reactors in the immediate background. The historic B Reactor , the world's first plutonium production reactor, is visible in the distance." Construction began in 1943, and by September 1944, the B Reactor became operational , making it the world's first full-scale industrial plutonium reactor. This reactor supplied plutonium for the Trinity Test and for the “ Fat Man ” bomb dropped...

Do you want to run a railway, but can't afford a steam engine? Do you have 4 horses? Well, have we got a solution for you! The Impulsoria was a locomotive constructed in 1850 that was powered by horses on a treadmill following a design by Clemente Masserano . The locomotive came at a time when steam engines had been state-of-the-art technology for at least two decades, but when some railways still used horse power, and there was at least some debate as to whether the technology of steam was worth the cost. Thus, the locomotive was sort of a hybrid design that could satisfy these customers, at least that was the idea behind the patent. An excerpt from The Engineer and the Machinist  describes the Impulsoria in depth, " An ingenious way to use animal power for railway transport—so as to avoid the high costs of locomotives—has recently been invented in Italy and demonstrated on the South Western Railway. It involves placing animals inside a type of coach called an impulsoria. In...

I have once again received more information on this line thanks to the generous help of Brisan Comstock! If anyone has more information on some of our other articles, we are always accepting help towards making each post as accurate as possible! The Missouri Southern Railroad ran an approximately 53 mile line between Bunker, MO, and Leeper, MO, where it connected with the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad . ( Right of way ) Image: A Missouri Southern Railroad engine and cars are stopped at the Ellington Depot. The Masonic Hall (left), Bales Brothers Store (middle) and Dr. Chilton's home (right) are visible behind the train. A man walks on a wood plank footbridge in the foreground . Missouri State Archives , copied from original held by N.J. Shocklette, 1907 The Missouri Southern had its beginnings on January 18, 1884, when five businessmen, two from Oil City, Pennsylvania and three from Ironton, Missouri, met in the small Missouri community of Colemanville in Carter ...

Several years ago, our friend and occasional guest-blogger JetLaggedJaff made a visit to Toronto and the CN Tower , which he was kind enough to share with us.  Recently, we made the trip down to downtown Toronto to visit the Toronto Railway Museum ourselves, which is nestled in the heart of the former Railway Lands , adjacent to the aforementioned CN Tower. For any fan of railway history or urban development, this museum offers a fascinating glimpse into the city’s rich railroading past right in the heart of downtown.  FRRandP photo. Caption from the Toronto Railway Historical Association , "Cape Race was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929 as the River Liard. The car was one of a series of 15 River cars fabricated at National Steel Car in Hamilton for $66,300 apiece. The opulent interiors were finished at CP’s Angus Shops in Montreal and featured individual ladies’s and gentlemen’s showers, leather-upholstered smoking rooms, ladies’ lounge and observation parlour ...