Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

The Colorado Midland Railway ran from Colorado Springs to Grand Junction, CO via the Rocky Mountains. ( Right of way ). Between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs, the road used tracks that were jointly operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. With its picturesque route through the challenging terrain of the Rocky Mountains, the Midland played a significant role in the transportation history of Colorado. Proposed in 1883, the railway became operational in 1887, connecting Colorado Springs to Grand Junction via the Rocky Mountains.  The construction and operation of the Colorado Midland Railway were formidable tasks due to the difficult trajectory through the mountains. The route, while scenic, presented challenges, especially in the winter when snow persisted until June, rendering operations nearly impossible. Nevertheless, the railway achieved the milestone of becoming the first standard-gauge line in the state to cross the  Continental Divide . Colorado Midland Ra...

The Overseas Railroad spanned over 156 miles and connected mainland Florida to Key West, a chain of islands at the southernmost tip of the state in an absolute marvel of engineering. The railroad was constructed in the early 1900s by the  Florida East Coast Railway  (FEC) and was completed in 1912, after years of grueling labor and numerous setbacks. ( Right of way ) A vintage FEC Postcard showing the Overseas Railroad  at Long Key Viaduct. Palm Beach Florida Weekly The idea for the Overseas Railroad was conceived by  Henry Flagler , a businessman and entrepreneur who was instrumental in developing Florida’s tourism industry. Flagler recognized the potential of the Florida Keys as a tourist destination and saw the need for a reliable transportation system to connect the mainland to the islands. THE  HAVANA SPECIAL  EXPRESS crossing the two-and-a-half miles stretch of Long Key Viaduct on the way to Key West. (Mikes Railroad History) The FEC Key West Extensio...

If you have ever traveled by train in the United States, or even just come across the downtown of a major, or perhaps even a smaller city, chances are you have encountered a station named Union Station. From Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., there are dozens of stations with this name , some of them still in operation, some of them abandoned or repurposed. But why are they called Union Station? And what is their historical significance? Chicago Union Station (CUS) is always extravagantly decorated, even more so during the holidays! FRRandP photo, 2021. The name Union Station comes from the fact that these stations were built as joint facilities for multiple railroad companies that operated in the same city. Instead of having separate terminals for each railroad, which would be costly and inconvenient for passengers, the railroads agreed to share a common station where they could interchange traffic and offer connections to other lines. This way, travelers could access more destinations ...

Pinhook, Missouri , a small town situated approximately 8 miles west of the Mississippi River, holds a significant place in history as a black community founded by sharecroppers in 1927. Due to limited options for settlement from white landowners refusing to sell their land, these determined individuals settled in low-lying land that would later prove perilous during flood seasons. ( Location on our Ghost Towns Map ) The status of Pinhook is both a story of ongoing climate change as well as the lackluster emergency response from the government, who in fact made Pinhook's perilous situation even worse. Image: Steve Zumwalt/FEMA via Vox Magazine . Five years after its foundation, the Army Corps of Engineers built the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway to ease the annual flooding along the Mississippi River, in an attempt to save the then-prosperous City of Cairo downstream. The floodway, when used, put the excess waters directly in the path of the town. ( ProPublica ). At its peak, the ...

The Ship of Theseus is a classic philosophical thought experiment that asks whether an object that has had all of its parts replaced over time is still fundamentally the same object.  The problem takes its name from the ship that Theseus, a legendary Greek hero, used to sail to Crete to slay the Minotaur. Bing AI Image The story goes that after returning to Athens, Theseus' ship was preserved by the Athenians, who gradually replaced all of its parts as they decayed over time. The question then arises: if all of the parts of the ship have been replaced, is it still the same ship? Or is it a new ship altogether? The Ship of Theseus problem has puzzled philosophers for centuries and raises fundamental questions about the nature of identity and change. Is identity based on the object's material composition or on its function? If all of an object's parts are replaced, does it lose its identity and become a new object? These questions have real-world implications beyond philosop...

I once read a story sent through an email chain which I've seen pop up every now and again, which asserts the fact that two horses standing side by side are roughly 5 feet apart is the reason that is the standard gauge of railroad tracks is 4'8 1/2". Created with Bing AI It isn't true , or at the very least there's far more that can be said on how standard gauge came into being. For example, the Southern Railway had a 5' gauge originally . I found this from a Trains forum posts which is one of a few of these stories to go around. I apologize in advance for the rough editing. Railroad gauge     Fascinating Stuff . . .   Railroad Tracks   The U.S. Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches.   That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?   Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the U.S. Railroads.   Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail l...