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Downtowns with railroad tracks as the center

Started by index, July 13, 2021, 12:24:50 AM

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lepidopteran

Quote from: Chris19001 on July 13, 2021, 01:06:08 PM
You'll likely find several along South Jersey's RiverLine.  Palmyra and Burlington jump to mind.

As well as the old Atlantic City line, though few of these are downtowns.

Take a look at Maple Shade, NJ, though the "main drag" Main St. is south of there.  And if you go east a little on that same trackage, notice Moorestown for something completely different.  You'll find that it hugs 3rd St. rather closely, but on alternate sides at a time.  There are a few short stretches with a road on both sides of the tracks, though.

Also Sewell, NJ.  An old station is in the median, though.

Finally, if you're counting roads-on-one-side through downtown, notice how 3rd St. (again!) in Sunbury, PA essentially runs neck-and-neck with the tracks for about 10 blocks through town.



Occidental Tourist


I'd say Anaheim, California. The tracks actually are on the street through the downtown area.




AlexandriaVA


sparker

Quote from: Occidental Tourist on July 16, 2021, 03:10:24 PM

I'd say Anaheim, California. The tracks actually are on the street through the downtown area.





That's a secondary UP line that parallels I-5 from Norwalk to Santa Ana before curving east onto the street; it used to curve back south east of downtown Anaheim to Santa Ana, but now simply empties out onto the Metrolink (former BNSF) N-S tracks through Anaheim that host both L.A.-Oceanside commute trains and the Amtrak service down to San Diego.  Now UP operates to Santa Ana on Metrolink trackage rights before the branch line continues to serve the industrial area in south Santa Ana.  Only about 2 trains per day use the Anaheim street-running line; UP generally dispatches those at night to avoid conflicts with both auto traffic and the commuter/Amtrak runs on the Santa Ana/San Diego line. 

fillup420

Quote from: Dirt Roads on July 14, 2021, 09:28:20 PM
Quote from: fillup420 on July 14, 2021, 06:14:02 PM
Most NC examples have been said already, but I know there's right many towns along the CSX A-line (and I-95) that would qualify. Places like Kenly and Benson. Also, looking at the map, its impressive how straight the railroad is throughout most of NC. Seaboard did a bang-up job when they built what is now the A-line

Pardon, but the A-Line is the former Atlantic Coast Line.  The Seaboard is called the S-Line.  And yes, the ACL constructed the best engineered railroad speedway on the East Coast.

I worked on the railroad in both Kenly and Benson and didn't consider either one to meet the OP requirements.  But looking at the map, perhaps Benson does meet the requirements.  Today, the downtown section is along South Wall Street (US-301), but many years ago Market Street was the main drag.  But it actually looks as if the section of town that I worked in functions like a portion of downtown spread across both sides of the railroad.  Many of those buildings look as old as the surrounding ones.
ah yes, youre correct. we've had both Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line in this state, which then became the combined Seaboard Coast Line. it can get confusing at times. i grew up in charlotte which was SAL territory originally. Now its all just CSX.

And also, Matthews NC is a good candidate for this thread. the railroad is the center point of downtown, and traffic grinds to a halt when the train comes through.

Scott5114

#55
Norman is a close-but-no-cigar for this thread. The town is centered on the railroad, and there are streets paralleling the tracks on either side downtown, but the buildings are mostly oriented to face Gray and Main streets, which run perpendicular to the tracks. (There are a few buildings facing James Garner, one of the streets paralleling the tracks, but Jones mostly just runs along their sides.)

Oklahoma City may have been a contender for this way, way back in the day; there is a railroad track downtown (the same track as in Norman, in fact) and a street running alongside it (E.K. Gaylord, which was probably called Shields Boulevard at one point). But the track is now an elevated track, and I.M. Pei's plan for downtown OKC demolished a ton of buildings in the area, so it'd require more digging into the history books than I care to do at the moment to say for sure whether there was a street on the other side before the elevated track was built, or which direction the buildings along Shields originally faced.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

kphoger

Quote from: index on July 13, 2021, 12:24:50 AM
but NOT something like La Grange, KY, or Tampa, FL with street running tracks

Quote from: Occidental Tourist on July 16, 2021, 03:10:24 PM
I'd say Anaheim, California. The tracks actually are on the street through the downtown area.

:pan:
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

sparker

Fresno, CA's downtown was and is sandwiched between the UP (former SP) and BNSF (former Santa Fe) main lines, each with major depot facilities (passenger & freight).  While the UP/SP line was the first to be built circa 1872, and is and always has been parallel to US/CA 99, the former Santa Fe takes a more convoluted path through the city, including what was a mile or so of street running north of the depot -- but which has been converted into a dedicated ROW alongside its former street location (a good thing, seeing as how it hosts the Amtrak San Joaquin service, with several trains per day in each direction).  All trains were limited to 10mph over the street portion; that's now raised to 25-30 -- but the track makes a broad curve west and crosses Blackstone, at which time the engineers "step on it"; it's a straight run through NW Fresno (aka "Fig Garden"), with many of the major arterials now grade separated (my ex's condo was two blocks from the tracks right off Ballard; her office backed up to the BNSF tracks a couple of blocks south of the downtown depot). 

Many street-running track segments have been converted into dedicated ROW's in recent years (liability issues?).  But there are some track segments that squeeze into ROW's between streets, like the old WP N-S main through Sacramento, squeezed between 19th and 20th Street, that are still active.  There are grade crossings at every block from D Street down to Broadway along that stretch; the only separations are the LR line at "R" Street and the US 50/old Biz 80 elevated freeway.  Ironically, the old WP passenger depot is now (at least the last time I was anywhere near there) an Old Spaghetti Factory.         

Occidental Tourist

Quote from: kphoger on July 20, 2021, 12:45:51 PM
Quote from: index on July 13, 2021, 12:24:50 AM
but NOT something like La Grange, KY, or Tampa, FL with street running tracks

Quote from: Occidental Tourist on July 16, 2021, 03:10:24 PM
I'd say Anaheim, California. The tracks actually are on the street through the downtown area.

:pan:

:bigass:

geoffNOLA

The only ones I can think of that are in Louisiana are all in Tangipahoa Parish
From north to south:
Amite
Independence
Hammond
Ponchatoula
Your local emo roadgeek

Tom958

Commerce, Georgia. Broad Street southbound, Elm Street northbound. There are so few grade crossings of the railroad that these streets function almost like a Jersey freeway.

lepidopteran

Are you still collecting railroad downtowns?  I just spotted one in St. Paul, Indiana.

texaskdog


clong

Birmingham, AL was founded where 2 rail lines crossed. The land immediately beside the rail lines was reserved for industry, but the town was planned around the rail line. Avenues are numbered counting up both ways from the railroad with a directional suffix.

Not exactly what the OP was looking for, but an interesting study.

mgk920

Oshkosh, WI was formed in the mid-late 19th century around a network of railroad trackage in their downtown area, it was all removed/relocated between about the 1950s and 1995.  The street and terrace running CP/SOO and WC mainline through town was a fairly famous railfanning place throughout the latter part of the 20th century.  CN now uses the former CNW route that does north-south through the city's east side.

Mike

zachary_amaryllis

Both near me: Laramie, WY and Fort Collins, CO.

Fort collins has tracks down oh ... 6 blocks or so of a street, one block west of US 287. As a train nut, I love it. As a pizza guy, I hated it. They've ... (don't know what the term is) "islanded" them now. You used to be able to change lanes over the tracks.

Laramie has done well embracing their railroady heritage. There's a footbridge downtown, that leads up over the railyard, that one can stand and watch trains on, if so inclined. There's also Depot Park (it's all in the same block or two), and a truly cool museum with cool layouts.

Cheyenne's also done similar.
clinched:
I-64, I-80, I-76 (west), *64s in hampton roads, 225,270,180 (co, wy)

mgk920


IowaTraveler


TEG24601

I believe Monticello, IN would count, even though the tracks are removed.  It was the routing for US 421, IN 39, and US 24, around the downtown 1-way couplets, but does have several businesses and homes on the street, and is part of downtown.
They said take a left at the fork in the road.  I didn't think they literally meant a fork, until plain as day, there was a fork sticking out of the road at a junction.



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