Imagine a time-lapse video showing the history of a railroad corridor. Images of early rustic tracks cutting through forests would transition into the grand transcontinental and modern railroads of today. Steam-engines would become sleek art-deco locomotives and then diesel-electric work-horses. Quaint cargo cars and passenger pullmans would give way to intermodal marvels and specialty rolling stock.
At the end of the video, however, the picture would split to show a variety of uses that today’s railroad corridors see. It would show modern freight and passenger services alongside recreational lines still operating steam engines for fun. It would also show no tracks at all, with forests retaking the land or people walking, running, and biking on trails where trains once rolled. This evolution of utility not only gives us a history lesson, but offers a powerful perspective on adapting our own purpose to meet evolving needs.
ADVENTURE & EARLY DAYS
If our railroad corridor video featured characters, the first would be a pioneer. Truthfully the first would be animals, before it was a corridor, but the pioneer’s arrival would signal the start of an evolution of uses. Some of what would become railroad corridors had seen human use long before trains. This is because both humans and trains benefit from avoiding steep hills. Early paths and trails often followed rivers and found mountain gaps for this reason. But one pioneer in particular would approach the forest with the tools, methods and intent to make a permanent change to the landscape: surveyors.
The history of early surveyors is equal parts adventure and science. From George Washington to Mason and Dixon, surveyors in the 18th and 19th century survived off the land they measured and often faced natural and hostile threats from the unexplored territories around them. Celestial bodies and geometry were measured by cutting edge tools for the time, and the resulting math and maps where done by hand and in the field, literally. The stories of how these early surveyors translated paper land-grants into colonies and forged man-made demarcations where none ever existed rightfully fills books.
Unlike property surveyors, who more often used straight lines regardless of terrain, railroad surveyor’s had to determine those gentle and winding routes that a train could safely climb. Rivers and mountain gaps are a railroad’s friends and many corridor took shape on these proven paths. Elsewhere the surveyor had to layout gentle grades and long curves as well identify those locations where tunnels and trestles would be more economical than lengthy detours. Interestingly, railroad corridors had to be surveyed and determined in their entirety before work could start in order to avoid a route with an insurmountable obstacle.
From a historical and scientific perspective, the most amazing railroad corridor is the 1st transcontinental railroad. By the mid 19th century, information on possible routes was available and improving each year thanks to the gold rush. Still, going the 1,911 miles from Omaha to Oakland (roughly) had to start with a feat of railroad surveying that was overshadowed only by the colossal construction that followed. Subsequent refinements of the route that accounted for stronger engines improved on this first route, but remarkably not by much. Development pushed westward and, notably, it expanded directly along the railroad corridor.
GROWING YEARS & OPPORTUNITY
With the initial corridors now cut, and towns appearing all along the railroad, the character in our railroad corridor video shifts from the rustic pioneer to a town leader or industry tycoon. A single railroad corridor in a forest is certainly a human-made scar, but a moderately impactful one. Compared to the possible benefit of passengers and freight carried, relatively few trees are lost and ecologies are generally not cut-off or impacted. That is, until developers get involved.
While terrain made some routes for railroads necessary, elsewhere fierce lobbying manipulated plans to include or exclude certain places. The large (and often private) economic reasons attracted intense municipal and business interests. As a result of railroads, towns and land values near stations thrived while those bypassed areas withered. Through this combination of need and greed the railroad systems took shape and as it did, it dictated the shape and location of future land development.
Railroad owners themselves were not objective in these business interests. To incentivize investors to build railroads, the governments offered land grants and powerful property rights. The land along and within railroad corridors right-of-way was another driver of profit. Not only did they sell newly valuable land around newly built stations, but their perpetual property rights to the corridors allowed them collect fees and influence development for decades to come; and still today.
The late-19th/early-20th century is epitomized by sleek locomotives whose speed and strength was capable of powering the emerging industrial economy. Railroads grew and gained standard gauges even while fierce competition among owners persisted behind the scenes. Some key monopoles and influence earned railroad barons like Cornelius Vanderbilt tremendous wealth. Railroad business boomed until the arrival of the automobile foreshadowed a changing future for railroads, and for the corridors.
1914 Erie 2-8-8-8-2 "Triplex" (Credit: American Rails) & 1939 Pennsylvania S1 (Credit: California Historic Society).
BETTER BUSINESS & ABANDONED TRACKS
During the early 20th century, the railroad industry peaked and consolidated. Lines and corridors merged under fewer operators which became enormous. Primary passenger and freight routes remained profitable but an increase in automobile use, a growing road and highway network, and trucking threatened many regional operators and branch lines. Ironically, even as roads became more popular, road planners often had to contend with strong railroad property rights that were granted long before automobiles existed.
Our time-lapse corridor video probably would not show the suited railroad business leader during this phase, but their work is noteworthy for less obvious reasons. While the video would show ever faster engines, it may also show improved automatic cross gates, air-brakes, and better track beds. As development continued to spread near rails, and as more roads crossed the tracks, these safety measure became increasingly critical to preventing accidents and derailing.
Another important industry change would be seen in the cars being pulled by the engines. Speciality tank cars for liquids and dump cars for bulk materials would be refined and improved. During the mid century, the CONEX box was invented. These intermodal shipping containers that can be placed on a train, truck, and cargo shops change the industry. By the end of the century these containers became ubiquitous, frequently being double-stacked on trains for even greater shipping efficiency.
All this innovation, however, could not prevent some railroad corridors from falling into disuse. Business decisions that improved and optimized primary routes also resulted in less maintenance on infrequently used or unused corridors. As a result, nature began to claw back its losses even as the tracks, trestles, and tunnels remained in place. In an interesting inversion, unused rail corridors cutting through developed areas saw a resurgence of flora and fauna mirroring how once the rails that cut through a forest.
THE CORRIDORS OF COMMUNITIES
The evolution of railroad corridors and of our video characters seemed to follow an arc until now. Pioneering builders became powerful tycoons and then efficient business leaders while the railroad corridors went from rustic to sprawling and finally modern or neglected. But here the narrative arc splits. Wherever former railroad corridors lay fallow, opportunists were quick to find ways to reuse the land, and many of these ideas turned away from the industrial uses that these corridors were originally built for.
The single best reuse (in my opinion) is Rails to Trails. This national coalition has turned 24,000 miles of railroad corridor into multi-use paths throughout the US. From the Airline Trail in Connecticut to the Capital Crescent Trail near DC and beyond, the gentle grades and safely designed road-crossing that were purpose-built for trains make ideal trails. Short trails near neighborhoods are a sought-after amenity while longer trails are destinations in their own right for multi-day adventures.
Beyond trails, other uses emerged as well. Hobby groups restored steam engines and used them to offer tourist rides that let young and old fans experience the early days of railroads. Other corridors have become enormously popular linear parks. Still other corridors may even see a return of rails, but this time for lite-rail trollies and with adjacent paths. It is worth noting these various reuses do not share one character type, but they do seem to share a common theme of recreation and community building.
Lastly, recalling how animals were the original users of railroad corridors, it should be no surprise to see them as great users today. Because our development encroached-on and cut-off their habitats, many species have found these corridors to be critical to their movement and survival. Current and former railroads, power line rights-of-way, former canals, and even areas along highways are now the bare-minimum ecological threads that keep many habitats connected and functioning.
Airline Trail over the Blackledge River Bridge in Connecticut (Credit: LOC, Stan Malcolm)
FULL CIRCLE - ALMOST
This is not the end of the line (so to speak) for railroad corridors. The arc from forest to rail and back into forest is nearly complete, but only in some places. While recreational, communal, and ecological reuses are great, heavy railroads remain the predominant user and an important industry. It is an efficient way to move things now and high-speed intercity passenger service and 100-car double-stacked freight trains promise to serve us well for years to come, often in corridors plan nearly two centuries earlier.
As our time-lapse video would show, railroad corridors have seen a remarkable evolution in uses and benefit over time. The lead characters along the way evolved as well. They brought pioneering development and left communities wherever they went. They carried everything and drove our industrial prosperity. They adapted business models in response to changing economics forces. And they found new purposes suitable to all walks (and runs, bikes, hikes, rides) of life.
Railroads that once brought corridors of development and industry through forests ended up giving us enjoyable corridors of nature cutting through our cities. They connect communities and ecologies and their history reminds how uses often evolve. It is a lesson about how our own purpose can, should, and will evolve as well in order to meet the needs of our time. Think about that the next time your are enjoy products that were transported to you by rail or when you are enjoy an outing on a former railroad corridor.
NY City High Line (Credit: NYC-The Official Guide) & Milwaukee Road Rail-Trail (Credit TrailLink user jdodge_tl)
Note: On a recent run on a rail-trail, it occurred to me how railroad corridors have seen a remarkable evolution in uses and benefit over time. In college I helped build the Airline Trail (CT) Bridge shown in the photo and I am lucky to live by the popular Capital Crescent Trail near DC. Enjoying the continued benefit of these former industrial constructions was a nice reminder that our purpose also changes to meet the needs of our time. When I returned home, I wrote a short essay on the topic. [P.S. Does anyone else’s brain work like this?]
Image credits are Library of Congress (LOC) except where noted otherwise.
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