Train graveyard
A train graveyard is where trains and rolling stock are abandoned while awaiting collection, recycling, or destruction. They are often left to decay and some locations are forgotten or secret. The term can also be used to include trams. Such vehicle graveyards are distinguished from an abandoned railway, which is a railway line that is no longer used for that purpose, and abandoned railway stations which are similarly disused. Some train graveyards attract visitors and can be a source of tourism.
Locations
Some sites contain numerous trains that have been abandoned. In the United States, just outside Watervliet, New York, there is the main line for the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Alongside this railway line is a disused stretch of track which is home to rusted locomotives, passenger cars, and freight cars.[1] In North Carolina a graveyard features trains and trams from across the Unites States, including a passenger train from Philadelphia and abandoned subway cars.[2] Istvántelki Főműhely, formerly one of the most important railway repair workshops in Hungary, now lays disused with old rolling stock on site. Many of them were taken there to be repaired before being exhibited in the Hungarian Railway History Park in Budapest but never made it.[3]
Trains can be abandoned in a location because it is deemed too difficult to move them. Two large steam locomotives were left in a woodland area in Maine after the end of the local industrial revolution because it was not practical to move them from such a remote location.[4]
Train graveyards can be of interest to railfans, urban explorers, and other tourists. The "Cementerio de Trenes" ("train cemetery") near Uyuni, Bolivia serves as a tourist attraction with trains dating back to the 19th century left to rust in the extensive salt flats of the Salar de Uyuni.[5] The site contains a train alleged to have been robbed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.[6] The site has been called "one of the most striking and haunting sights in the deserts of southwest Bolivia".[7]
Rumoured locations
It is possible that some train graveyards remain undiscovered. One sought-after location is the final resting place of trains and carriages believed to have carried Nazi gold away from Germany. Treasure hunters have looked for such trains but are yet to discover them.[8] In 2016 one search raised hopes but ultimately proved fruitless with nothing found in a network of secret tunnels in the Owl Mountains, Poland. However, media interest in the story helped boost tourism by £150 million for Wałbrzych, the nearest town.[9]
References
- ^ "Abandoned Trains". Lomography.com. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ "North Carolina Train Graveyard". Rumble. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ "Istvántelek Train Yard". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ LaRoche, Matthew (26 February 2014). "Old locomotives sit abandoned in the middle of Maine". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ "Cementerio de Trenes". Lonely Planet. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ Hough, Andrew (25 February 2010). "Google Maps satellite photos of train 'graveyard' in Bolivia". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ "Train Cemetery". Expedia. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ "Dig to Find Fabled Nazi Gold Train Begins". Smithsonian. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ Kentish, Benjamin (25 August 2016). "Nazi gold train search abandoned - but brings in £150 million for Polish town". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
External links
- Behold the Rusting Beauty of Abandoned Train Graveyards at io9.gizmodo.com
- 18 Eerie Train Graveyards & Abandoned Locomotive Cemeteries at Urban Ghosts