Aerial photos and high resolution imagery are invaluable tools for finding abandoned railroad grades. After identifying potential grades on imagery and then confirming it by ground-truthing, you’ll be able to locate new grades to explore. On the two examples below, the grades stand out due to their wide sweeping turns.
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| Click on photo to enlarge |
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| Grade and wyes visible in the open area in the center of each image. Click to enlarge. |
It is also possible to identify lines using 1:24,000 U.S.G.S. topographic maps. Many of the local Forest Service roads were constructed on top of abandoned logging railroad grades. Again, the wide sweeping curves of roads constructed along abandoned grades really stand out on maps.
Hello, wished to extend some gratitude for a seriously informative little site! You have done some stellar and detailed research here. Superb!
ReplyDeleteLiving in Hawaii, I miss my explorations around NoAz. I have been "traveling" back there regularly, via Google Earth and have been nearly obsessed with route and grade finding. It can be quite engaging. Just when I thought I had been getting quite thorough and detailed, I have wonderfully stumbled upon your information here and have had my eyes opened yet more. I am fascinated by what I have seen here in your pages.
Luis, Thank you very much for your comments. I've been behind on updating this site but am hoping for a bit of free time to get back out into the woods. I also spend quite a bit of time looking over aerial imagery for new places to check out. It is a great way to spend an hour or two.
ReplyDeleteI would not have found this page had my sister not sent me a link from the Slide Fire Facebook page showing firefighter archeologists saving an old logging railroad bridge. I actually walked and took a lot of pics of portions of logging trails in and around the Kaibab Trail south of Lake Mary. Good stuff! Your page is being saved.
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