Clicking on the lines on his map (after the link, not on these images) brings up details, including the towns they connected. Some of the towns have sparse backstories, and have left few visual traces. The map also notes a handful of ghost towns, including some that have are now underwater, drowned by dammed rivers or mining activity.
To uncover abandoned lines, Grigg consults a visual atlas of historic aerial images that spans decades, draws from railfan brain trusts, and tracks down leads that surface in Facebook groups. A scant handful of state transportation departments, including Iowa’s, maintain lists, too. If more states did this, Grigg says, his project would be a bit of a lighter lift.
So far Grigg, who works at a traffic information center in Illinois, has catalogued some 2,500 lines, covering more than 60,000 miles. Most crawl across the United States, though there are a few in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico.
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