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  • Abandoned Railroads/Bridges Near Tucson, Arizona

  • Pertaining to all railroad subjects, past and present, in the American West, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and The Dakotas. For specific railroad topics, please see the Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.
Pertaining to all railroad subjects, past and present, in the American West, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and The Dakotas. For specific railroad topics, please see the Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.

Moderator: Komachi

 #1337799  by SJFL
 
Hi. My name is Serge and I am an artist working on a project about railroads. iIt's a project that I hope to exhibit in museums and galleries but I am doing it in part for my father who is a rail buff/enthusiast.

I live in Tucson, Arizona and I am looking for abandoned railroad bridges that no longer have track running across them. The bridges could ford a gap as small as 5-10 feet or could be much wider. The idea is that there is the clear structure of a bridge but no railroad running across it. I would like to photograph these scenes from the side (in other words, not looking down the track, but standing at a right angle to the track). I know there are several instances of this on the Ash Fork-Crookton line up in Northern, AZ which I may eventually visit, but I wanted to see if anyone knew of such sites somewhere within a 100 mile radius of Tucson?

Any specific advice would be appreciated. If my question is unclear or if you know of better terminology I could use, please advise. If there is a better place to post this on the railroad.net forums, please advise. If there is a better forum to post on, please advise. Any references to reading on this subject or information about the abandoned lines would also be great to have.

Thank you in advance for your generous time.

Sincerely,
Serge J-F. Levy

http://www.sergelevy.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1338456  by Sir Ray
 
Not sure if you saw this site in your on-line searches, but if you did you'd know a number of those entries have maps, and my thinking would be to use Google Earth or Bing to follow the lines' ROWs (at least those lines with some ROW intact - others, abandoned for 80 years or so, of course have no remains left) and find likely bridge candidates.
It's a start at least...
 #1338492  by Backshophoss
 
You should be able to find in a local hobby shop in the Tucson or Phoenix metro areas"SPV's Comprehensive
Railroad Atlas of North America" done by Mike Walker,the Arizona & New Mexico volume.
The maps show active and abandoned ROWs,the long gone El Paso Southwestern RR had a ROW
along the US/Mexico Border in Az and New Mexico.
Also SP had a branch from Deming to Columbus NM,that is still visable enough to follow.
Website for SPV; http://www.spv.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1338520  by SJFL
 
Thank you both for your suggestions. I actually had a similar thought today (don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner) to contact the Tucson Rail Museum. Paul Horky, a docent, was immediately helpful. I am going to follow some of his suggestions and look into the South Line and the Tombstone Branch line.

Many thanks again,
Serge
 #1338579  by Sir Ray
 
SJFL wrote:Thank you both for your suggestions. I actually had a similar thought today (don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner) to contact the Tucson Rail Museum. Paul Horky, a docent, was immediately helpful. I am going to follow some of his suggestions and look into the South Line and the Tombstone Branch line.
From the site I linked to above ("Abandoned Railroads of Arizona), for the "South Line" entry there is an statement - almost an offhanded aside - which may pertain to your project:
"As with most western abandoned lines, the pile trestles over creeks and washes were removed"