[RITSlist] ROW between Fairfield & Brighton, Iowa

[jmatrow at juno.com]

My favorite site for maps is terraserver.microsoft.com. In addition to
the USGS quadrangle maps where 
you can see cuts and fills, it also has aerial photos which often show
features not on the maps such 
tree lines and ground discoloration of abandoned railroads. For large
cities, you can get more 
detailed aerials on Google Maps.

In preparation for this study, I looked at "Rebirth of a Railroad" from
the Dec. 1947 TRAINS.

What we have is a complete relocation of the route from Fairfield to
Brighton over the years. 
Fairfield (actually Eldon) to Perlee was completed in 1944 and Perlee to
Brighton was completed 
sometime before 1904. The complete relocation crossed over the old
alignment four times.

1915 Station List
-----------------
261 Brighton
264 East Pleasant Plain
270 Perlee
274 Otero
277 Fairfield

1979 Timetable No. 1
--------------------
MP 261.4 Brighton
MP 263.7 E. Pleasant Plain
MP 272.5 Otero
MP 274.8 BN Crossing
MP 275.1 Fairfield

Leaving Fairfield on Pleasant Plain Road, you will cross the old
alignment 5/8 mile before the 
relocation. This would be halfway between 185th St going to the west and
175th St going to the east.

One mile after the road turns east and crosses the realignment, it
crosses the original line in the 
middle of the curve back north. It is hard to tell whether it is right
before or right after you 
cross Walnut Creek.

1.5 miles north of that is the last crossing of the realignment.

Now for the challenge of the day. Can anyone identify the eight lines
that came into Brighton?

Thirty years ago I got a set of 1/4" scale county maps when I was in Iowa
and have tried to mark 
every abandoned line I could find. So a scan of any county is available.
I did the same thing in 
Kansas after moving here in 1979.

John Matrow
Wichita KS

On Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:26:46 -0600 Gerald Berwald <glb141072 at mchsi.com>
writes:
> Six days a week I drive between Fairfaild, IA and Brighton, IA.  At 
> four places it is very obvious that the road crosses the old Rock 
> Island right of way of the Golden State route.  Could someone please 
> send me a link to a map or aerial photo of Jefferson and Washington 
> counties in Iowa.
> 
> Thanks,
> Jerry Berwald
> Iowa City, Iowa 


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