ICC Abandonment Filings
This entry was posted on 2/3/2010 3:17 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
I'm sure that all railfans have heard of the STB. The Surface Transportation Board, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, is the governing body of railroad activity and commerce within the United States. Of interest to visitors of Abandoned Rails, it is also the governing body that provides regulatory oversight on railroad abandonments within this country. They are the ultimate authority. If you are looking for information about the abandonment of any line in the U.S., their library is full of abandonment proceedings and judgments for all railroad abandonments.
If you have the time to go through them.
You see, most of this information is stored on paper within the library itself. Entry into the library is free; or for a small copying fee, you can request written documents be sent to you. But how do you know what to look for?
Fear not! I am proud to say that the STB Library has gotten in touch with me and is now sending me the docket number catalog for every ICC abandonment filing since 1920! All the big railroads are here: AT&SF, BN, SP, UP, PRR, C&O, B&O, CRI&P... and all of the lines they have abandoned (up until the 1980s) are now at my disposal, with more railroads on the way. Each abandonment comes with a docket number, and with that docket number, you can go to the STB with confidence and research until your heart's content! Each abandonment docket will be indexed in the same way that abandoned routes are today on Abandoned Rails: by state and by railroad. An atlas of these abandonments are even in the works so you can see what lines near you were abandoned long ago — possibly even lines you didn't know existed!
As of now, I am entering these docket numbers into the Abandoned Rails database — there are a lot of them! Once they're in the database, I will begin working on posting them to the site for your perusal. I am very excited about this opportunity, and hope that you are, too!
