The Graveyard of Trains in Escanaba, Michigan
The tracks are overgrown with weeds and discarded track ties...locomotives sit rusting...many abandoned train cars sit on unused tracks...it's the "train graveyard" in Escanaba.
The train graveyard includes an ALCO RSD12, built in 1963 and is the last known one in existence. Looking at these old train cars and locomotives, you can tell scrappers have invaded the property. Even so, many of these, even though in rusted & ripped up condition, still look very cool.
Trains aren't the only things found in this graveyard – there are discarded steam shovels and the old wheelhouse of a Great Lakes freighter. The freighter was the Joseph H. Thompson, built in 1952, and the wheelhouse was dismantled when the ship was converted into a tug barge in 1986.
Most of these old locomotives are owned by the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad, with many old EMD SD9s and Baldwin RS12s. There are also piles of rusted equipment hidden in the brush and trees surrounding the yard.
As part of the agreement that allowed the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad access to its line, it was reincorporated as the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad for its agreement that lasted from February 12, 1900 to March 15, 1937.
Some of you may think, “ah, it's just a buncha old rusty trains”...well, you're right. But there's plenty of history in them thar locomotives and cars, and if you delve deep enough, you'll find out some pretty fascinating history about our Upper Peninsula railroads and the mining and lumber trades that utilized them.
Now take a look at the gallery, with a good handful of still shots of some of these rusted out old locomotives and train cars in this Escanaba railway graveyard...
Train Car Graveyard in Escanaba
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