When the Railroad
Leaves Town: American Communities in the
Age of Rail Line Abandonment: Volume II,
Western United States.
by Joseph P.
Schwieterman, DePaul University
Truman State University Press, $27.15 (tax
included)
376 pages; 134 photographs; 65 maps
In volume
two of his book When the Railroad Leaves Town, Joseph Schwieterman gives
an excellent survey of events and the effects of the loss of regular railroad
service in towns in the western United States. An amply illustrated book, Schwieterman uses case studies
in explaining the circumstances of rail line abandonment in many western cities,
and the fate of the railroad lines after abandonment.
Of particular interest is the case of Issaquah, where Schwieterman discusses the
controversy in regard to the BN&SF abandonment of the historic Seattle Lake
Shore & Eastern (SLS&E) right-of-way, the controversy involving King County, the
expansion of the Burke-Gilman Trail. Schwieterman discusses the effects of the
National Trail System Act of 1983 and Trail, the concept of rail-banking, and
ownership rights along the former rail right-of-way.
In volume
two of his book When the Railroad Leaves Town, Joseph Schwieterman gives
an excellent survey of events and the effects of the loss of regular railroad
service in towns in the western United States. An amply illustrated book, Schwieterman uses case studies
in explaining the circumstances of rail line abandonment in many western cities,
and the fate of the railroad lines after abandonment.