I'm not sure which section to put this in, but i ran across a useful resource the other day on a blog called Forgotten Railways, Roads & Places. The blog is kinda urbex-y and kinda history-y and worth a read in its own right, but the really useful page for travelers is the abandoned railroad map: Abandoned & Out of Service Railroad Lines Map - https://www.frrandp.com/p/the-map.html
What i thought was especially neat is that it didn't just include the US and Canada, but abandoned railroads all over the world. I can see from a few places i know that it's not super complete outside of the US, but the map is crowdsourced so i guess you can add to it if you have a Google account. Either way it's an interesting starting point and might give some ideas about places to hike out to if you want to have a bit of an adventure in the backcountry or just try find an old route.
If you don't want to use Google, OpenRailwayMap (OpenRailwayMap - https://www.openrailwaymap.org/) is an OpenStreetMap overlay popular with our trainhopping friends that also includes a few abandoned lines on it, although in my experience only recently abandoned lines, not the kind that are well on the way to being transformed to rail trails or falling back into full ass wilderness. Nonetheless, still something neat to have in your phone when you're feeling uninspired and want to explore.
What i thought was especially neat is that it didn't just include the US and Canada, but abandoned railroads all over the world. I can see from a few places i know that it's not super complete outside of the US, but the map is crowdsourced so i guess you can add to it if you have a Google account. Either way it's an interesting starting point and might give some ideas about places to hike out to if you want to have a bit of an adventure in the backcountry or just try find an old route.
If you don't want to use Google, OpenRailwayMap (OpenRailwayMap - https://www.openrailwaymap.org/) is an OpenStreetMap overlay popular with our trainhopping friends that also includes a few abandoned lines on it, although in my experience only recently abandoned lines, not the kind that are well on the way to being transformed to rail trails or falling back into full ass wilderness. Nonetheless, still something neat to have in your phone when you're feeling uninspired and want to explore.
