And, likewise, imagine telling US rail executives in the 1970s that Wisconsin granger lines would become key links in the Canadian transcontinentals.

Imagine telling Parliament in 1919 that CN would end up sending as many trains to Chicago as Toronto, and that the Canadian Atlantic ports would be a minor appendage to the system while Vancouver would be its engine.

Which is a major contrast to, say, the BNSF Chicago-Los Angeles line, which is doing more or less what it was designed to do in the first place on more or less the best possible alignment.

Canada has much worse geography for railroads than the United States to start with, and then had a major shift in rail traffic flows that didn't match either of the two networks.

That's definitely a Northeastern thing -- there are a lot of really important rail lines in the South and the West that never had more than one track.

I was surprised how many little pockets of houses there are between the tracks and the river, all with very suboptimal grade crossings.

This map also makes Searsport, Maine look *way* more important than it is.

The interesting contrast is that the CB&Q on one side of the river was part of an east-west line and the parallel Milwaukee on the other side was part of a north-south line. And the former got much better infrastructure than the latter.

When the rail line (and the road) were built dumping big rocks in the river didn't require an EIS. (And the CB&Q did plenty of that.) So the low traffic is the point -- this line never merited much investment.

For sure. But in that spot it at least looks like a mainline.

Specifications for required buffer between tracks and roadways don't apply outside of town, either.

Milwaukee Road.

This "we link Canada, Mexico, and the United States" network map looks a little less impressive from there. (Location circled)

This isn't an industrial spur -- it's the CPKC mainline between Minneapolis and Kansas City. (Lansing, Iowa)

I definitely used those, but mainly just used them to figure out which towns had enough motels. But of course some people would book whole road trips ahead with phone calls and a sheet of carefully handwritten notes to track it all.

And the buses!

Addison station on Chicago's Blue Line.