Abandoned Cedar Hill Rail Yard | Exploration & History

This is amazing work on Cedar Hill Yard -- where as a teen I used to love watching the hump in operation in the 60's. Well conceived, written and photographed. One of the best I have seen. Bravo guys.

The historical back story you put together, the before and after images and the presentation methods you use are top tier. Nice nice work, really impressive.

Great video I Love Railroads

if there was a billion THUMBS UP i would give you a ZILLION THUMBS UP that was outstanding Mr Jason the funny thing about this is i was trying to catch up on some of my youtube channels and i was thinking about your channel sure enough you just popped up out of no where Mr Jason thank you for the great Sunday morning video and have yourself a great Sunday as well

The game "Train Simulator" has a recreation of this yard if you buy the Springfield Line route. That particular route is a faithful recreation of NHRR's New Haven to Springfield line circa 1950 or so. I've played that route many times, (and being from the area) it's sad to see it as it is now.

I worked the yard in 1969 and 1970. Worked the hump and the skates, put a skate on the rail and when a car came down from the the hump yard it would hit the skate, you would jump on the cars climb the ladder to the brake and crank it on until the car stopped.

Wonderful exploration. I am glad you were able to use a couple of photos that I took of Cedar Hill back in 1971 in the hump tower area, and very much appreciate you crediting me for the photos. Amazing how nature has reclaimed the space -- as you say, "what a difference 50 years makes!"

Interesting but discouraging. I worked in and out of Cedar Hill on any number of the arranged freights and extras that ran over the Shore Line. It was a brakeman's paradise and horror. Loaded with all sorts of occupations. Had jitney service to and from "downtown" for the workers. Never dreamed back then that Cedar Hill would disappear to this extent.

“Look at all this tree growth; looks just like a piece of plywood.” I AM DEAD 🚑🏥☠️⚰️🪦😇🤣🤣🤣 I can’t believe I laughed so hard, all alone, at 2am. It wasn’t even that funny, but to me it had me rolling dude

I used to load steel just up the road from this place in Wallingford & never even knew this yard existed. Thanks for sharing!

Great video. I like the controller towers and the picture of the active ones in the old days. I got to go in one in the old U.P.R.R. yard in Salt Lake City before they took it down. It had been vacant for 20 years and fenced in not vadelized .it was like a timecapsul. Most of the yard is gone, and they made the depot into part of the Gateway mall and apartment complex. The tower lot is a community vegetable garden. They built growing boxes with imported soil because, like most old railway yards, the soil has had any number of spills large or small . Toxic soil is part of history. I'm 56. 40 years ago, I was in Cedar City, Utah. Lucky similar situation. Depot station house. Like a timecapsul. It looked like it was ready for business. Ticket book on the clerks desk. It's also apartments.

thank you for posting this. Excellent presentation. As a railfan who lives in Connecticut, Cedar Hill alway fascinated me.

Your videos are so well done. Photography, story, research, music & post, graphics. They’re like mini-documentaries. Just excellent. Thanks.

Literally gave me goosebumps when u located the polar bear, simply amazing! Absolutely love your content, thank you jason!

What a great job. Last time I was there was around 2017, before the storm went through. That repair building was in much better shape.

An exceptional job, as always…..big time thanks Jason!

Amazing job explaining how all this stuff worked I explored this place personally and was blown away

Very well done! Overlays were insane!!

If you don’t already do so, I suggest you look at the historic Sanborn Insurance Maps of some of the places you visit. Their a useful resource.

Thanks for a very well documented video. Originally hired out with Penn Central in early 70's. A lot of the old equipment was still around. The Santa Fe Railroad hired me in LA, mid 70's. There were still 3 main track switch 'Towers' that used those iron levers 'Interlocked' so that the switches would move in an exact sequence. The track switches themselves were modified to use electricity according to the levers the tower operator moved. The switches at Los Angeles Union Station were still Compressed Air activated. Could go on and on but I remember those abandoned sites. Changing subjects, did you think of collecting any railroad 'Date Nails'? You encountered 1000's of old wood RR Ties and each one of them would have a 'Date Nail' on the top, near the end of the ties, hammered into the tie with the year that tie was placed. That yard would probably still have 10,000 of them in those ties. The ones I got from the Penn Central had a square head(about 1/4" square) and the abbreviated year recessed 1950= '50', 1943= '43' and so on. On the Santa Fe Railroad the 'Date Nails' had a round head with a raised number. They were about the same diameter as a dime. Amtrak took over our old roundhouse and still used it for many years. On the 4th of July we'd place Railroad Torpedoes on the turn table rail and spin the table. Sounded like machine gun fire. As far as the bear...I love it. The railroads are prime targets for Graff but not all of it is trash. Some on it is true art. I commissioned a local(East Los Angeles) 'Krew Captain' kid to do some color drawings for me. He was able to identify ALL the local artists of the photographs I took. I have a wall in my house with about twenty 8 1/2 X 11 of them posted. Retired after 37 years with all my limbs and most of my brain. 16 others were killed at the railroad. Adventure of a Lifetime ! Thanks again for all your videos.