Now thats a diamond in todays Classic Photo. Does it still resemble that today? Tower Operator's sure had their hands full. Don't think I could do it.
Today - 41°31'28.85" N 88°04'45.70" W
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Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD- Thanks for the view....it appears there are 4 and 1 now as opposed to 5 and at least 3. It must have been one heck of a busy place in it's heyday. Are those the Rock's own tracks the FA's and 4-8-4 are on?
Sure would be nice to spend a day there ...I'll take that day in 1951!
Deja Vu for me. I was reading "Steam in the 1950's" (2013 SIP) today and saw that picture!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
http://www.blackhawknrhs.org/joliet_historic.htm
Single track is ex-Rock (Iowa Interstate, track may still be owned by CSX), no longer used by Metra RI district trains which stop short of the diamond. Tracks nearest the tower are ex-GM&O (UP,CN,Metra,Amtrak) then ex AT&SF. Metra Heritage (GM&O) trains use the connecting track from the yard east of the diamond, then cross northward on the ex-GM&O. Union Station is out of service until rebuilt as Joliet Gateway Center. Amtrak and Metra Heritage temporary platforms are a block north of Union Station, RI District platforms are east of the diamonds and will probably stay there.
Wanswheel- Thanks for this. Great reading. The picture of the Rock Island E8 alone was worth it. Also shows the diamonds quite nicely. Happy to see it is still an important part of todays railroading And all the historical preservation.
Rcdrye- Thanks as well. That clarifies things quite well....I think!
MiningmanWanswheel- Thanks for this. Great reading. The picture of the Rock Island E8 alone was worth it. Also shows the diamonds quite nicely. Happy to see it is still an important part of todays railroading And all the historical preservation. Rcdrye- Thanks as well. That clarifies things quite well....I think!
With a 4 wheel truck that would be a RI F7. E's all had 6 wheel trucks configured as A-1-A.
BaltACDWith a 4 wheel truck that would be a RI F7.
No, it wouldn't.With a 4 wheel truck and 405 on the numberboards it would be a RI FP7.
Well silly me, FP7..good good...never glanced down at the truck, just the contour appeared "long" and the circular portholes telegraphed an E8. Told ya' they all looked the same. I do know better, just got excited is all, you know, Rock Island RR. Losing the Rock is a true piece of America that no longer exists.
That was a heck of a diamond complex at that time..were there any other as complicated, perhaps on the approaches in Chicago and New York?
Nothing like that in the NY area (at least east of the Hudson, west in NJ may have been different) Even single diamond crossings were rare.
There were 8 diamonds on the east side of the Los Angles River at Mission Junction at the lead to LA Union Passenger Terminal. It includes a "jug handle" where trains first switch east, and then cross the tracks to get to the west side, because of a tight curve to cross the river. If you look at the satellite view you see the trackage has been reduced somewhat.
http://www.mytopo.com/maps/?lat=34.0601&lon=-118.2305&z=16
MidlandMike Nothing like that in the NY area (at least east of the Hudson, west in NJ may have been different) Even single diamond crossings were rare.
Fresh Pond Junction, Queens, where the BayRidge to Hell Gate Bridge route crosses the LI City - Jamaica route is the only diamond location I know in New York City. Just about everything else is grade-separated. I think the LI City - Jamaica line thorugh Penny Bridge may still have an LIRR passenger train each way each weekday.
There are still quite a few in Chicago.
Midland Mike- Wow! Now that would be a challenge to build on any scale. Something like that must have "evolved" out of necessity over time.
How about triple diamonds in a once sleepy North Texas country town? Carrollton still has the set of diamonds that protect the former Frisco, Katy, and Cotton Belt. They are located at the sight where the SSW depot used to stand. It has been sligtly relocated east but is still standing. Before replaced by interlocking controlled in the depot, Tower 77 protected train movements here.
Until moved a few feet west, the Frisco and Cotton Belt diamonds were located right smack dab in the middle of Denton Road! Frisco "Fast" Freight had to slow down through Carrollton due to a long sweeping S curve, Katy's Denton Local clickety clacked across the SSW and SL-SF, but the Cotton Belt's Blue Streak literally flew through town like a bat out of hell!
Item: In the 20s, Texas Interurban Railway ran under wire on the M-K-T between Dallas and Denton. Almost 100 years later, DART runs through Carrollton under wire hung over the Katy right of way! Who says you can't go back?
My previous posting about Fresh Pond Junction in Queens is wrong. Although once a level crossing, it is grade separated, with the LIRR L. I. City - Jamaica secondary line overhead and the Bay Ridge - Hell Gate line below in a cut, with a curved connecting track adjoining a yard of moderate size connecting them.
The ownership divide between the N. Y. Connecting RR (1/2 PRR, !/2 NYNH&H ownership) and the LIRR was under the center of the bridge. Now it is CSX and LIRR, with CSX actually owning the freight track across the Hell Gate and Amtrak the two active passenger tracks still with catenary, and one track innactive.
But there are two active daimonds on the subway system, one north of the 135th Street and Lenox Avenue station where the 3 northbound turns east off the 2 on a flat junction of two two-track lines, and one east of Myrtle Avenue station on the Broadway-Brooklyn elevated, where the Myrtle Avenue two-track line leaves the three-track Broadway line in a flat junction, with two slip switches as well as the pure diamond. Recently diseased diamonds are east of West 8th Street in Coney Island, where the lower level Brighton tracks, removed with structure remaining, were joined by the Culver Line tracks still very much in use, and south of Avenue X, where the double-track ramp down to Coney Island north yard off the Culver elevated has been singled.
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