General Discussion

Update:  Arizona-New Mexico

Part V of VI:  The Cienega Creek Track Identification Issue

In Tucson, there are four-tracks to change crews and take care of other necessities and inspections

Out of Tucson, the first double-crossover is [CP] VAIL.  It is a visually wonderful location, very pleasing to the eyes.  Unfortunately, it is NOT photographically easy to take a picture of it, because of roadway restrictions.  Auto drivers and pedestrians are prohibited from stopping on the bridge-way looking down onto the control point a block east.   Apparently, too many items were dropped onto passing trains below.  So, a hike-in photo will have to suffice.  View looks westward.

The tracks follow separate rights-of-way eastward.  At Colossal Cave Road., this IS Main 2, looking westward.  Note the signal is on the LEFT.  It is not on the usual right for Main 2.  This is because the track identification designations are reversed here.

Looking eastward:  The signal in the background is NOT for this main, but an old side track barely visible of the right

Looking westward down Main 1 from Colossal Cave Road.  Note the signal is on the left.

Looking eastward, Main 1

Main 1 crosses OVER Main 2 (out of sight, near side) at the Cienega Creek Bridge.  As with the roadway by [CP] VAIL, roadway signs prohibit standing on the roadway bridge itself, so a photograph of the winding curvature sharpness of Main 2 below, unfortunately, can not be provided here

The longer, sharper, and very much slower Main 2 has just come out from underneath the I-10 Freeway and winds its way eastward (to the right)

The separated tracks meet up again at [CP] MESCAL, photographed looking westbound form Mescal Road, at M.P. 1023.6.  Note the signals’ circular signal head discs, made famous after Anschutz and his Denver & Rio Grade Western railroad purchased Southern Pacific

Looking eastward

What BNSF (AT&SF) Did

Now that two-tracking is heading to California, will Union Pacific eventually adopt what BNSF Railway’s predecessor, the Santa Fe Railway, did at their FROST vicinity “Natural Crossover” near Victorville, CA?  At the point of that crossing, at M.P. 39.1, track identifications reverse.  Main 1 on the photo top left becomes Main 2 on the right, top and bottom.  Main 2, the lower track through the bridge tunnel-way background becomes Main 1 on the center left.

Diagram #1:  BNSF’s approach, the “Natural Crossover” near Victorville, CA

Diagram #2:  UP’s approach, between Tucson and Cienega Creek, AZ

This forumist finds the UP track designations in the Tucson-Cienega Creek area somewhat confusing, because those track designations west of the bridge crossing are in reverse.  In Tucson, Track 1 on the west becomes Track 2 on the east, and likewise Track 2 becomes Track 1.  Each railroad (BNSF and UP) has its own reasons for the track designations it has and uses; but what BNSF does at its FROST area Natural Crossover seems, at least to me, more clear-cut and less subject to misinterpretation

Part VI, “Eastward into New Mexico,” is scheduled for Friday, May 12, and briefly examines the already FINISHED two-tracking

K.P.

You have done a good job of explaining (and illustrating) the confusing Track 1 vs. Track 2 situation around Tucson.  On another topic, I always wondered about those round signals at Tucson as they are unlike anything else I have seen along the UP.  Atlas makes them (or a close equivalent, at least) and they have been tempting my wallet for some time now.

John Timm

Thanks once more, K.P.  I'm looking forward to the last installment because I'm really interested in what UP has done to transform the Sunset Route, and get some sense of what lies in store for the remainder of the route.

Two brief comments:  it appears that Colossal Cave Road is the demarcation between where the old (SP) roadway ends and the new, improved UP roadway begins.  More accurately, the stretch between Colossal Cave Road and somewhere beyond (east of) Mescal is still old SP.  The Track Renewal Train has yet to visit this stretch.  Given that there must be loads of stretches that UP would like to relay with concrete ties and 141# CWR, perhaps UP is scheduling its visit for when the older rail or ties need replacing -- and not tearing out an otherwise OK track structure.

Second, if I were UP, my long term solution to the Track 1 and Track 2 conundrum, Vail to Mescal, would be eventually to double-track the more direct, less circuitous, straighter, faster Track 1 and abandon Track 2.  

Update:  Arizona-New Mexico

Part VI of VI:  Eastward into New Mexico

A few photos of the completed two-tracking through Arizona and New Mexico

At Bowie, AZ. (Central Ave.):  Looking west.  From left to right:  Mains 2 and 1, the Bowie siding.  In the distance is another control point, the other end of the Bowie siding

Looking east:  Note the dual direction signals on top right of the cantilever structure.  Because of the track on the far left, a typical mast could not be used

At Lordsburg, NM (Depot Street):  Looking west.  From left to right: Tracks 2 and 1, plus a siding.  Aligning new track was from side to side in this community

Main 2 has its own signal arrangement here.  Main 1 has no signal in this immediate area

Looking east

On the east side of Lordsburg, looking west

Looking east:  Poled signals, an absolute on the left, an intermediates set on the right

El Paso, TX is now only about 145 miles more to the east

Many control points have sidings associated with them, such as the above assessable views.  However, there are many other control points on the newly two-tracked line where only crossovers exist, and no siding, and often those are not easily photographable.  One is prohibited by law from stopping on a freeway to take photos of such new control points, trains, or other scenic views showing the new second-track.  So, this day’s presentation has been somewhat limited.  Nevertheless, it is hoped what was shown today, as well as in this series, has at least giving those that haven’t seen the new Sunset Route from end to end a better vision of what has actually transpired on it …

K.P.

 Thank you for these many informative posts.  For those of us not able to see these happenings in person you have not only enlightened us but have given us the itch to go there ourselves.

John

 Thanks for your outstanding photo essays and commentary.

Since the Sunset Route is now double track all the way from El Paso to Tucson, is Lordsburg, New Mexico still a crew change point, or has its use been negated?   I sometimes see crew changes being performed near Mescal, which would tend to indicate that the outgoing crew has been on board since El Paso instead of Lordsburg.

I am having trouble seeing what might be confusing or wrong about the numbering of main tracks on the Gila and Lordsburg Subdivisions.  I re-reviewed the track charts and employee timetables to see if I missed something from when I worked on that territory last.  I see the way the tracks are numbered as consistent with normal railway operating practice for more than a century.  The numbering is designed to make things normal from the perspective of the operating department, and to make operations as safe as possible.

Typical railway practice on all but a few U.S. railways in double-track, current-of-traffic territory, is right-hand:  the eastward track is on the right-hand side if one is moving east.  Similarly, the typical U.S. practice in double-track or multiple-main track territory is to number the main tracks from north to south on an east-west (timetable) line, and west to east on a north-south (timetable) line.  Accordingly, in double-track territory on an east-west railway such as the Sunset Route between Tuscon and Mescal, the #1 track should be the westward track and on the north side, and the #2 the eastward on the south side.  This convention holds even in CTC (bi-directional) territory, in order to create consistency.  Also, even though CTC has bi-directional capability, in typical operating practice freight trains will run right-hand unless there are maintenance windows on one of the tracks, or overtakes, or there are junctions that are wrong-hand.  (Passenger trains run wrong-hand more often because of station stops -- depends which side the platform is on.)

Tucson to Mescal consists of the original SP main, built to 1870s standards, and the SD&AE line, built to the standards of 30 years later, when traffic volumes were much greater, construction costs much less, and the economic equation much more in favor of straighter, faster railways than they had been in the Big 4's era.  Thus the SP line runs up the wash on a least-cost alignment and accepted heavy curvature and a less consistent grade, while the SD&AE line entered the drainage further down and took a higher line in order to reduce curvature, reduce risk of washouts, and reduce operating and maintenance costs, but at the debit of much higher construction costs.  In order to obtain this alighment, the SD&AE ine lies is to the south of the SP at the Tuscon end, and concludes to the north of the SP at the Mescal end, because in between it flies over to maintain its ruling grade and higher position in the wash.  

When SP combined the two railways into one, it chose to make each track normally one-way, to obtain the highest capacity and least operating costs, selecting the SP as the eastward line and the SD&AE as the westward line.  To make this double-track consistent with SP's right-hand, current-of-traffic practice, the westward track became the #1 and the eastward the #2.  Thus, if you are standing at Mescal and looking west at the turnout where single-track becomes double track, the #2 track is correctly to the south side and the #1 to the north side, and westward trains normally diverge to the right-hand track, just as they would at about 10,000 other locations on right-hand railways in North America where single-track becomes double-track. 

At the Tuscon end, conversely, the tracks are now reversed from proper order, with #1 entering Tuscon from the east on the south side, and the #2 on the north side, because of the flyover.  Two main tracks continues through Tuscon, a crew change and yard limits, to Stockham.  Had SP continued the numbering scheme from East Tucson to West, though, when one was looking east Stockham at the turnout where single becomes double, the main tracks would be backward, with the #1 on the right-hand side and the #2 on the left, and instead of trains diverging right-hand moving east they would diverge left-hand moving east, which make it unlike the other 10,000 places in the U.S. right-hand world where this occurs.

Aha, but you say, but where #2 and #1 change places at the universal crossover at CP 36th Street in Tucson, there it's backward.  Yes, but there trains are moving at very slow speeds because they are entering or leaving the crew change, and if someone makes a mistake, the changes of a catastrophic collision, or any collision at all, is very low.  Also, in terminals, trains regularly, everyday, run wrong main to make their crew change or do pickups or setouts, so people expect this and don't fall into habit because there isn't any "regular way."

As I look at this situation, SP took the safe, normal, expected course of affairs.  Extending the #1 and #2 out to Stockham on the wrong side would have been unsafe, abnormal, and unexpected.

This "handing" convention is really important, because people get into habits and then when something is different, forget where they are and get themselves killed or someone else killed.  At one Class 1 I worked for, we went through an episode where we were running over a hi-rail truck about once a month that had set onto the wrong track.   Safety is all about reducing the possibilities where people have to be super-aware, because humans are humans and when they get tired, or preoccupied with their jobs, or the light is bad, or into patterns of habit, it's the exceptions that trip them up and get them killed. 

P.S. -- the US&S tri-lights at Vail, which we have always called "monkey-face" signals, were an SP standard long before the D&RGW merger.  They were rampant on the Golden State and also seen on the Overland, the Coast Line, the Siskiyou, and other lines.  They appeared in the 1970s, as I recall, as the standard replacement for semaphores and searchlights.  This style of signal head was common on Rock Island and NYC, too.

RWM

billio:

Thanks once more, K.P.  I'm looking forward to the last installment because I'm really interested in what UP has done to transform the Sunset Route, and get some sense of what lies in store for the remainder of the route.

Two brief comments:  it appears that Colossal Cave Road is the demarcation between where the old (SP) roadway ends and the new, improved UP roadway begins.  More accurately, the stretch between Colossal Cave Road and somewhere beyond (east of) Mescal is still old SP.  The Track Renewal Train has yet to visit this stretch.  Given that there must be loads of stretches that UP would like to relay with concrete ties and 141# CWR, perhaps UP is scheduling its visit for when the older rail or ties need replacing -- and not tearing out an otherwise OK track structure.

Second, if I were UP, my long term solution to the Track 1 and Track 2 conundrum, Vail to Mescal, would be eventually to double-track the more direct, less circuitous, straighter, faster Track 1 and abandon Track 2.  

I doubt we will see the wood tie sections replaced with concrete in our remaining lifetimes; I can't think of any reason to do so.  The rail will be relaid with 141 when the 136 is worn out, since they use the same 6" plates.

RWM

The signals at Mescal were single-lens searchlights at the time of the SP/DRGW merger and remained as such into the early 1990s, if not longer. More notable were the many lower-quadrant semaphores that could still be found along the No.2 Track at that time.

Major sections of the 1870s SP alignment on No.2 Track were realigned in 1888 and 1892 in the wake of washouts along Cienega Creek and Mescal Arroyo. The 1888 realignment created a new horseshoe curve about 2 miles east of the Cienega Creek high bridge. The 1892 realignment created a new horseshoe curve south of the present day Exit 292 off I-10.

I'm sure the reference to SD&AE was meant to be EP&SW.

Bruce Kelly:

I'm sure the reference to SD&AE was meant to be EP&SW.

Yeah.  18-hour workdays at the railroad do that to me.  I guess it proves my own point about safety.

RWM

Railway Man:

  I doubt we will see the wood tie sections replaced with concrete in our remaining lifetimes; I can't think of any reason to do so.

RWM

Just this past Spring, work crews replaced many old ties on track 2 with wood instead of converting the entire line to concrete ties.  In the dry Arizona climate wood will last 50 to 100 years without significant rot.

The old ties that were taken up are appearing for sale in garden centers around the area, with hundreds more piled up near Tucson, Mescal, and Benson.

Making [CP] RANCHO (Colton, CA) Clearer to Understand

In reporting to the forum the revamping of the mains at West Colton Yard, the following photo looking westward at the west end of [CP] RANCHO was posted.  At the time the picture was snapped, this forumist was somewhat perplexed by the scene and apparent track layout

The following diagram depicts the actual track layout thereat.  Note the two un-signaled tracks on the far left bottom.  Also, it is very rare to have two poled signals BETWEEN TWO MAINS (left topmost tracks).  Usually they are on the outsides of two parallel mains, AS IN the diagram’s east end (right).

In the first photo above, the actual southernmost track is unseen.  But, the reinvestigation photo below clearly shows the two southernmost yard track extensions, which merge into one track just WEST of (or before) the absolute signal

The overall track situation was made easier to see during the reinvestigation by the old, now out of service track having sections of uprooted track stacked onto it.  Eventually, once the uprooted tracks area is cleaned, it will be just trackless land BETWEEN the below two mains and two signals

The merged track (two photos above) extends to and turns into Main 2 (top far right in the photo below).  A derail (bottom far right) is set to sidetrack any runaway cars before they reach Main 2.  The old track stacked above between the two mains has been removed here.  Also, though slightly wider BEHIND the camera, this view illustrates just how narrow of an area that the TWO mainline west facing signals above must fit into

The two southernmost yard tracks that merged just west of CP RANCHO in the third photo from the top above (with the red disk on a switch stand) are the two upper rightmost tracks in the previously posted below shot looking eastward from Pepper Ave.

It is hoped the above diagram / photographic assisted explanation makes it easier to comprehend the west end of [CP] RANCHO.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 16:  A New Signal Bridge in Downtown Pomona, CA

Update as of June 16, 2009:

A New Signal Bridge in Downtown Pomona, CA

The new signal bridge, erected recently, has a five-track width, but signal heads are present only for four-tracks.  The bridge is for the east end of a control point.  At this time, it is unknown where the west end of the CP will be.  Camera position is east of the new structure

West of the signal bridge new track grading and orange markers are present on the LA&SL (south, right) side in the telephoto shot.  However, the signal bridge has signal heads positioned for a new track on the SP (north, left) side.  A new track laid in the foreground right may alignment shift to the background left to get around underpass railings

Yet, less than a mile east of the above photos, at San Antonia Ave. (not to be confused with the street with the SAME name five miles eastward), where there is a transition track between the SP and LA&SL sides.  Note that there is no underpass railing room (left) for a third-track on this SP (north) side.

There is no room either on the LA&SL side (right)!

So, there are more questions than answers.  But, the project reportedly is scheduled for completion this fall, not that far away!  So, answers should be surfacing relatively soon!

It should be noted that all four signal bridge signal positions have TWO full 3-light heads, indicating a full flexibility, any track to any opposite track routing possibility.  At least six crossovers would be needed for such an arrangement

Tomorrow, Wednesday June 17:  A look at the new control point west of the Temple Ave. overpass, where the routing flexibility will be considerably less than at downtown Pomona

Thanks once again KP. This years tax clients on extension are keeping my nose to the grindstone. I keep saying for over a year now I am coming to southern Cal to take pictures with new camera. You have provided massive amonts of photos on the triple tracking of Cajon and double tracking of the Sunset route, From your photos and descriptions I have gained a much better understanding of the overall picture. Even though there are still some blanks to fill in. Have you considered a book!

Al - in - Stockton

passengerfan (6-16):

Not really.  I shoot photos in low quality VGA (640 x 480) for use of the Internet.  A book would demand more than VGA quality.  Maybe in the future I will regret that.  Of course, I don't use a Hasselblad either.  At last look, one of their models goes up to 29 megapixels, and costs an arm and a leg.  640x 480 is far from 29 megapixels!  Anyway, thanks for your kind words ...

Take care.

K.P.