Unless I've forgotten, 12' in ½ mile is less than a 0.5% grade. The ex-Southern line from Memphis to Chattanooga, which sees many heavy trains a day, has grades of this magnitude. The ex-Erie mainline had stretches of 'sawtooth' 1% on the Western end.
On the other hand, I'd expect that much of the early B&O would likely be built on the same principle as the contemporary British railroads, carefully avoiding grade changes but using potentially sharp curves in the process.
Most of the railroads, at least in much of the midwest and wesrern US were built toward the cheap and quick side. The main routes were upgraded, including total line changes in the 20th century, and improvements continue to this day. PSR permitting.
All the major trunk lines that crossed Iowa were no exceptions. The ex-CNW (UP) has at least 5 locations where, if you know where to look, where the alignment was leveled off and straightened out when the line was double tracked in the early 1900s.
Had Sioux Falls developed into a major point on the RI, either has a terminal or intermediate point, the line probably would've been improved. Since it didn't , the improvements never came.
Jeff
Overmod Unless I've forgotten, 12' in ½ mile is less than a 0.5% grade. The ex-Southern line from Memphis to Chattanooga, which sees many heavy trains a day, has grades of this magnitude. The ex-Erie mainline had stretches of 'sawtooth' 1% on the Western end. On the other hand, I'd expect that much of the early B&O would likely be built on the same principle as the contemporary British railroads, carefully avoiding grade changes but using potentially sharp curves in the process.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Tad over 1.8% grade.
Overmod Tad over 1.8% grade.
Let's say a Rock Island train was headed down this track around 1970. It would have probably been a mixed local with a variety of cars, but not too long. Power would have been a jeep or two and it would have had a caboose. How would the engineer have handled this portion of track? Plodding along, losing speed up the hill and picking up speed going down? Giving it the gas approaching the hill so as not to lose speed? Or maybe doing nothing special because it's not much of a hill?
Was slack action much different in 1970 than today?
Murphy Siding Overmod Tad over 1.8% grade. Now I'm intrigued. I did some ballparking and I figure a spot on the line looks like this: up for about 750 feet @ 1.8%,then flat for about 500 feet, followed by back down about 500 feet @2.2%. Let's say a Rock Island train was headed down this track around 1970. It would have probably been a mixed local with a variety of cars, but not too long. Power would have been a jeep or two and it would have had a caboose. How would the engineer have handled this portion of track? Plodding along, losing speed up the hill and picking up speed going down? Giving it the gas approaching the hill so as not to lose speed? Or maybe doing nothing special because it's not much of a hill? Was slack action much different in 1970 than today?
Now I'm intrigued. I did some ballparking and I figure a spot on the line looks like this: up for about 750 feet @ 1.8%,then flat for about 500 feet, followed by back down about 500 feet @2.2%.
Slack action is always a consideration in train handling, no matter how long the train is - ESPECIALLY if there is a Caboose that is occupied. Slack action CAN cause employees on the Caboose to be thrown around within the car and in some cases thrown off the caboose.
Not being a Engineer by trade, I won't comment on the 'tricks of the trade' that a Engineer uses to get their train over such territory SAFELY. The tricks of the trade will be centered upon controlling the slack in the train.
Bad engineers can easily throw a man riding the side of a car off the car with slack action.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
You're talking about the path that runs north from
https://goo.gl/maps/R6u5ED82JzbyAfgr5 ?
That path isn't on the Rock roadbed -- it's less than 70 feet from the MILW track, and the Rock wasn't that close.
No railroad that aspired to run more than 2 mph would climb 13.5 feet in 750 feet, then level for 500 ft, then descend 11 ft in 500 ft.
I don't know the Rock Island well enough to find its speed limit to Sioux Falls, but wx4.org likely has an employee timetable from the good old days.
https://wx4.org/to/foam/maps/and_timetables.html
(Actually, a quick look there wasn't enough to find the right timetable. Anyone got one?)
timz You're talking about the path that runs north from https://goo.gl/maps/R6u5ED82JzbyAfgr5 ? That path isn't on the Rock roadbed -- it's less than 70 feet from the MILW track, and the Rock wasn't that close. No railroad that aspired to run more than 2 mph would climb 13.5 feet in 750 feet, then level for 500 ft, then descend 11 ft in 500 ft. I don't know the Rock Island well enough to find its speed limit to Sioux Falls, but wx4.org likely has an employee timetable from the good old days. https://wx4.org/to/foam/maps/and_timetables.html (Actually, a quick look there wasn't enough to find the right timetable. Anyone got one?)
The new highway has a cut
https://goo.gl/maps/BEmDQE3aD7b1GJWV6
The highway is wider than the RR so needed to enlarge the cut -- maybe raising the highway made the cut cheaper.
I wouldn't think it would be that hard to find a map of the area in question from about 1970 to see how it actually was. You might find something online, or at a local historical society.
Old maps of Sioux Falls (oldmapsonline.org)
Historicaerials has topo maps of the area from 1964 and 1972, plus some later. Might prove useful.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I have a couple from the 1940s and the last one that still showed the line to Sioux Falls, Jan 1 1972. I won't be home until sometime Friday.
In the mean time, here's a pdf of a train dispatcher's sheet with the Sioux Falls line on it from 1913. (I have one from June of 1912.) You can get a feel for the running times on the line. CRI&P Dakota Division 3-28-1913 (wordpress.com)
The 1940 time table shows 50 mph for passenger trains, 35 mph for freight trains.
In 1940 the line was still listed as a "main line." There was a daily passenger train, listed as a passenger "motor" which is one of the gas electric cars. There was a daily except Sunday second class freight train. These trains ran through Estherville, the freight trains to/from at least Silvis, the passenger trains at least to/from Cedar Rapids.
There was also a daily except Sunday local that worked into Sioux Falls, Mon, Wed, Fri and worked out of SF Tue, Thurs and Sat.
Here's an on-line copy of the last ETT to show the line intact to Sioux Falls. 1972-01-01CRIP_DesMoines1-Moore.pdf (wx4.org) It still shows 35 mph for all trains, although by that date I would bet there were a lot of temporary speed restrictions. Trains weren't scheduled and passenger service was a memory.
It also shows in the subdivision special instructions all trains to run 10 mph within the city limits of Sioux Falls. The 1940 ETT may show the same, probably does, but the 1940 one has the subdivision special instructions in another section of the time table.
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