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Flooding in Upper Midwest

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Posted by blhanel on Saturday, March 28, 2009 4:52 PM

CGW

Thanks for the news Brian.  Does anyone have an update on the IANR bridge replacement in Waterloo?  I read form the IANR website that it is scheduled to be completed in March.

Jeff 

blhanel

An update on the CRANDIC bridge replacement- made the news today due to some "unexpected" high water...

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/41997117.html

You must mean NEXT March- the latest news article referenced by their website, dated last month, indicated that they hadn't even cleaned up the old bridge remains yet out of the river; they're still waiting for an Army Corps Of Engineers study to get finished.

CGW
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Posted by CGW on Saturday, March 28, 2009 4:42 PM

Thanks for the news Brian.  Does anyone have an update on the IANR bridge replacement in Waterloo?  I read form the IANR website that it is scheduled to be completed in March.

Jeff 

blhanel

An update on the CRANDIC bridge replacement- made the news today due to some "unexpected" high water...

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/41997117.html

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Posted by blhanel on Friday, March 27, 2009 6:03 PM

An update on the CRANDIC bridge replacement- made the news today due to some "unexpected" high water...

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/41997117.html

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Posted by spokyone on Sunday, January 25, 2009 11:26 PM

The crane company wanted $17,000 to R&R the train during the levee rebuild. The salvage company paid the owner for the scrap value. Rebuilding the levee became a top priority for insurance reasons.

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Posted by trainfan1221 on Friday, January 23, 2009 4:32 PM

Why would they scrap it? It remained intact it seems.  What a waste.

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Posted by Victrola1 on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 9:23 AM

Poor Keithsburg. 1993, 2008 and who knows when again. The river has not been kind. I would guess the city has more pressing issues than restoring a railroad display.

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Posted by spokyone on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 8:43 AM

End of the line for Keithsburg Train.
 Before 2008 floods.

After the flood.

A few days ago, a salvage company cut up the display train for scrap.

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Posted by sfrr on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:30 PM
 CrazyDelmar wrote:

Upper Midwest? I think East Central Illinois and Central Indiana is having more problems 

 

That is nothing compared to what we have here in St. Peters.  at least 12-15 feet of water or more in other areas.

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Posted by jclass on Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:07 PM

The son of a friend of mine has been working at the ADM facility at Cedar Rapids.  He said the plant had been in operation 24 hours a day every day since it was built, and was shut down for the first time during the flood.  Although the plant has its own water supply, it also buys water from the city.  The city asked for the shutdown to try to preserve clean water.  The plant receives 450 truckloads of grain per day as well as railcars.

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Posted by Willy2 on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 2:28 PM

Looks like the problems continue, even though the flooding has ended:

http://kai03.qwest.com/WindowsLive/Media/News/NewsDetail/National/Train_derails_into_Mississippi_River_in_NE_Iowa.aspx?id=D91QD3180@news.ap.org 

I'm glad that the crew was not seriously injured.

EDIT: Just noticed that this already has its own topic - sorry.

Willy

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Posted by joegreen on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 8:41 PM

 mattthefireman wrote:
the flooding is not as bad as everybody thinks it is...... 

Maybe not in your area.......but go and tell that to Cedar Rapids. You wont get a happy reaction.

www.12ozprophet.com
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Posted by mattthefireman on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 6:51 PM
the flooding is not as bad as every body thinks it is.  the area of wisconsin i live in is not so bad the fox river spilled its banks but did not damagr the CN route that runs next to it. 
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Posted by blhanel on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 11:33 AM

Hey Bill,

I haven't been downtown at all since a week ago Monday, so I don't know if they're working on cleaning up the CRANDIC bridge yet or not, and I haven't heard anything about it from anywhere either.  Nothing on CRANDIC's Yahoo list as well.  As far as the UP bridge near Quaker is concerned, I believe it's probably back in service, as they were cleaning up the debris on the deck with hi-rail trucks a week ago.

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Posted by billbtrain on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 11:07 AM

Brian,

  Good photos of the damage.Has there been any word as to when they will get that cleaned up and if they plan on replacing the bridge?What's the status of the UP bridge at Quaker?

Have a good one.

Bill B

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Posted by blhanel on Saturday, July 5, 2008 1:39 PM
 The Butler wrote:

Iowa DOT has a web site showing pictures of food damage including RRs.

http://iowadot.gov/floods/2008gallery.html

Fixed link.

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Posted by The Butler on Saturday, July 5, 2008 1:23 PM

Iowa DOT has a web site showing pictures of flood damage including RRs.

http://iowadot.gov/floods/2008gallery.html 

James


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Posted by SchemerBob on Thursday, July 3, 2008 8:27 PM
Just read on the wire today that BNSF re-opened the Ottumwa Subdivision. Finally, after more than half a month of being closed.
Long live the BNSF .... AND its paint scheme. SchemerBob
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Posted by CNW 6000 on Friday, June 27, 2008 3:01 PM

IC 6204 derailed:

Dan

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Posted by blhanel on Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:30 PM

As promised above, here are shots of the CRANDIC bridge that I got during lunch today:

The approach from the east has alot of sediment left on it, but I don't think they'll worry about that for awhile-

A quick shot of the UP bridge near Quaker:

UP's transcon at the C Street SW crossing, just west of the Cedar River:

Pretty well fixed back up.  Lots of extra contract help was working in the Prairie Creek power plant just off to the right of this shot, though.

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Posted by solzrules on Thursday, June 26, 2008 9:44 PM
 cpprfld wrote:
 solzrules wrote:

Stopped by Duplainville yesterday and just west of the intersection there are cars parked on the mainline and RUST on the railheads.  Never thought I'd see it. 

A short time later I saw a CN train role through the diamond heading south with one CN AC4400 and one CP AC4400 in the consist.  That also looked a little off.  Hard to believe these two railroads are working together, seeing as they hate each other. 

Any idea when CP will open the Duplainville route?

Not sure.  When it was at its worst, the Reesville marsh had nearly 50 inches of water over the railheads.  I could hardly believe that, and then I saw pictures of it.  Based on the trains news wire, it sounds as if it will be a week if not two.  That would mean the railroad shut down for nearly a month.  I wonder if CP will attempt any grade elevations after this.  From what I've read, the Milwaukee tried to raise the line through that area ever since it was built and they've had problems there right up until the Soo Line bought it.  There was even talk that some folk thought the track was semi-floating through the marsh.   

You think this is bad? Just wait until inflation kicks in.....
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Posted by blhanel on Thursday, June 26, 2008 1:43 PM

I took a quick tour of the Cedar Rapids flood zone during lunch, and got some great photos of the mangled CRANDIC bridge to share.  Need to get home to convert them from RAW first, though.  Other observations: CNIC now has railcars parked in their yard, so it looks like they're ready to resume normal operations; the soybeans from the busted Cargill elevator are all cleaned up, and they're working on clearing some other scrap and fixing the tracks at that location; coal hoppers are positioned at the Sixth St. power plant next door, so maybe Alliant might have that up and running soon; hi-railers were running back and forth on both tracks across the UP bridge near Quaker, clearing debris, although there's still alot of it piled on the upstream side of the bridge; UP appears to have both mains up and running on the transcon, although I didn't see anything moving or otherwise during my brief visit down there.

Downtown is still a major mess, although progress is being made in getting power restored based on the low number of inoperative traffic lights that are left.

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Posted by Extiger on Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:08 AM

Good article from the Burlington paper about Corman's preparation for repairing the BNSF line.  Considerable damage on the Illinois side.  http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/flood-railroad-062608

 

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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:59 PM
Your mention of Alliant reminded me--we sent a couple of WISX dump cars your way (Wisconsin Power and Light is now part of Alliant).  They're normally used for fly ash, but in this case, who knows?

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

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Posted by blhanel on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:53 PM
That doesn't surprise me, as nearly all of the big railroad users are downtown and were flooded (Quaker, Penford, Cargill, Alliant, National Oats), thus they're still without power and cleaning up.
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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:39 PM
Brian, I get the feeling that Beverly Yard is still out of service.  We're making up a "Beverly" block again, but it looks mostly like cars for Clinton (which went to Beverly pre-flood), while the cars for Beverly are being routed beyond, to either Marshalltown or Des Moines.

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

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Posted by blhanel on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 11:10 AM

Nothing on the local news about that particular subject yet- they're concentrating on the residential losses.  They just announced this morning that of the 3800-some residences affected, nearly 2000 will most likely need to be bulldozed.

I hope to get downtown sometime in the next few days to get some more railroad-related photos- the CRANDIC bridge site is one of my primary objectives.

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:23 AM
 Ted Marshall wrote:
 billbtrain wrote:

Brian,

Any word on the UP bridge by Quaker Oats? I would imagine it has sustained a bit of damage after reading about it 'bowing' from the weight of the water and houseboats.I seriously doubt any bridge can move laterally by very much without being shifted off it's footings.

My son,Will,and I went on a roundabout tour of CR Wednesday.Hwy 13 from Marion to 30 to C st SW to the Prairie Creek power station.We ended up going to the trail head on Ely Road and walked from there to the bridge over the UP(we forgot our bikes,but it was good exercise).When we left there we went to Beverly yard and back to Marion through downtown CR.All very overwhelming and sad.

Have a good one.

Bill 

I've heard the conditions in Cedar Rapids compared to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina... I can't imagine what that must be like but I will admit that I did shed some tears watching the news reports. The suffering those people must be going through is unfathomable; I wish I could do something to help someone there get their lives back to normal. Unfortunately, normal as we know it won't be returning to Cedar Rapids any time soon, I'm afraid.

The clean-up will take months, repairs and rebuilding will take years. Reports indicate that many residents say that they will be moving further away from the river in search of higher ground to relocate to and that many neighborhoods will likely become 'ghost towns'.

My heart really goes out to all those affected.

 

I lived in Windsor On The River apartments in Cedar Rapids for 3 years and I used to take Ellis Rd. into work almost every weekday.  My friend in Cedar Rapids e-mailed me photos of that general area and it was horrible to see.  The restaurant I used to frequent there along the river that had the aquariums in the dining room has been destroyed.  All the houses along Ellis Rd and 1st St. were ruined, and piles of refuse piled 6' high on the curb.  I've thought of driving down there with my shovels and boots and work clothes to find someone I could help, but a few days of work by one person would be virtually futile.  Instead I figured that's where my checkbook can do more good.

Now - I haven't followed this entire thread.  Is there any speculation as to whether or not they'll try to dredge-up those rock cars the CRANDIC lost in the river?

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Posted by cpprfld on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:00 AM
 solzrules wrote:

Stopped by Duplainville yesterday and just west of the intersection there are cars parked on the mainline and RUST on the railheads.  Never thought I'd see it. 

A short time later I saw a CN train role through the diamond heading south with one CN AC4400 and one CP AC4400 in the consist.  That also looked a little off.  Hard to believe these two railroads are working together, seeing as they hate each other. 

Any idea when CP will open the Duplainville route?

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Posted by blhanel on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 7:45 AM
 Los Angeles Rams Guy wrote:

 http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=8551580

Fixed link-

EDIT:  Dave Kroeger posted on the Yahoo IC&E list that "This is NOT the mainline bridge east of Columbus Jct, this is the bridge that gains access to the Tyson Foods Plants on the north side of CJ, which is part of the old BCR&N."

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