My wife and I were passing through Elm Grove, WI after a visit to out-of-town family the Friday after Thanksgiving. We stopped for some snacks and some shopping in the "old town" along Waterplank Road when the crossing gates activated. I had seen the Empire Builder use these tracks of the Canadian Pacific.
Soon, the train arrived. I had a camera on account of the family visit, but a pair of 6-axle locomotives were closing too fast to get anything apart from "a visual" that these must have been EMD's as they had the patented "steering truck." A long string of identical tank cars followed with my wife remarking "they must be carrying Diesel (oil)" on account of the odor in the air.
The smart-alec husband allowed, "Maybe they are carrying crude (oil) from Williston (North Dakota in the Bakken province)." "The wife" than commented, "What a long train! Let's wait here for the caboose," to which "the husband thought "the caboose is long a thing of the past" but thought to keep that remark to himself until the train passed and there was indeed "a caboose" in the form of a few general freight cars with a locomotive trailing with headlight dimly lit.
I tried to judge the speed, and I suppose I could have tried by counting cars, guessing at their length, and counting "one potato, two potato" to call out seconds, but this (largely) unit tank train was going at a pretty good clip, certainly a lot faster than WSOR operations through Madison, although I have recently seen some of their trains moving considerably faster than the "yard limits" speed typical of their operations.
The next thing I noticed was that each tank car made a "click-clack" sound as it crossed one rail joint northbound of the crossing. With the passing of each car, you could hear the "click-clack" and see that joint pushed downward. This was the most noticable motion, but south of the crossing there was a rail noticably flexing with the passage of each car.
Now I know that a railroad in contrast with a cement highway is a flexing, yielding, compliant "mechanism" that complements the articulation of the axles, equalizers, and springs on the train cars. But we both noticed more flexing than we are used to, especially of that rail joint just north of the crossing that my wife asked if we should "call this in." WSOR has their emergency number on the side of their signal boxes that I once called to report stuck crossing gates, but CP Rail didn't appear to disclose such information.
Is this condition putting the Empire Builder at risk? Is this putting the town of Elm Grove at risk if this flexing breaks a rail under a tank train? Or is this the generally accepted level of maintenance for the "class" of track, but that freight was making pretty good speed as did the 'Builder the one time I saw it at that crossing?
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
They should spot it via routine inspection of the tracks by speeder or high rail truck. Further, a typical locomotive due to it's weight feels every bump in the track including something like this and the crews probably have already mentioned it. Personally I would not worry about it. However if your concerned you should call the DOT or CP. BTW, raw oil smells similar to Diesel but not the same. I would guess the tanker cars were carrying raw oil not refined oil.
I grew up near those tracks in Brookfield (where the track inspection speeders were kept........in a shack next to the Brookfield Depot then within the Frieght or Baggage Section of the Depot itself.....probably still there with spare parts of Signal Gates, etc.... as I see CP maintains it via paint). They run up and down the line after each wind storm in either a High Rail or Speeder and also do so about once a week to check for wear and tear. Once every 4-6 months they run a rail defect detector up and down the line. That was the practice during Milwaukee Road ownership..........not sure what CP does but it is roughly still the same management and employees running the show.
Apparently standard Railroad practice as I observed KCS run a high rail inspection pickup truck up and down their Garland, TX line after a spate of Tornados in the Dallas, TX area......probably checking for downed trees blocking the line.
BTW, the history of that section of the line is rather interesting as well as Brookfield. Elm Grove, about where the curve is before it reaches main street in downtown is where the switch used to be for the air line into West Allis and the southern portion of Muskego Yard in Milwaukee. Milwaukee road would sometimes use this line as a detour when there were trains on the mainline in an effort to increase throughput through the city as there are departure tracks from Muskego Yard to Chicago that rejoin the line south of the Amtrak depot, it was a frieght around congestion on the mainline although slower.
Brookfield used to be known as Brookfield Junction and is where the original Milwaukee and Mississippi line (Milwaukee Road predecessor) split off and headed West to Prairie Du Chien. It was actually the first Milwaukee Road line built across the state, then came the single track Eastbound Main, then they double tracked and added the Westbound main. The Brookfield Depot used to have a Coupula on the top with a three sided clock on top and the clock used the telegraph lines to keep accurate time for the Town of Brookfield. Within the current Depot they still have the Passenger waiting room preserved (last time I was able to peek in) with the church pew type waiting benches and the wooden wainscotting. Both Milw and CP I heard continue to preserve it as best they can because the Depot is historic being so old.
Milwaukee still did considerable traffic over the M&M line out of Brookfield into the 1980's and it was not uncommon to see a single MP15AC pull 50-60 frieght cars off that line and leave them on the Eastbound track siding South of Brookfoeld Road to be picked up by a passing train headed towards Milwaukee.
The line is mostly WSOR now. The line between Brookfield and Waukesha was rail banked by the state of Wisconsin DOT a while back. No idea what is it's status now. WSOR tried to activate it again and the NIMBY's in Brookfield hired a lawyer and quashed that. So it remains dormant with the rails in place most of the way. between Brookfield and the junction with CN just outside Waukesha City Limits and under a freeway. CN installed a connection to one customer right at the junction point to serve the lumber company and Quarry at Highway 164. The connection to Brookfield is cut though. I walked the line when Milwaukee Road still owned it. Only one or two trestles the rest are steel girder bridges over the creeks and rivers it traverses. Pretty solid line if it ever were to be reactivated. Wisconsin's interest in it was future Passenger Service but I think they let it slip from the DOT rail bank as I do not see it on the list of rail banked lines. I think the NIMBY lawsuit scared the state away.
CMStPnP I walked the line when Milwaukee Road still owned it. Only one or two trestles the rest are steel girder bridges over the creeks and rivers it traverses. Pretty solid line if it ever were to be reactivated.
Gee. Some folks on here might accuse you of criminal trespass!
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Statute of limitations long past.
schlimm Gee. Some folks on here might accuse you of criminal trespass!
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