The Texas Trip
October 4-7, 2012
Part 75
Fueling
El Paso, TX
The fueling facility is right by a public road … a combined city street and freeway off ramp.
In that last photo above, did you see the passing train on the upper right (rightward, westbound)?
Continued in Part 76
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
Part 76
The fueling facility area is getting new signals. Note the target dwarf signal and CP location plate (NOT number plate) left of the leaning center pole. Also a mast target signal is on the right. Another color light signal is on the right, with a sign covering the view of the head. Where on earth did that archaic color light signal come from that is right of center? It is not even within the interlocking limits!
More old pot signals!
-------------
Continued in … GROUP TEN: Thursday, November 8, 2012. The Trainway through a Hill (77-80); and The Connecting Golden State Route (81-82)
Update as of Thursday, November 1, 2012
Big Things Happening!
Part “G” (of G-M, Overall A-M)
Two-Tracking?
Ontario, CA
The forum may remember this October 12, 2012 photo concerning putting in large pipes by the Sunset Route and Cucamonga St. in Ontario.
What was NOT shown, however, was the cement barricading just south of the tracks.
This time, the barricading was more to the south, away from much active grading equipment.
Some of the moving equipment in the immediate area was not visually easy to photograph.
Continued in Part H
Part “H” (of G-M, Overall A-M)
To the west is the north-south Bon View Avenue’s grade crossing, which was closed for several days and barricaded.
The railroad seemed to be converting the grade crossing to a “Quiet Zone” one.
The railroad was even rebuilding sidewalks and driveways in the area.
But, that rebuilding was not an ordinary, run of the mill rebuilding …
Continued in Part I
Part “I” (of G-M, Overall A-M)
This eastward telephoto from Campus Ave. (that is west of Bon View Ave.) is most revealing! There is the single-track mainline (bottom) and the beginning of the North Ontario siding (right). That siding ends before Bon View is crossed, but note the relocated crossing gate … It seems to be positioned for two-tracks!
In the year 2009 UP two-tracked eastward from Estrella, AZ up to Highway 347 in Maricopa. On September 4 of that year NEW, replacement crossing gates were found to have been put up, but for single-track!
It wasn’t too terribly long afterwards, on January 29, 2010, other NEW crossing gates were found to have been placed in conjunction with a second-track being laid!
So, the fact that the Bon View Ave grade crossing in Ontario, CA is being set up for two-tracks at this time (top photo) seems to suggest that two-tracking here is very imminent!
Continued in Part J
Part “J” (of G-M, Overall A-M)
Eastward views from Campus Ave. towards the east end of the North Ontario siding, and beyond:
Continued in Part K
Part “K” (of G-M, Overall A-M)
A telephoto looking west from Campus Ave. shows the west end of the North Ontario siding (the siding is the left track), at CP AL520 NORTH ONTARIO, with the Mountain Ave. overpass in the far distance.
At that WEST end of the North Ontario siding, grading was present in a previous visit. But, note what is present this visit, in a view looking east from San Antonio Ave. (Ontario) …
… The ground had been watered before K.P.’s arrival! K.P. interprets that as preparation for laying a second Main.
In a westward telephoto … There is staking (left) that goes back in the view. The purpose of the grading is unclear, and such could be a yard lead for the Montclair facility, or a higher elevation second main. But, the staking seems to go way into the distance as for a second main.
Continued in Part L
Part “L” (of G-M, Overall A-M)
Pomona, CA
In Pomona proper, the single-track LA&SL Main (bottom right) becomes two-tracks westward (left), with Main 2 the south (left) track, and Main 1 (top left) traversing along the SP line. These turnouts are 60 M.P.H. ones, and allows freights to pass the Metrolink Pomona stop without endangering waiting Metrolink patrons. The view is westward oriented, and involves TWO CP’s: CP C033 WO TOWER (foreground) and CP AL515 RESERVOIR (background).
East of the above CP’s, there is little land between the two rail lines. It looks like preliminary grading has taken place for a second SP main.
There are stakes along the SP side (top track).
Continued in Part M
Part “M” (of G-M, Overall A-M)
There was yellow grading equipment present between the two lines.
The orange fencing goes east just a little bit past CP C033 WO TOWER. The branching off track is the Chino Industrial Lead, a former SP branch.
The public roadway is super close to the LA&SL track, used by Metrolink for its Riverside Line.
Four of the five Metrolink commuter cars are of the new, super strong crash worthy type inspired by the Chatsworth head-on back in 2008, a half a year after this Sunset Route Two-Tracking Updates thread was started.
Two-tracking the Pomona-Fontana section of the Alhambra Sub will undoubted free up track space on the Los Angeles Sub (LA&SL) for more commuter trains.
This will conclude this update.
Part 77
The Trainway through a Hill
A westward view from the Durango St. Overpass: There just happened to be two trains stopped when K.P. arrived on site. The right one a westbound (away the camera), the left one an eastbound (towards):
Eastward: The three tracks curve slightly and go into and through a slight hill … covered with buildings.
An eastward view, now from Santa Fe Street where the Trainway becomes quite obvious the tracks go through a hill:
Continued in Part 78
Part 78
Looking eastward towards inside the WESTERN Trainway tunneling, there are unevenly spaced pot signals not across the tracks in a straight row … Some more into the darkness than others.
Continued in Part 79
Part 79
On the EAST end of the Trainway, there are unevenly placed pot signals as well. Compare the background left signal placement with the foreground center one.
That last photo above, the signal even has three target heads!
Continued in Part 80
Part 80
On the east side there are mainline and yard trackage, all in three eastward basic groups.
The northern side eastward routing:
The center eastward way:
The southern side:
So, that is pretty much it two-tracking-wise from California to Texas, and the line thereof. A couple final posts, however, follow … of the line coming into El Paso, TX on the Golden State Route from Tucumcari and Kansas City.
Continued in Part 81
Part 81
The Connecting Gold State Route
On the south side of I-10 is the Sunset Route and the El Paso Yard trackage. The Gold State Route branches off, goes under the freeway, and jogs northeastward out of town.
A note about the just above photo: One doesn’t see very many absolute signals with a lower head dark!
In an absolutely horribly composed eastward view with a sun glare spot and pole lining up with the overhead flasher-work … the Golden State Route goes across a number of grade crossings, this one at Yandell Dr. at an angle.
A north side view:
Continued in Part 82
Part 82
Looking westbound from Montana St. (M.P. 982) at that curving on the Golden State Route in its meandering efforts to get out of town (behind the camera):
Eastbound:
As seen in the just above photo, eastbound trains (away from the camera) have a climb to get out of town. It is quite noticeable to site.
This will conclude “The Texas Trip” Report.
K.P., Thank you for posting what to me seems like the most heroic trip chronicle to appear in these threads. Many, many thanks, as much for the miles you ran up as for your labors.
A few observations:
* It's nice to see some indication of work between Pomona and West Colton. One could say that it makes more sense to build an Interstate highway connecting two well travelled thoroughfares than two cowpaths, and so it makes all the sense in the world to add a second track to the segments along this stretch that today lack it.
* Another manifestation of the growing importance of the Sunset Route double tracking is the steady upgrading of lines that feed into the Sunset. UP has been pumping more capital into new and longer sidings on, and adding CTC to, the T&P Line (Sierra Blanca, TX to Ft. Worth). Also, UP has been adding CTC to the Golden State Route, and I *think* that this year has seen the work done, with CTC in some form from El Paso to Topeka [Ed. Note -- if someone knows for sure, one way or the other, I'd be delighted to learn about it].
* I feel sorry for truckers for whom the Marsh Station railroad "cutoff" was built alongside I-10 . How come? The project was undertaken (so said the Arizona DOT) so that the small section of interstate highway at Marsh Station Road (which technically isn't even interstate) could have the height-restricted railroad overpass removed (which, along with a widening of the space between the opposing lanes, would render it interstate) so that truckers with high loads would no longer be forced to detour 60-odd miles along twisting, hilly backroads to avoid the overhead restriction, causing them to waste time and costing them money. The railroad was shortened a couple of miles, some extremely sharp, speed-restriction curvature got eliminated, and I'm guessing UP eastbound transit times got speeded up some 10-15 minutes, but Mother Trucker still has to detour, and from what I could decipher from the ADOT website, will continue to do so until FY 2014, when Arizone finally will remove the railroad overpass. The lesson, one suspects, is that government programs, despite the hyping they receive from politicians and bureaucrats, proceed at at their own pace, and, alas, that lesson applies to projects touted to help railways as well.
* Finally, a glance at the future and the chance, one more, to place my neck on the chopping block if my projections are way off (once, long, long ago and on a planet far, far away, I produced annual, quarterly and and monthly traffic forecasts for a Class I railroad). UP has already announced that it plans to complete presumably all phases of the Santa Teresa, NM terminal and refueling facility, three years hence, in 2015 (not knowing for what month completion is targeted, we'll be conservative and assume at the end of the year). By then, unless there comes a horrible earthquake, UP should also be done with the Colton Crossing. So two of the worst bottlenecks on the entire system will have been removed (In all likelihood, the first phase of Santa Teresa to be targeted will be the crew change and locomotive fueling, so they can close their facility in downtown El Paso and open up that line -- which cannot happen too quickly to suit UP. I also *believe* that by then, they and BNSF will have begun to attack the Tower 55 crossing in Ft. Worth, a third costly, nettlesome bottleneck -- but that's another story)
Also by 2015, UP's Sunset Route double-tracking should be three years complete from Estrella, AZ clear to El Paso. The line segment between Pomona and West Colton should also be double tracked in toto, giving UP double track from the harbor to Thermal, CA. Between Thermal and Estrella, AZ, some 130-140 route-miles of remaining single track, conservatively assume 35 additional miles of double track per year. As to where UP chooses to lay its track, I have no sources in Omaha, in heaven or anywhere else to give hints or guidance but... if I were UP, I think I'd add 15-20 miles stretches of double track (to promote running meets) and then start stringing 'em together. So three years at 35 miles per year less the 18 miles Marani-Stockham remaining at year-end 2012 gives 105 miles minus 18 miles = 88 miles remaining. Plus or minus. The last stretch to be single-tracked: the bridge across the Colorado River, just west of Yuma. Reason: expense, and lots of it.
I'm also assuming that the bureaucratic footdragging of various Arizone state and county agencies with the proposed Red Rock yard will have ended, and that one year's worth of construction will have taken place -- the going timetable for major terminals for UP seems to be on the order of 2.5 to 3 years, so most construction there will be yet to take place (Caveat: this crude analysis assumes the economy over will this three-year period will be no worse then it has averaged for the past three years. Also, for the sake of wear and tear on K.P.'s auto, I hope that the sections farthest east get done swiftly!!).
Bottom line: If the assumptions and projections above are anywhere close to what actually transpires, then year-end 2015 gives us a Sunset Route with substantially enhanced capacity, and in all liklihood, more traffic by then -- I'm guessing on the order of 20 trains per day [edit] more than current traffic. At that point, I suspect, the key to still more traffic will be progress on Red Rock and other terminals and connecting lines (e.g., El Paso-Sierra Blanca, TX, where the T&P branches off the Sunset toward Ft. Worth) as much as filling in more single track gaps.
We'll see.
K.P. Once again, thanks for all the time and energy you've poured into this thread.
Cheers!
KP
Thanks a million for your posts on the progress of the Sunset Route double tracking. Daily I would check your emails and I am going to miss them. Again thanks for a great service to the industry. Your daily postings will be missed.
Dick Watkins
Gun Barrel City TX
What an awesome series. I've forgotten all the comments I made in viewing the pictures, so here is a free-form list:
Once again, a big thank you, K.P., for all your work!
The WHY of a Three-Headed Monster
In recent months questions have arisen here at the forum as to why the northernmost west side eastbound signal at CP SP938 EAST PICACHO is a three-headed one.
In an email exchange between forumist Jovet and K.P., Jovet sent Central Corridor signal photos and excellent diagraming of the track layout west of Missouri Valley Jct. (north of Omaha, NE), namely, of a railroad place (NOT a postal area) called Allen Creek in Iowa. K.P. noticed a striking signal similarity between Picacho, AZ and Allen Creek (IA). BOTH had an identical three head signal!
Two of Jovet’s photos are inserted below with his permission, with the key signal in both photos on the LEFT:
Two photos by Jovet
In both cases, in Arizona and Iowa, the trackage involved had a (1) third track junction into two others, and (2) there is MORE than one signal block for that third track.
In Iowa, there is a third-track / long siding-like arrangement with an intermediate signal between CP’s.
In the Picacho, AZ case, there is the Phoenix Line that goes eastward straight through CP SP937 WEST PICACHO to CP SP938 EAST PICACHO and, at the latter CP, junctions into the two-mains.
So, apparently, a three-headed signal (with a single-bulb TOP head) is used to avoid confusion, and conveys to trainmen that that track DOES END and that, if other than all red, they are cleared to junction onto either of the two-mains.
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(In both of Jovet’s photos above, there is another mast (to the right) with three heads also, with the center head being with four bulbs. That is for a yellow over lunar over red in advance of a turnout route (to dark trackage) at the NEXT signal ahead, which is presently likely target red over lunar / future color lights red over flashing red. The third head is so a red over yellow over yellow can be displayed indicating a crossing over here AND a junction off of Main 2 is ahead.)
mvs mvs wrote, in part: Should you end up in West Texas again, consider surveying the line between El Paso and Sierra Blanca. I wonder if two-tracking will occur there.
mvs wrote, in part:
UP, in Fred Frailey's great November 2007 Trains Magazine article on the Sunset Route from 2007 ("Creating a Sunset") mentions projected two-tracking work between El Paso and Sierra Blanca (p. 39). Fred's source(s) in this article (one suspects Bill Wimmer, then UP's VP-Engineering) presumably presented him with their work timetable for the Sunset, which assumed the economy would be running along just fine (which it hasn't quite dome) and that no unforeseen exogenous (outside) forces, such as a congressional mandate to install PTC (a result of the 2008 Metrolink collision in Chatsworth, CA) would interrupt the flow of company capital into the Route. One recalls reading somewhere that some ROW grading had taken place near Sierra Blanca (may be bum skinny -- take this with a grain of salt). As more gaps get filled in between Tucson and Thermal, and train counts begin to rise, one would expect a segment or two of second track to appear between El Paso and Sierra Blanca.
By the way, are you aware that by asking KP to drive from his Los Angeles area home to Sierra Blanca, you're asking him to drive 1,800-2,000 round trip miles. What may be even more interesting would be for Fred Frailey to update his 2007 Sunset Route article, showing what's been done since it appeared and UP's investment plans for the line for the next five years (hey Fred, are you listening??)
Cheers.
billio By the way, are you aware that by asking KP to drive from his Los Angeles area home to Sierra Blanca, you're asking him to drive 1,800-2,000 round trip miles. What may be even more interesting would be for Fred Frailey to update his 2007 Sunset Route article, showing what's been done since it appeared and UP's investment plans for the line for the next five years (hey Fred, are you listening??) Cheers.
I'm not asking to to make that drive, like some petulant kid. All I am saying is, if K.P.'s travels find him in West Texas again (as his travels seem to find him in Arizona, for example, rather often), and if it fits his schedule and interests, I think the potential "bottleneck" between El Paso and Sierra Blanca might be of interest to K.P.. He seems to often be in the position to get a lot of great construction pictures.
I agree with you RE: Fred Frailey. Unfortunately my five-year-old copy of that magazine is showing its age.
CShaveRR The correct definition of the frog number is the ratio of the distance down the center of the frog (midway between the two routes) to the distance between the inside of the rails on the respective tracks (so you're measuring over both rails). Thus, if you're 20 feet away from the point of the frog when the flange sides of the rails are one foot apart, that's a No. 20 switch.
The correct definition of the frog number is the ratio of the distance down the center of the frog (midway between the two routes) to the distance between the inside of the rails on the respective tracks (so you're measuring over both rails). Thus, if you're 20 feet away from the point of the frog when the flange sides of the rails are one foot apart, that's a No. 20 switch.
Here is a diagram I made a while back that describes what you're talking about, and also explains the conversion from turnout number (n) to frog angle (a) and back.
K. P. Harrier Two concrete burial stands are a few hundred feet EAST of Range Rd. It is unknown if these stands are for the east side of the CP’s westbound train signals, or for putting up vehicle crossing gates.
Two concrete burial stands are a few hundred feet EAST of Range Rd. It is unknown if these stands are for the east side of the CP’s westbound train signals, or for putting up vehicle crossing gates.
Around here of late, UP seems to be using concrete foundations like those for wayside signal installations, and steel foundations for (non-cantilever) grade crossing signals like seen here (K.P.'s photo). Previously, steel foundations have not been too common in my area (eastern Nebraska/western Iowa).
Update as of Saturday, November 10, 2012
Checking Out Two-Tracking at Ontario, CA
Part I (of I-VII)
The Milliken Ave. Flyover
Dramatic Main 1 flyover construction progress had been made on the west side. Views look west.
(Technically, for those interested, as with the above photos, many of the photos in this posting series had the light settings set to allow more light to be captured because of the darkening evening environment.)
The west side’s molding has been removed since the concrete dried.
A view of the present construction state of the Milliken Ave. center piers and east cement-work (background): The center cross support now appears to be one continuous structure, but followers of this thread remember when trains crossed through here on the dark pavement on the lower left.
The EAST slope construction seems to have ground to a halt, and remains stalled halfway between the east end and Milliken Ave.
Continued in Part II
Part II (of I-VII)
Rebuilding the Bon View Grade Crossing
The rebuilding of the Bon View Ave. grade crossing seems compete, and is now ready for the second-track. Views look west.
An eastward view:
Continued in Part III
Part III (of I-VII)
Looking south on the east side. The bottom track is the present single-track Main. A center street divider has been built, and a concrete sidewalk on west side and a pavement one crosses the tracks on this east side. And, of course, the south crossing gate has been relocated.
Looking west with a telephoto, the future Main 2 will go through the south side North Ontario siding. Mild grading is seen on the lower left.
In the above photo, note the vehicle traffic crossing the track at all the grade crossings in this area.
An eastward view: Grading surprisingly stops in the right lower photo third, near the north-south Cucamonga Ave. alignment (the street does not cross the track). The Vineyard Ave. grade crossing gates are seen about photo center. A westbound train approaches.
Continued in Part IV
Part IV (of I-VII)
A heavy eastward telephoto as a train gets closer. The foreground lower right area looks semi-graded already. The dark railing on the lower left is the Grove Ave. underpass that has a two-track wide bridging over it. The hump in the track is a north-south OLD concrete flood control channel that will need a second-track bridge – like real quick … Just left of photo center is the intermediate signal (dark) at Vineyard Ave. The double red signal is a couple of miles further east at the west switch of the Guasti siding. The bridges in the far background are related to I-15 Freeway and the interchanges with the east-west I-10 that followers much of the Sunset Route.
In the above photo, the unseen Milliken Ave. Flyover is somewhere just this side of the I-15 Freeway overpass. Much closer items, though, are link below:
LINK: The Grove Ave. Underpass and the Two-Track Wide Bridging
LINK: The Single-Track Old Bridging Over a Flood Control Channel
As that above photo’s train got closer, the east side westbound color light signals lit at CP AL521 NORTH ONTARIO. Wow! They are so bright in a darkening sky at sunset.
Continued in Part V
Part V (of I-VII)
It is unknown if that brightness is because the LED’s are a different type (as the previously shown signal at CP AL520 NORTH ONTARIO at the other end of the siding) …
… than the other two types used on most of the Sunset Route two-tracking or signal upgrades …
… or if it was just the time of day, but they sure were bright!
Continued in Part VI
Part VI (of I-VII)
That train (in Part IV) zoomed by (leftward) the new grade crossing rails.
Just another end of a continuing line of passing trains on the Sunset Route: At this photo angle, the foreground dirt looks ready for track laying.
With so many fleeted trains at this hour (K.P. has seen this before), two-tracking here is definitely needed!
K.P. went further west … San Antonio Ave (Ontario) was closed this time, and a second track had been laid through it too. It was too dark for photography, though.
In the area of CP C033 WO TOWER in Pomona …What popped out as very unusual was that a shoveled piece of equipment was parked WEST of San Antonio Ave (Pomona), west of even the CP! It is unclear why such would be west of San Antonio Ave. at this point in time.
Now, back to Milliken Ave. for a treat …
Continued in Part VII
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