The Activity Strip
San Bernardino to Pomona, CA
Part “S” (of J-S; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
The Colton Crossing Area
Colton, CA
An eastward telephoto showing the west slope’s limited walling as of December 5, 2012.
Congestion sometimes happens at the dirt construction road grade crossing. The controller overseeing the grade crossing operations at this moment is on the upper right.
The white truck was ‘waiting in the hole’ for a meet … (What railroad lingo!)
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Continued in Parts T-Z and AA-CC on Sunday, December 16, 2012 … That portion will deal with the activity in the Colton Flyover to Pomona stretch.
But, BEFORE that … An update of an update! Those large concrete ‘spans’ mentioned with photos in Parts M and N was photographed up on and in their final positions! An “Update of an Update” addition will be forthcoming tomorrow, Saturday, December 15, 2012.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.
A traffic jam prevented getting close enough for photography Friday afternoon, December 14th, where a Union Pacific track laying train had the Ina Road exit from I-10 just west of Tucson blocked. The train was moving westward toward Cortaro Farm road.
At the Cortaro Farm road I had to wait for a passing train, which turned out to be a real surprise -- two UP diesels pulling two white business cars traveling eastward toward Tucson. They were marked "United States Federal Railway Administration" and "Highway Crossing Safety Inspections." There did not appear to be anyone aboard the two cars.
At this rate of track laying, the double-tracking from Tucson westward to Casa Grande may be completed by the end of January 2013.
Update of an Update
Part I (of I-III)
On Tuesday, December 11, 2012 on a grueling day, K.P. managed to spend about 20 minutes on the Sunset Route at Colton, CA, and was rewarded for doing so by seeing (and photographing) the cross bridge spans now in place. The below view looks west from the southeast quadrant of the Colton Crossing area, with a new concrete cross bridging span on the right:
Above, the BNSF cross-tracks grade elevate south to north, left to right.
The two key big cross spans:
Above, note the dirt fill on the lower right. It will be explained shortly.
There is a third span just to the east, but it does not go over the Sunset Route, but only the northeast quadrant transition track, the BNSF Connected.
Continued in Part II
Part II (of I-III)
5th Street that had all the “No Parking” signs on it had such so all the flyover / crane related trucks could park.
The crane makes for an interesting study of force distribution.
Continued in Part III
Part III (of I-III)
All that dirt was put into the southwest quadrant for the crane!
Above, ever since this contributor can remember (since childhood) the Sunset Route was quite a bit higher that the land south of it, necessitating the landfill for the crane.
The crane was a steel belted one and not on rubber tires. Look at all those black counterweights! They are probably ten tons each!
The western slope of the flyover has had a sudden influx of walling-work taking place, and the sides are now getting higher.
Finally, a trivia point: The east side Colton Crossing Main 1 westbound interlocking Sunset Route signal is so close to the flyover that it casts a shadow on it.
The final group of “The Activity Strip” will be posted Sunday, December 16, 2012.
Part “T” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
Another view of the strangely graded strip right by the Rancho Ave. overpass:
Now on the north side east of Rancho Ave. was a very nice white hatted gentleman.
Why so nice? For some reason he perceived this camera toting person as a railfan, and as I was starting to walk away for the car, he whistled and point that more trains were coming. I signaled back to him a thank you, and stuck around.
Sure enough … more trains came!
Continued in Part U
Part “U” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
That eastbound was ready to pass the Flyover’s west slope construction and a westbound …
… when there was a big air hose sound and a tremendous boom followed as the eastbound ground to a very quick stop. The westbound keep coming at the camera, but had to go through a sudden big cloud of dust!
Everything must have been OK, as the westbound kept going west past Rancho Ave.
Most of the trains this date were LEFT running. Typically, most trains tend to be RIGHT biased, but I guess the DS liked running everything left handed this date. When the Sunset Route is all two-tracked, it likely will be LEFT biased through here. That will be in accord with the future Red Rock Yard in Arizona for EASTBOUND trains, with West Colton Yard classifying WESTBOUND trains fitting nicely into that pattern of left bias.
For whatever reason, streamer UP 844 on its trip from Arizona through the Colton, CA area (at CP SP538 RANCHO) operated westbound left running, as the below November 17, 2011 photo shows with UP 844 coming at the camera on the right track, which for it is left running.
Continued in Part V
Part “V” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
The Milliken Ave. Flyover
Ontario, CA
At the Milliken Ave. Flyover … The first thing that pops out at one is that the decorative column tops were no longer on the ground, but had been placed in their final positions. An orange hue is present because of the setting sun.
For some time followers of this thread will remember those decorative tops were on the ground (previously shown, August 22, 2012).
The center supports now seems rather complete, but the likely rust staining mars the appearance.
Continued in Part W
Part “W” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
The end supports appear complete also.
Back on December 21, 2011 of last year, nearly a year ago, the Main 2 west end support looked complete too (photo previously shown).
Now, the Main 1 construction looks ready for the bridging spans.
The incomplete Main 1 flyover …
… looks somewhat similar to how the Main 2’s flyover construction did over a year ago.
Continued in Part X
Part “X” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
The Second-Track Preparation
Towards the downtown Ontario area now …
Looking east from Bon View Ave., the grading looks ready for track laying:
So does a westward view.
Continued in Part Y
Part “Y” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
San Antonio Ave. (Ontario, M.P. 519.55) has had the second-track section laid through it as well.
The last photo just above, the paralleling LA&SL about a block away is seen in the background.
An eastward view:
Continued in Part Z
Part “Z” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
What is interesting on that east side is that it now has elevated grading.
A westbound train passes. Note the grading across the photo’s bottom.
The ground just south of the track looks like it was water truck watered before K.P. arrived on scene.
Continued in Part AA
Part “AA” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
A westward view from Ontario’s San Antonio Ave.: Note the overpass in the background.
A heavy telephoto of that background bridge above shows the present pillar-work by the Sunset Route is being reinforced.
A different angle close-up of that Mountain Ave. overpass that goes over the SP Sunset Route as well as the LA&SL tracks on the photo bottom.
While the above photo’s bridge top light poles and the pillars underneath are perfectly vertical, the leaning over windblown wood poles give the view a strange appearance.
Continued in Part BB
Part “BB” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
Pomona, CA
Approaching Pomona, a crane with some graffiti markings was between the SP and LA&SL lines.
Looking east from San Antonio Ave (Pomona), the right-of-way is looking more and more prepared for the second main. That crane is seen in the background.
A heavy telephoto looking east still:
Continued in Part CC
Part “CC” (of T-Z and AA-CC; Overall A-Z and AA-CC)
On the west side of San Antonio Ave, looking back at the road, the joint CP signals are seen. Also red flags are present, both on this LA&SL trackage and the SP Sunset Route that parallels it here. The two red flags for that latter line are barely seen just below the photos center.
Looking west on the LA&SL, a local is switching a car or two in downtown Pomona. The overhead walkway bridge is seen. Also, for the LA&SL and SP lines to be each two-tracked in accord with the big signal bridge seen just below the overhead walkway bridge, another track bridge will have to be put in over Towne Ave., the present railings of which are seen on the lower right.
The controversy (and lawsuit) between UP and Kinder-Morgan that is holding up matters related to the signal bridge and the Diversion apparently still has not been settled yet.
This will conclude “The Active Strip” post series. However …
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A seven part “Update as of Thursday, December 13, 2012” about additional “Activity in the Ontario, CA Area” will be posted Monday, December 17, 2012.
** Tucson Update **
It does look like someone's got incentive to fill in the gap between Marana and Kino.
I left town for a business trip, came back Friday afternoon, and found just short of three miles of track sitting where there was just ballast and mud when I left the previous week...
Complete: Massingale Rd GC on ~07Dec. Complete: MOW switch ~2000ft southeast of Ina Road (west end of Kino), and track down westbound as far as Cortaro Road today. Tie train split across the Cortaro grade crossing.
MOW switch and derail...
Tie train working west of Cortaro Road -- only enough room for a couple cars...
Rest of the train sitting east of the grade crossing...
A somewhat rare shot... tie gang working, and Mt. Lemmon with snow at the summit...
Work Imminent: numbered concrete ties for CP Sabino now staged at the site.
Not sure why, but this lonely SD70M was sitting at the concrete plant siding east of Rillito with a crew van... .
Lots of progress, and all of this in the past 8 days... Will be interesting to watch over the next couple weeks to see how far they progress.
For those who don't know the area....
Work started in the lower right.... The new CP Sabino is just 1.75 miles west of where the tie team was today. If the pace continues, they'll be there by the end of this coming week.
Progressing west, it's another 4.5 miles to the west end of CP Rillito @ Tangerine Road. Quite possible by the end of the year, depending on holiday time-off, but the second track at the Tangerine Road grade crossing isn't in place yet.From Rillito, it's another short 5 miles to CP Marana (about a mile west of Marana Road), which is where the double track westward from Picacho currently ends.
Total remaining... 11.25 miles. That's a month's worth of work at the current pace, but with the holidays coming up and the grade crossing at Tangerine, I think the earlier prediction by cacole made on Friday about completion by end of January may not be too far off, but for only this section.
There's still two bridges to cross, and another 4.8 miles from of the MOW switch to the east end of Stockham, and an alignment shift.
Exciting times, and a very nice Christmas present for those of us watching locally...
Update as of Thursday, December 13, 2012
Activity in the Ontario, CA Area
Part I (of I-VII)
From Pomona to Ontario, CA preparation for a second-track is moving along. The first focus (of two) for this series was in the Cucamonga Ave. area, Ontario, CA, perhaps three to four blocks east of the east switch of the North Ontario siding (CP AL521 NORTH ONTARIO, M.P. 520.9). At the end of Cucamonga Ave. where new drainage is being put in, a surveyor with a GPS unit was doing surveying work.
Just east of Cucamonga Ave. the eastward grading ends with sloping.
While second-track preparation activity is currently taking place between Pomona and here in Ontario, consistently NOTHING east of this spot has been taking place. A small group of concrete ties, however, were now on site west of Cucamonga Ave., and those ties were abnormally long …
… as if a switch would be installed here, perhaps only for a future single-crossover.
Part II (of I-VII)
West of Cucamonga Ave. was fresh grading, with an untraditional look to it, going south all the way to the public sidewalk and street.
The above wide grading only went west just a bit, as the photo foreground area farther to the west was left ungraded.
Part III (of I-VII)
While on scene at Cucamonga Ave. and Main St., several pieces of equipment together showed up and parked.
Continued in Part IV
Part IV (of I-VII)
A number blocks to the east is the SINGLE-TRACK bridging over a flood control channel dating back decades when the Sunset Route was part of the Southern Pacific empire. The following photos were taken from Holt Ave. looking south.
There was some type of track activity going on in the flood control channel area, that may or may be related to the present area two-tracking effort.
Part V (of I-VII)
At the Milliken Ave. Flyover construction effort, about four miles to the east of the above activity, the Main 1 Flyover is finally having the construction reaching Milliken Ave. from the west
A direct side view from the north:
Continued in Part VI
Part VI (of I-VII)
Looking east from Milliken Ave., the north side of the flyover’s path seems to have been graded smooth.
When first arriving, the orange barricades were together, but now had been moved apart. (The above view is in the far background under the yellow equipment arm of the below photo.)
Looking west again, a westbound train goes over the Main 2 Flyover’s western slope as construction workers work and look on.
Continued in Part VII
Part VII (of I-VII)
A nice cleared path seems to be along the north side of the flyover going back into the western distance.
Looking east on the south side, the entrance signal is seen in the distance. A chain link fence seems to have been erected (right).
As with the Cucamonga Ave. construction site, this Milliken Ave. area still had construction taking place even though it had rained previously, and the ground had much rain water on it.
Presto! A Switch Appears … and a Beehive!
Part A (of A-F)
Reference the below December 13, 2012 ‘quote photo,’ that was posted about on Monday, December 17 …
K. P. Harrier While second-track preparation activity is currently taking place between Pomona and here in Ontario, consistently NOTHING east of this spot has been taking place. A small group of concrete ties, however, were now on site west of Cucamonga Ave., and those ties were abnormally long … … as if a switch would be installed here, perhaps only for a future single-crossover.
Later that same December 17 post day, in the afternoon, K.P. had opportunity to revisit the Cucamonga Ave. area in Ontario, CA. A beehive-like atmosphere was present with many, many workers on site, and a whole switch was being assembled almost with lightning speed! Parts boxes were on site too.
The above view was shot west of Cucamonga Ave., from the SOUTH side of the track.
An eastward view from Bon View Ave. (M.P. 520.89):
Continued in Part B
Part B (of A-F)
That same early Monday, December 17, 2012 the below December 13 photo was posted in this thread.
But, concerning those in place drainage pipes, on the afternoon visit of the 17th, wood structuring for the cement was present.
There was no shortage of trains passing through the area, and all work stopped each time they passed. View looks west from Bon View Ave.
Continued in Part C
Part C (of A-F)
Some of the photos taken that afternoon were somewhat interpretively confusing. As an example, some concrete ties were spaced close together.
Others had normal, traditional spacing.
It may have been just an illusion. A row of closely spaced ties may have been in front of normally spaced ties.
An eastward heavy telephoto with a lot in it: A watchman dutifully makes sure no trains come unannounced. A highrailer with headlights on is visible in the distance. Also in the far distance is train picking up and setting out in the Guasti siding.
In the above photo, NOTE THE DISTANCE AWAY THE SIDING IS LOCATED … It will be brought up again shortly.
Continued in Part D
Switch Appears … and a Beehive!
Part D (of A-F)
Cucamonga Ave. on the NORTH side of the tracks afforded a better view of the activity.
A straight on side view of the multi-railed switch being assembled on the south side of the mainline:
The points end of the switch:
It is unknown if the new switch is a No. 15, 20, or 24, but, a very rough estimate of its length was that it was probably 250 feet in length
Continued in Part E
Part E (of A-F)
In reflecting on the above Ontario, CA scene, a small amount of ties to a whole switch in just a few days, it seems the situation is a rather rushed, massive affair. Exactly why is unknown.
By comparison, in the fall of 2010, on a trip to the Midwest, K.P. came across the aftermath of a coal train derailment on UP’s Central Corridor, right at CP B182 HWY 10.
The derailment had wiped out a portion of a turnout. The line was reopened without the switch being in service. A new, replacement switch was leisurely being assembled on site.
That was ‘leisurely’ on a sometime 150 trains a day triple-track mainline!
On February 11, 2010 a switch concerning the Diversion in Pomona was being put together. Though it had numerous workers on site, it could not compare with the activity at the Cucamoga Ave. site.
So, why so many workers had been assembled at Ontario, CA that it had a resemblance to the activity of a beehive is not clear.
Timetable Distance Confusion Clarification
When K.P. was at the Ontario site the afternoon of December 17, 2012, he made it a point to check the distance between the Guasti and North Ontario sidings. It was about 2.5 miles, from switch to switch. But, official employee timetables show it as 3.8 miles! Why the difference?
The timetable uses the CENTER of the North Ontario siding to the CENTER of the Guasti siding as the basis for its listing.
K.P. had forgotten about that minor technicality. But, now we all know a technical matter!
Continued in Part F
Part F (of A-F)
So, WHY the sudden Code-3-like situation (lights and sirens in police jargon) by Cucamonga Ave. in Ontario? And why does the new eastward grading stop there?
K.P. does NOT know what officially is going on. We do know that the master plan is for the Pomona to Fontana stretch to be two-tracked. So, what we are now seeing may be a well thought out money savings logistical plan. Perhaps (“perhaps”) it will work like this:
The Pomona to Ontario (Cucamonga Ave.) stretch two-tracking will be first.
Second, putting the Milliken Ave. Main 1 Flyover in service, and extending the Guasti siding EASTWARD over the Main 2 Flyover, with a new CP east of the flyover’s east slope, possibly called CP AL526 VINA VISTA.
Third, lay a second track westward from Fontana to the Kaiser Yard area, to a future known CP to be called CP KAISER.
Fourth, in the meantime, build necessary bridges, like a second bridging over the flood control channel in Ontario …
… and over a wash in the Etiwanda area (bottom).
Fifth, bridge the remaining gap between the Guasti area and east of the North Ontario siding, the single-track gap across from Ontario International Airport. A view of Vineyard Ave west:
Bridging that last gap may not be as easy as it first appears. In view of the background clearances in the photo just above, where will the new track be laid, to the south or north of the present track? There is always the possibility of moving the present track northward (right, above), and laying the second track overlapping a bit to the left. In other words, the present single-track could be the middle of the two future tracks.
Interestingly, east of Vineyard Ave. is Archibald Ave., a key Ontario International Airport access road. The present track goes right over the MIDDLE of that bridge.
LINK: Two-Track Wide Overpass w/ Single-Track in the Middle
Obvious, the track will have to be moved one way or the other for an additional track to be laid over the bridge.
While the above five sequencing concept seems logical, we will have to wait and see what the railroad actually does. But, it shouldn’t be too terribly long now before we find out!
K. P. Harrier It is unknown if the new switch is a No. 15, 20, or 24, but, a very rough estimate of its length was that it was probably 250 feet in length
While they may not do it any longer, about ten years ago, each type of turnout had its own "color", this was painted on the rail ends, tie ends and on all the boxs the smaller parts came in. Things that define each type is wood/concrete, number, left or right hand and other factors.
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