Reality, the Twilight Zone, and Between
Part “H” (of A-I)
Future Bridges of Wonder
Bridges of wonder are few and far between. Two examples are given here.
The Sunset Route Colorado River crossing between California and Arizona, most commonly associated with Yuma, AZ.
On the Phoenix Line in Arizona there are several examples of suchlike truss bridges, this one near the western end.
Now, the future …According to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) website in reference to the I-215 Freeway widening project in the Highgrove-Grand Terrace, CA area between Colton and Riverside, CA …
“The [BNSF two-track] railroad bridge will be demolished and three separate railroad trusses will be built.”
This is what is there now in a time of construction:
Exactly why the rather rare these days truss design will be used is unknown, possibly (“possibly”) to avoid having a center support in the freeway.
When the Sunset Route between Fontana and Pomona is fully two-tracked, UP trains reportedly will be greatly reduced over the alternate BNSF / LA&SL route via Riverside. Nevertheless, some trains will take that route, and pass over (or maybe we should say “through”) the new truss bridges over the I-215.Freeway in the Highgrove-Grand Terrace area.
Continued in Part I
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 “I” (of A-I)
The Under Construction LA&SL Bridge Over the 91 Freeway in Riverside, CA
A west to east sequence
The center pier seems higher than normal, and the long I-beam vertical row strikes K.P. as very peculiar.
This will conclude the series.
-----------
On Wednesday, August 21, 2013 unanticipated urgent circumstances brought K.P. to San Bernardino, CA … and afterward Colton and the Ontario-Pomona areas were checked out. Main 2 over the Colton Flyover is still not in service. The Colton Signal Dept. was cleared out considerably and reorganized. In the Ontario-Montclair area, some new CP names are now known account of new CP boxes that are within the San Antonio Ave. Signal Dept. yard in Ontario. And, if you have any familiarity with the area, you won’t believe what the boxes’ attached placards say, i.e., their CP names …
Hopefully, a short series can be put together and posted in a day or two.
K.P. in part D there is a crew change point sign, is UP the only company to use those kinda signs?
K. P. Harrier Reality, the Twilight Zone, and Between Part “I” (of A-I) The Under Construction LA&SL Bridge Over the 91 Freeway in Riverside, CA A west to east sequence The center pier seems higher than normal, and the long I-beam vertical row strikes K.P. as very peculiar.
Given the height of the finished pier and the forms of the piers that are under construction, it appears that the new roadbed in that area will be higher than the current one. The old bridge may not conform to current minimum height standards, or they may be changing the slope of the roadway. Either reason--or some other unknown factor--would call for raising the roadbed.
John Timm
If you look at the road it appears to be rising in elevation as it approaches the camera. Since the new bridge is being built on the "uphill" side it would make sense that the bridge would need to be raised a bit.
The forms may be a little deceiving as they may not pour concrete to the top.
KP wonder if the building of three separate truss bridges could be as a backup earth quake protection ?
Update as of Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Colton and the Ontario-Montclair Areas, CA
Part I (of I-II)
Colton
The second main over the Colton Flyover was still not in service. The only thing that caught K.P.’s eye was the large stack of old signals at the Colton Signal Dept. seemed to have been carted away, though there was a group of old bungalows relocated. And new signals by the roadway were still present..
The switch present seemed to have a low, manual throwing mechanism.
A railed truck was working the flyover
Continued in Part II
Part II (of I-II)
Ontario-Montclair
Checking the Ontario area out, the first thing that caught the eyes was at the Ontario makeshift signal yard area: The cantilever signal bridge had signal heads put on it.
The new bungalows on site had some most fascinating placards attached!
So, the present CP AL520 NORTH ONTARIO is going to be superseded by CP AL519 NORTH MONTCLAIR, the town of Montclair being at least three quarters of a mile to the west!
CP AL517 MONTCLAIR is probably for somewhere in the Monte Vista Ave. area, and on the LA&SL with an SP number!
By Monte Vista Ave. itself, a new bungalow is present, with the placards turned aside. Likely, this one will be CP AL517 NORTH MONTCLAIR.
The old and new grade crossing boxes.
Did you notice the new above box had the milepost on it? Apparently, UP has stopped removing the mileposts from grade crossing boxes, and including them again on new installations.
A word of caution for the younger set amongst us … never call the 800 as a prankster! Besides being on the unethical side, since 800 phone number owners pay for each call, they are entitled to know WHO is calling them!
At San Antonio Ave. in Pomona, the future, newly laid Main 2 track to the east still has not been connected to the present track to the west. That east-west meeting situation will be an interesting one when UP hooks the tracks together … SP Main 2 will meet LA&SL Main 1. Seems like a renaming is in order …
Replies: Part “A”
denveroutlaw06 (8-22):
It is unknown if other railroads use such ‘crew change point’ signs, but the photographed one by Congress St. in South Colton seems to have been made by someone other than a sign professional. On the other hand, making a sign that does NOT pop out to non-railroads may have been the intent. The railroad obviously is not trying to attract buyers to a special product, and so hasn’t enlisted professionals to make a sign and lettering that just pops out at one and makes one want to buy. The location is not an obvious crew change point, so the sign probably is just to confirm where crews are to change at.
desertdog (8-22):
That Pachappa area railroad bridge (Riverside, CA) over the 91 Freeway that will be replaced account of freeway widening, has never had a height issue, unlike the now removed low clearance railroad bridge in the Cienega Creek area of Arizona, but that Riverside bridge is over fifty years old, so, as you said, John, it may not meet today’s standards.
Even so, the support strikes me as awfully high. Maybe (“maybe”) the replacement bridge will be of a truss design. A truss bridge would certainly be striking as a landmark! But, we’ll just have to wait and see what develops …
rdamon (8-23):
You came up with an interesting concept, as the 91 Freeway does elevate considerably as it heads southwestwardly, a reversal of the generally downward aspect of the topography of the area as the roadways and railroads head to the Pacific Ocean.
Replies Continued in Part B
Replies: Part “B”
blue streak 1 (8-23):
The area IS well-known for seismic activity, but I don’t believe that was the main consideration for future-erecting three new BNSF bridges over the 215 Freeway in the freeway widening project in the Grand Terrace-Highgrove, CA area. (Alternate Sunset Route trains use the route.)
A big factor may have been right-of-way width limitations, as swinging THREE-tracks west or east may have encroached upon neighboring properties. As surprising as it was, the simplest logic sequence would be to build a new single-track bridge to the east, then one to the west. Once both new bridges have trains going over them, the present two-track bridge could be taken down, allowing for the erection of a third bridge between the other two.
Somewhere I read bridges these days are designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 10. If true, railroads are pretty safe in traversing what new bridges they have in seismic California. The older bridges … well, maybe not.
When the Santa Fe line in Arcadia (CA) near Pasadena (which in turn is near Los Angeles) was relocated in the early 1970’s account of entirely new freeway construction at the time, and a kind of neat bridge to the center of the 210 Freeway was erected. In 1994 a big earthquake struck, and the decision was eventually made to takedown that wondrous bridge.
Commuter interests bought the line, and in the last few years built a replacement bridge with wondrousness aspects all of its own.
The three future truss bridges in the Grand Terrace-Highgrove area should have a certain wondrousness all their own too because of their uniqueness to the area.
Take care all,
K.P
The flyover goes in service tomorrow on the No. 2 track. SP539 Riverside Lead will be temporarily taken out of service at the same time.
K.P.
One thought on the three truss bridges may have to do with what can be transported over the road. A single span bridge may be able to be built elsewhere and brought to the site on its side and maintain overhead clearances.
Robert
Clyde Acolita The flyover goes in service tomorrow on the No. 2 track. SP539 Riverside Lead will be temporarily taken out of service at the same time.
Great! One of the major railway bottlenecks eliminated!! Huzzah!!
Next focus is eliminating the one through downtown El Paso and later Tower 55 in Ft. Worth (that all three impact -- or impacted -- traffic over the Sunset Route is strictly coincidental.
Status of the Colton Flyover / Colton Crossing
Part I (of I-III)
On Saturday, August 24, 2013 Clyde Acolita kindly advised us through this thread that the Colton Flyover’s Main 2 would be put in service the next day. K.P. was able get to the site the late afternoon / early evening of that next day, the 25th, a Sunday. The signals were lit, apparently still being tested, as different displays were seen without any known trains being in the area, and a UP worker was two-way radio reporting the displays observed.
Above, note the photo bottom: There are now NO tracks at ground level alongside the flyover’s west end!
A side view of the east side westbound now activated signals for the new CP SP538 RANCHO:
The old out and back tracks on the south side of Main 2 have now been completely severed in the Rancho Ave. area, and no longer connect to the mains, and the signals’ heads for them turned aside. Note the new mound of dirt on the tracks on the photo lower right.
The plan has been that those tracks will dead-end, and will be used exclusively for out and back moves for assembling trains for West Colton Yard’s Departure Yard.
Part II (of I-III)
Both new Mains 1 and 2 now have derailment rails between the normal rails on the west slope, unlike the east slope which does not have such.
Those derailment rails may be on the west slope because of the west slope’s very close proximately to the I-10 Freeway.
Also above, note that on the upper photo right the mast signals are still standing, but the two tracks and crossovers are gone.
Looking west from Rancho Ave. the CP SP537 EAST WYE-BYPASS is permanently out of service. While the lower signal head is turned aside, the top head appears to be missing.
Note again the above dark toned photo: Both turnouts are in reverse!
A wide angle looking west into the sun:
Continued in Part III
Part III (of I-III)
A focus view: Both former Mains have been taken up and removed (at least west of the BNSF).
That is quite a change from when UP 844 came west from Arizona on November 17, 2011 and the flyover wasn’t there yet:
The two overhead flyover bridging supports cast a shadow (bottom), and a BNSF goes westbound (rightward) over the diamonds which are still there. (Compare to the top photo. A track is still visible in the background above the main well car’s left truck.)
From Rancho Ave. still, a heavy telephoto looking towards the east slope (bottom left): The cantilever signal bridges (middle CP SP540 MT VERNON and upper background CP SP542 LOMA LINDA) are highly reflective in the distance in a low afternoon sun.
The ex-tracks area is ballast-lumpy and devoid of rails. When a new, single track is laid, it may (“may”) be laid between the two old ones, but the signal on the left of the photo below suggests it will be close to the flyover, at least initially..
Such a massive cutover was undoubtedly undertaken on a Sunday instead of a Monday because the Sunday eastbound Amtrak is scheduled late at night beyond any cutover work, whereas Monday had the potential (“potential”) for delaying a late running Amtrak for hours.
This will conclude the series. However, as K.P. was initially debating taking the time to visit the flyover in late morning, out of the blue a sudden and very rare Sunday dispatch developed that would bring him to Anaheim, near Disneyland. Afterward, K.P. had all the time in the world out that way, and was able to check out the Puente Hills Intermodal Facility (PHIMF) area for the trash trains as well as the San Gabriel Trench constrction.* Reports on those areas are pending.
* For those following the nearby Los Angeles Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension thread, that area was checked out as well. While a whopping amount of work remains to be done on the Foothill Extension, in Irwindale NEW two direction diode color light signals on a single mast were erected, number plated with Santa Fe milepost related numbers! That will be posted in the Transit forum, and a link will appear below after it is ready for posting in a few days.
LINK: Click and Scroll to September 1 Posts, Part I
For anybody interested, I posted a new ATCS layout to the Yahoo group to reflect both main tracks in service over the flyover.
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/ATCS_Monitor/files/Data%20Files/UP/Los%20Angeles%20Service%20Unit/UP%20Yuma%20Subdivision%208-26-2013.zip
K. P. Harrier Status of the Colton Flyover / Colton Crossing Part III (of I-III) A focus view: Both former Mains have been taken up and removed (at least west of the BNSF). That is quite a change from when UP 844 came west from Arizona on November 17, 2011 and the flyover wasn’t there yet: The two overhead flyover bridging supports cast a shadow (bottom), and a BNSF goes westbound (rightward) over the diamonds which are still there. (Compare to the top photo. A track is still visible in the background above the main well car’s left truck.) From Rancho Ave. still, a heavy telephoto looking towards the east slope (bottom left): The cantilever signal bridges (middle CP SP540 MT VERNON and upper background CP SP542 LOMA LINDA) are highly reflective in the distance in a low afternoon sun. The ex-tracks area is ballast-lumpy and devoid of rails. When a new, single track is laid, it may (“may”) be laid between the two old ones, but the signal on the left of the photo below suggests it will be close to the flyover, at least initially.. Such a massive cutover was undoubtedly undertaken on a Sunday instead of a Monday because the Sunday eastbound Amtrak is scheduled late at night beyond any cutover work, whereas Monday had the potential (“potential”) for delaying a late running Amtrak for hours. This will conclude the series. However, as K.P. was initially debating taking the time to visit the flyover in late morning, out of the blue a sudden and very rare Sunday dispatch developed that would bring him to Anaheim, near Disneyland. Afterward, K.P. had all the time in the world out that way, and was able to check out the Puente Hills Intermodal Facility (PHIMF) area for the trash trains as well as the San Gabriel Trench constrction.* Reports on those areas are pending. ----------- * For those following the nearby Los Angeles Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension thread, that area was checked out as well. While a whopping amount of work remains to be done on the Foothill Extension, in Irwindale NEW two direction diode color light signals on a single mast were erected, number plated with Santa Fe milepost related numbers! That will be posted in the Transit forum, and a link will appear below after it is ready for posting in a few days. LINK: Pending
LINK: Pending
I am trying to figure out the purpose of the large concrete "flying buttress" (for lack of a better term) that projects over the old roadbed in the top photo.
Gathering Tomorrow!
Below is one news source’s write-up about the Colton Flyover, Colton, CA.
LINK: Press-Enterprise News Write-Up on Opening Hoopla Wednesday
Memo to desertdog (8-27):
I think the below is what you were referring to with “flying buttress” in your last post.
That is where the BNSF Connector (the transition track in the northwest quadrant on the Colton Crossing) is located. Because of that curving track and severe angle, engineering designers could not put up traditional columns to support the Colton Flyover bridging over the BNSF Connector.
LINK: Aerial of BNSF Connector before the Colton Flyover
Thus, designers came up with your “flying buttress” design, with supporting columns on each side of the old Sunset Route tracks, which tracks will be converted to just one ground level track that both accesses the BNSF Connector and the Old Colton Yard.
It is hoped, John, that that explanation clears up matters for you (and actually dealt with what you meant). One thing different between us that I often take for granted is being able to personally see the Colton Flyover and its odd quirks, whereas you are far away in Texas. But, like you, most of this thread’s readers have not personally seen the Flyover, so there are gaps in their mental comprehension of what is actually there. But, bringing up those gaps like you did helps everyone when another in the know at the forum is able to come forward and fill in those gaps.
Take care,
Hi, K.P.,
Thank you for your explanation and accompanying photos. It all makes much more sense now.
KP Do you know if they are going to replace the Diamond at the Crossing with a Single Track Version? Looks like a good location for the new type where the wheels ride up over the BNSF Tracks on the Flange.
Have enjoyed following your Thread for several years now.
Keep up the Good Work
Lloyd
Super Hunky (8-27):
Thanks, Lloyd!
The plan is to replace the FOUR 90 degree diamonds with TWO (possibly three) slightly angled, maybe 15 degree ones. That should cut down the neighborhood noise considerably as some part of the wheels will always be on a railhead surface, whereas now every wheel drop-hits the flange-way opening hard and noisily. Of course, the neighbors are used to that noise, and absolutely nobody can say they were there first! I believe it was 1883 when the first Southern Pacific / California Southern diamond was put in.
Best,
Assuming they install OWLS diamonds the neighbors will appreciate the quiet.
Norm
Norm48327 Assuming they install OWLS diamonds the neighbors will appreciate the quiet.
Link for OWLS info http://www.progressrail.com/docs/owls-crossings.pdf
With all the tracks, airports and I-10 I am not sure they will notice. :)
Focusing on Two Neglected Areas
Part “A” (of A-F)
Puente Hills Intermodal Facility
City of Industry, CA
Looking east from Workman Mill Rd. a long wall-like heavy steel group of I-beams has taken shape.
Looking west, the fencing is now in place, but it is only thin typical fencing.
A relook eastward: On the first photo in this post, residential houses are visible on the far photo left. The heavy concrete and steelwork …
… may simply be to protect the very close residences in the event of a derailment of trash train rail cars during out and back switching operations. Though bolting such doesn’t seem very protective in a derailment.
Continued in Part B
Part “B” (of A-F)
A clear path seems to be being made so the PHIMF track can swing under the 60 Freeway. About a fourth of the way up on the right, there appears to be a dual-control switch being put in!
Looking east still, a path for the future PHIMF track (lower left) seems obvious now, and a new CP box is on site.
It was surprising that the future CP location’s electrical box had the CP C014 WORKMAN placard showing.
On a historical note this LA&SL line between Los Angeles and Riverside used to be single-track. Circa 1992-93 a good portion (but not all) was two-tracked. This illustrated portion was two-tracked at that particular time.
Continued in Part C
Part “C” (of A-F)
In light of the north side I-beams and concrete walling EAST of Workman Mill Rd., erecting some type of signaling for the new CP box may not be easy. Of course, there is some type of a signal bridging that is lying on the ground WEST of Workman Mill Rd.
The new concrete base-work is still just railroad west of Workman Mill Rd., and it is not clear yet what it suggests, at least to K.P.
Continued in Part D
Part “D” (of A-F)
Notice the milepost marker on the pole on the far right corresponds with the CP box number.
Since CP boxes generally are placed in the middle of a CP, those concrete bases shown in the last two photos of Part C suggests the west end of the CP will be on the west side of the north-south Workman Hill Rd.
More complicated CP’s usually have TWO electrical boxes, such as at CP SP648 BERTRAM by Salton Sea between Indio and Niland, CA
Since likely only one or two crossovers will be involved at the future CP C014 WORKMAN by Workman Mill Rd. in the City of Industry, and one track will only have intermediate signals which are easily wired, only a single box should be sufficient. CP SP648 BERTRAM is a complete universal crosses arrangement plus a siding switch.
Continued in Part E
Part “E” (of A-F)
The San Gabriel Trench
The San Gabriel Area, CA
From Ramona Ave., looking westbound little is seen but an orange skirting fence is up.
Looking east, there is nothing obvious construction-wise.
Farther east, at the third road, Del Mar Ave., cable of some sort is present on the east side.
Continued in Part F
Part “F” (of A-F)
At Walnut Grove Ave., where the trench will be halfway elevating out of the trench, while not much is present either, equipment and odds ends are present.
As seen in the last photo above, Walnut Grove Ave. is the location of a high and wide detector.
From there, K.P. zipped off to the Colton Flyover area, which photo coverage has already been posted about.
A Second Section immediately follows.
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