Update as of Thursday, June 25, 2014
Surprises Even with the Clock
The Area of the BNSF Truss Bridges
Grand Terrace, Colton, and Highgrove, CA
K.P. was surprised with an unexpected Thursday dispatch to San Bernardino, and figured he had one or two hours of free time. But, the free time was almost over before it started. But, he was able to pull off a few tricks, and managed to get some photos in nevertheless.
BNSF Main 1 (the right track) now goes through a truss bridge (the right one on the left), and parallels the Main 3 track through the left truss bridge (with the train traversing it).
K.P. thought the above photo, at the present two-track bridge over the I-215 Freeway, looked kind of funny, but couldn’t put his finger on it. You might not either. But he had opportunity to freeway-drive underneath the bridge, and small cross pieces have been removed!
A more thorough report and postings will be forthcoming in a few days.
Memo to MikeF90 (6-26):
I’ll say some questions are raised about the San Gabriel trench!
The aerial maps I referenced about your “East Ranch Wash” showed a wash-like area called Alhambra Wash. But, the below never before shown before particular photo doesn’t show what aerials do, so I am at a loss to comment.
Rubio Wash EAST of San Gabriel Blvd. seems to be a tricky situation. That is where that ‘angled’ bridge is being put in. (See lower left)
I have to wonder if a high walled cement structured waterway will be put in OVER the way down trench. But, then, one has to wonder if the east sloping would harmonize with such an arrangement.
You make a good point, Mike, about that angled bridge. (See above photo again, lower left) Whether that angle is deceptive or not may remain a mystery, considering the inaccessibleness of the spot.
These odd quirks are making for a more interesting project than it already was!
Take care,
K.P.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.
KP Is that angled bridge just a temporary structure to get the Shoofly across the Ditch and back over to tie in with the main? It appears to be very near the end of the Trench Construction Zone
Wondering how that crane to the left of the old bridge is being supported?
RickH
BarstowRick.com Model Railroading How To's
K. P. HarrierThe aerial maps I referenced about your “East Ranch Wash” showed a wash-like area called Alhambra Wash.
A useful source of elevation data that I just came across is the USGS National Elevation Dataset Point Query Service (whew!). It shows that the terrain rises from East Ranch Wash to Ramona Street about 27 feet and falls from San Gabriel Blvd to Walnut Grove Ave about 17 feet - good fortune for the construction.
FYI to @Super Hunky, I hope that the shoofly bridge is designed to be permanent. The shoofly grade will remain and will be leased to the city, probably for use as a bike / hiking trail.
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
Thank you as always, K.P., for the great pictures!
I drove on Walnut Grove last week and didn't feel like much progress had been made. Of course, your pictures indicate the progress was just to the west!
The Alternate Sunset Route
Part I (of I-IV)
A northward view from Main Street, the borderline between Highgrove and Colton: Mains 1 and 3 now are active over the truss bridges, and the old bridge is devoid of tracks.
A telephoto from Main Street of the devoid of tracks old bridge over I-215:
Most trains pass over the new truss bridges at a pretty good clip, but this train was crawling …
… and had OLD power, GP60M’s and GP60’s.
Continued in Part II
Part II (of I-IV)
The train is going too slow to be a normal westbound, even with authorization to pass the red flags up for the area.
Sure enough it branches off to the old San Jacinto Branch, likely receiving a red over flashing red to go into the dark line.
Of course, it had a variety of paint scheme, all ex-Santa Fe units. Whether K.P. arrives early or late, THAT “San Jac” train somehow seems to pass!
From the Barton Rd. area, looking south:
Continued in Part III
Part III (of I-IV)
A telephoto from Barton Rd.: Floodlights are visible, apparently for night work on the old bridge, or for when it will be physically taken down.
The truss bridge sections by Iowa Ave.:
K.P. theorizes the bridge sections will eventually be moved back (away from the camera, above) to Iowa Ave. (background), then forward, past the new Iowa Ave. and follow the freeway onramp to the installation site.
Continued in Part IV
Part IV (of I-IV)
This project seems to be going much slower now than expected. The old bridge over I-215 has to be removed first, old concrete supports removed, and NEW support abutments erected, which concrete typically has to wait a month before the 1,100,000 pound truss bridge sections can be rested on them.
Presently, the north section (closest to the freeway) by Iowa Ave. has railings attached …
… but the south section does not yet.
The spans are thus continuing to evolve, but perhaps now more slowly, especially after the dismantling LA&SL bridge collapse incident over the 91 Freeway nearby in Riverside.
K.P. had an unexpected and increasingly more involved dispatch as time went on yesterday, Friday. Unfortunately, the truss bridge site was went past late at night, so NO photos of underneath the present old spans being disassembled could be attempted. Maybe another time … There were also NO nighttime floodlights burning anywhere at the site.
This will conclude this brief series.
There has been some speculation on this forum about whether or not there is a left-hand operating bias on the Gila Sub west of Tucson. On a recent visit to Arizona, I attempted to verify this one way or another with mixed results:
Traveling west from Tucson on 6/12/14 Tucson to Maricopa. No train activity whatsoever on the main line. Very unusual. The only activity was the switch job working Casa Grande yard.6/17/14 Casa Grande to Tucson. Five trains total, two running left-hand, three running right-hand. One of the left-running trains was the CSX run-through with the typical block of Tropicana cars at the head end. It may have been running around the train in front of it. But all told, it was not enough of a sample to come to any conclusions about bias one way or the other.
I'll be headed that way again in early August and hope to have something more tangible to report.As usual there was a string of loaded auto racks sitting on the siding at Red Rock both days. I'm assuming this is a set out for Phoenix. If so, perhaps there is a vandalism problem in Picacho. Or, maybe the track configuration makes it hard to pick up a set out there. I'd be interested in finding the answer.Though not directly on topic, there was plenty of activity on the T&P east of El Paso, with a second main under construction in Midland.
John Timm
The San Gabriel Trench
Evaluating the Long Shoofly…
… Oddly Changing Sides
Unless otherwise specified, all Exhibits in this posting are within the San Gabriel Trench area, San Gabriel, CA.
EXHIBIT #1:
It has been suggested that the ANGLED new bridging (in the just below photo) between San Gabriel Blvd. (M.P. 491.23) and Walnut Grove Ave. (M.P. 491.67) is only an illusion.
EXHIBIT #2:
That conclusion is a logical one, for the angled Track 112 across the BNSF (in the M.P. 538.7 area) on OWLS diamonds at Colton, CA looks more angled than it actually is.
However, in Exhibit #1 the angle of the roof of the whitish building on the left does NOT match the angle of the new presumably railroad bridging right of photo center. What logic might there be for this?
EXHIBIT #3:
West of Ramona St. (M.P. 490.2) the Main (on the SOUTH [left] side of the Alhambra Trench, on the potential future Main 2 alignment) comes out of that Alhambra Trench so that the Main ends up on the potential future Main 1 alignment.
March 30, 2011 Photo
Thus, a future Main 2 in the San Gabriel Trench (western end) would be on the SOUTH side.
EXHIBIT #4:
Significantly, to the east, at the west switch of the El Monte siding, at CP AL493 EL MONTE (M.P. 493.5), the siding is on the NORTH side (right), so the potential future Main 1 (NOT Main 2) will be on the north side. View looks west.
May 14, 2010 Photo
The above view was from Baldwin Ave. (M.P. 493.60), and cannot be duplicated today, as an underpass is replacing the grade crossing.
EXHIBIT #5:
So, what it amounts to is that the single-track Main could have a future second-track on the south side towards the trench’s west, but to the north in the east.
EXHIBIT #6:
Thus, an alignment shift in the Rubio Wash area could explain the necessity of a temporary angled “shoofly” bridge having been constructed.
Likely, then, ultimately Rubio WASH will BRIDGE over the railroad TRENCH, and the track (and the two-track grading) will elevate eastward afterwards to ground level somewhere east of Walnut Grove Ave. (M.P. 491.67).
But, MikeF90 mentioned topographic maps that show a lowering in elevation of the landscape eastward towards El Monte, so the trench may (“may”) be flat and not have to elevate at all to reach the east side limits of the San Gabriel Trench project.
The shoofly on the east, then, should be laid on the opposite side (south side) of the trenching (north side), which trenching would change from the south side (on the west) to the north side (on the east).
EXHIBIT #7
IF (“if”) in the end the San Gabriel Trench will have only one track actually laid in it, likely it will be as such:
Obviously, we will have to wait and see if things work out that way, but as it stands now, the above theorizing seems to make sense …
desertdog (6-29):
Greetings, John!
I read with interest your finding on June 17, 2014 that the loaded Phoenix bound auto-rack cars are regularly set out at the north side Red Rock siding in Arizona. Below is a previously posted December 15, 2013 eastward looking photo near CP SP950 RED ROCK (M.P. 950.2) from Park Link Rd., with suchlike cars tied down on the siding, so it is definitely a regular occurrence!
While the Sunset Route biases have been very consistent between El Paso and Cienega Creek (right running), and Cienega Creek to Tucson (left running), I experienced the same thing you did Tucson to Estrella, the latter considerably west of Maricopa, with biases unclear. It is just a matter of time, though, that you or someone else here at the forum sees a consistent pattern with large numbers of trains, but that requires time. Maybe I’ll spend a whole day just in the Red Rock area, within twenty miles either way and a consistent pattern will surely surface …
Why hello, diningcar! (7-2):
It has been a long time since we’ve post conversed in THIS thread!
Every few years I somehow look at aerials of the southern BNSF Transcon, and those aerials repeatedly and consistently show historical biases, i.e., right running west of Winslow, AZ, and left running east of said location.
AERIAL LINK: Middle of Nowhere, NM -- Left Bias
AERIAL LINK: West of Gallup, NM -- Left Bias
AERIAL LINK: East of Winslow, AZ -- Left Bias
Reversal of biases:
AERIAL LINK: West of Winslow, AZ -- Right Bias
AERIAL LINK: West of Seligman, AZ -- Right Bias
The above aerial links were selected haphazardly, but the consistent biases are discernable.
Examples of one reason that there are biases on the southern Transcon:
AERIAL LINK: West of Belen, NM -- Left Bias w/ Separated Track
AERIAL LINK: Klondike, CA -- Right Bias w/ Separated Track
Suchlike separated tracks that I can think of are west of Belen, NM; Kingman, AZ; Ibis, Klondike, and Cajon Pass, CA.
Unlike most of the Sunset Route that had long been only single-track between Los Angeles and El Paso that received a two-tracking treatment in the last decade or so, the “southern” Transcon has long been “double-track” (signaled in ONLY one direction per track), at least from San Bernardino, CA to Belen, NM.
When you, diningcar, crew-surveyed the 40 miles plus or minus Crookton line relocation of 1959-1960, the natural crossover west of Ash Fork was eliminated, and as you know, it was never replaced with a counterpart on the new Crookton reroute. That meant the Automatic Block Signal (ABS) orientations of “double track” would collide, so Santa Fe put in “two-track” CTC between Seligman and Winslow, AZ, and with multiple tracks at Winslow, the reversing of biases there has worked just fine, even with 80 to 100 trains a day today. (As BNSF pushes the envelope of track capacity, they may want to rethink not having a flyover. They probably could build a very, very cheap one in the Seligman, AZ area. Of course, maybe the biases were reversed when two-tracking from the east came west through Abo Canyon and the east … Anybody know?)
It has been my personal experience that biases are seldom discernable by radio chatter between train crews and dispatchers. A case in point is BNSF’s Cajon Pass. With three-tracks there now, there is little radio talk anymore, but the perpetual biases (eastbound trains tend to be routed Main 1) are very evident to observers on site.
I live in the Cajon Pass area, and traverse through there quite often, and see the biases first hand all the time.
On the Sunset Route between Tucson, AZ and Los Angeles, CA there is still so much single-track remaining, as at CP SP812 AZTEC …
… it is often hard to perceive any biases on the western part that is two-tracked, or they are not in conformity with the natural flyover at Cienega Creek in Arizona.
When the two-tracking of the Sunset Route between El Paso and Los Angeles is finally finished sometime in the future, biases should become more prominent on the western half, just like it is on the eastern half.
Dispatchers these days don’t have time for ‘variety is the spice of life’ track selection fun. They are stressed from working large and crowded territories, and so they often set signals to self-clear repeatedly so they don’t have to watch them all the time, and that fact seems to go hand in hand with the concept of biases.
Good seeing your post contribution in THIS thread again,
And now for something completely different...
For dweebs like me who enjoy the aerial overview of Sunset Route happenings, I noted the recent addition of a "new" overhead (Google Earth imagery 3/22/2013) of the Marsh Station Road rail and highway improvents. But first, why so long to splice in this new overhead? My conjecture: that the scene is so far out in the middle of nowhere, and few (except us) are interested in photo updates in this territory.
What I personally find most interesting is that the newly constructed segment of track north of I-10 has not yet been added to the Google Earth railway overlay (a helpful refinement on which I rely), so one can see what appears to be westbound (yes! a westbound) train on the new segment, and two cuts of stored rolling stock on the soon to be abandoned old line. The staging of highway construction material and grading for new, separated westbound highway lanes are also visible if you lower the viewing height enough. This view was not shown two weeks ago, the last time I checked out this territory.
Google Earth also has spliced in a brand new overhead (imagery date 5/2/2014) of the Santa Teresa terminal near Strauss, NM. Given the usual lag in Google Earth cutting over new overhead imagery, this is like it was done yesterday. Perhaps the rapidity with which this appeared is due to rapidly rising commercial interest in the Santa Teresa terminal.
Hope a few find this note of interest interesting...
billio (7-3):
Yes, aerials are frustrating because of their lack of timeliness.
Your post reminded me about a different area, a rather weird one, and with a renewed looking at aerials of that area it became even weirder!
Just WEST of the Picacho, AZ area (the west part of Picacho is the Sunset Route junction with the Phoenix line), there has been a future (i.e., it assumedly doesn’t exist yet) dead-end, CTC signal controlled spur at CP SP935 LA PALMA (M.P. 935.3). Just east of the incomplete CP are two setout-like tracks, as with the following aerial:
AERIAL LINK: Unusual Against the Flow Setout Type Tracks
(The aerial can be adjusted for a wider or more close-up view as needed.)
Those spur tracks (then under construction at the time of the above aerial and presumably finished by now) connect to the mains in an opposite way to the expected flow of traffic operating biases (eastbound on Main 1 and westbound on Main 2). Maybe (“maybe”) they will be holding spurs for power waiting for a coming train’s setout, which set out the power will take up to Phoenix. Of course, they could merely be meaningless maintenance-of-way spurs too. Oh, the lack of timeliness about aerials …
Might it not also be possible that those sidings at Picacho are in preparation for the future Red Rock Yard leads, which are going to be required in that area?
UP track designers may just be preparing in advance for the Red Rock Yard so the line does't have to be closed in the future to cut in the required switches.
Remembering a Super Tragedy of 25 Years Ago
On May 12, 1989 one of the more disastrous train wrecks occurred, in San Bernardino, CA, on the then Southern Pacific Palmdale Cutoff, just several miles north of the Sunset Route that passed through Colton, which route the ill-fated train was heading to. The four lead locomotives were destroyed, as well as all 69 cars of the trona carrying train. The two rear manned helper units were damaged, and one of which was sold and the other rebuilt. Two trainmen were killed, as well as two children that lived in housing nearly trackside. Press and TV coverage was outstanding, and extensive. K.P. on the afternoon of the incident visited the site, and saw firsthand the mangled long heap. A traffic jam of spectators clogged Highland Ave., a then key artery of the area.
About two weeks later, on May 25, 1989, the pipeline that followed the tracks suddenly manifested damage it had received during recovery efforts a few weeks earlier, and a petroleum fire burst forth, obliterating the neighborhood even further, with even more fatalities.
A Wikipedia account of the incidents is linked below for those interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_train_disaster
Back in 1989 news of the train wreck tragedy became super personal to K.P. One of the trainmen killed was a gentleman with the last name of Crown. K.P. met an SP trainmen by that name in Cajon Pass just months earlier, and him and I both shared a warm chat for quite a while. Matter of fact, the chat was so friendly and long it got dark on us, and we then said our goodbyes. Unfortunately, my car battery had died, but Mr. Crown came to the rescue with his jumper cables. We again chatted briefly, and then we split for good. He was just a super nice guy and kind of a railbuff too!
It is too bad Mr. Crown never got to know that Union Pacific gobbled up Southern Pacific, nor that a big portion of the Sunset Route that he also rode over as an engineman was two-tracked.
--------
K.P. ironically was on assignment in San Bernardino Tuesday, July 8, 2014, and got some contemporary photos of that tragic area and what it looks like today. He also passed through the Grand Terrace area too, and the SOUTH section (railroad west) of the old BNSF Bridge over the I-215 Freeway had been taken down and removed, and the old south abutment was in the process of being demolished. The north section was still in place. Photos of both areas mentioned above should be forthcoming hopefully Wednesday afternoon.
K.P.:
A very nice story about Mr. Crown. Thank you for sharing. The tragedy is well-remembered. I have seen a detailed documentary about it on YouTube-- very sad.
Thanks for the continued, excellent coverage of SoCal railroading.
John
A great catch of the perfect ATSF/BNSF paint scheme trifecta. It is nice to see such a perfect "heritage" trio working a branch train!
Update as of Tuesday, July 8, 2014
The Truss Bridges Status
In the Grand Terrace, CA Area
Part “A” (of A-E)
The south (west) section (right) of the old BNSF two-track bridge has been taken down and removed:
A belted shovel machine was working the demolition.
Continued in Part B
Part “B” (of A-E)
The very mobile belted machine was a show in itself …
… as it relocated itself, even going up and down a trackside embankment.
Continued in Part C
Part “C” (of A-E)
A worker braved the debris.
Over the freeway onramp (lower part of photo) the new truss bridges by Iowa Ave. likely will take while being transported to the installation site after new abutments are in place and the cement hardens and cures.
Continued in Part D
Part “D” (of A-E)
The new truss bridges about a quarter of a mile to the southwest are coming along construction-wise.
The hand railings are in place now on the southern of the two spans by Iowa Ave.
A wire with yellow flags so workers do not accidentally fall off the structure:
Continued in Part “E”
Part “E” (of A-E)
Parapet-like vertical rods and wires between them prevent workers walking on top of the spans from falling. They seem to be permanent.
Just north of the new and old spans over the I-215 Freeway is a severed spur.
According to the below aerial, it has been severed for some time.
LINK: Aerial of Spur Just North of the I-215 Freeway
The severed spur in the above photo seems to have been cleared off the right-of-way, so when the additional truss bridge is installed maybe (“maybe”) south of here (at BNSF CP HIGHGROVE) Main 1 will go straight instead of curving into the Main 2 alignment which is presently termed Main 1. Got that?
Below is a previously shown photo of that arrangement, looking north (east), with Main 1 in the foreground center (as the leftmost track) and background left track.
Mains 1 and 3 presently go over the I-215 Freeway, and have been designated that way for years.
It is unknown if the new Main 1 over the yet future Main 1 BRIDGE will swing southward to the present alignment, or grading will be put in so that Main 1 to the north (by the new truss bridge) connects straight into Main 1 to the south (above last photo).
This will conclude the series. However, a Second, Third, and Fourth Sections follow on another matter.
Second Section
The 1989 Train Disaster Site Today
San Bernardino, CA
These extra sections show what is present today, after 25 years.
The Palmdale Cutoff over Highland Ave.: I-210 is to the south (right), and the wreck site just to the north (left)
Just to the south is the bridge over the I-210 Freeway.
The line then curves southwest over a wide wash.
Looking the other way, with a north slant, the actual wreck site:
Above, because of the curving most of the 1989 derailment landed on the other side of the elevated track, many landing on residential houses.
Continued in Third Section
Third Section
Somewhere in this area, during cleanup operations, the high embankment was severed, and a path was cleared so four locomotives and a bunch of trona cars could be staged for hauling away.
Actually inside the residential neighborhood now, northwest to southwest view of where demolished houses once were
In the last photo above is the bridge over Highland Ave. we saw earlier.
Continued in Fourth Section
Fourth Section
A block away from the trackside houseless land is this now also houseless densely populated residential area. Cleared because all the houses were burned in the pipeline explosion and fire that lasted for hours and hours a week or so after the derailment, and they never were rebuilt.
Part of the longevity of the intense fire was because of the pipeline itself. The pipeline went OVER Cajon Pass, and all that fuel came back downhill to the fiery burst pipeline site itself.
After the fire was out, K.P. visited the area. An eastbound (now southbound) SP had comedown Cajon Pass sometime after the fire started and had gotten blocked, and was tied down and likely crewless after so many hours.
This will conclude the extra sections.
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