Flooding in Upper Midwest

[SFbrkmn]

Being curious, earlier in the wk I glanced @  the working boards for W Quincy to see how the Hannibal Sub was being effected. All the engr & condr pool turns were abolished, those crews being placed on the bump board. The xtra boards were sliced down to about 5 on each board. The senior dudes cut off the pool boards  are CBQ guys w/ around 40 yrs service and they probably don't have a clue on how to mark up on another board. A glance last night showed some turns were put back on, so atleast there is traffic starting to move once again and folks are going back to work.

[GrimsbyRailfan]

PLEASE REROUTE TRAINS IN TO SOUTHERN ONTARIO!!!

[Los Angeles Rams Guy]

Sounds like the detours by CPRS could be ongoing for a while anyway as the latest Customer Service Bulletin that came to my inbox stated that affected portion between Portage and Milwaukee probably wouldn't even be inspected until sometime late this next week due to water levels.  Looks like there were 4 CPRS detours on the ICE between La Crescent and Pingree Grove (2 west, 2 east) yesterday (Wednesday 6-18).

Brian, have you heard anything as to when the CN's Iowa Division mainline will be fully operational again? 

[CNW 6000]

CP is even detouring on the CN.  This picture was taken yesterday in Oshkosh:

CN seems to be back up to speed through town.  The loco that flipped in the mud (IC 6204) is reportedly back on rails again and in NFDL for repair/evaluation for repair.

What time did that reroute go thru? The last couple of days, ive caught them coming into neenah around 9:00ish am. Didnt hear one yesturday (6-18) at all.

Mondays detour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acGmta3IrDE

Tuesdays detour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MYc_JcycNw

 

Paul

NB at noonish.

[tree68]

Take a look at the Fort Madison cam today - only the tops of the rails are visible.  Yesterday they were still running trains through there.

[Soo 6604]

CP is even detouring on the CN.  This picture was taken yesterday in Oshkosh:

CN seems to be back up to speed through town.  The loco that flipped in the mud (IC 6204) is reportedly back on rails again and in NFDL for repair/evaluation for repair.

What time did that reroute go thru? The last couple of days, ive caught them coming into neenah around 9:00ish am. Didnt hear one yesturday (6-18) at all.

Mondays detour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acGmta3IrDE

Tuesdays detour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MYc_JcycNw

 

Paul

[CNW 6000]

CP is even detouring on the CN.  This picture was taken yesterday in Oshkosh:

CN seems to be back up to speed through town.  The loco that flipped in the mud (IC 6204) is reportedly back on rails again and in NFDL for repair/evaluation for repair.

[zardoz]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin's severe flooding is taking a toll on railroad service, both freight and passenger, because of washouts and damaged track left by the high water that hit the state this month.

"The flooding has pretty much crippled our operations," said Ken Lucht of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad. "A lot of what we're doing right now is waiting for the water to recede so we can see what the damage is."

Lucht estimated that repairing the line between Madison and Prairie du Chien will cost about $1 million.

The railroad is responsible for maintenance and the cost of repairing tracks it leases from the state, he said, and it might eligible for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The line between Madison and Reedsburg is owned by the railroad and likely won't quality for aid.

The flood-related problems aren't limited to his railroad, he said.

"All of the major railroads have been incurring temporary shutdowns and embargoes," Lucht said.

Also, Amtrak has had to bus passengers on a Wisconsin segment of its Empire Builder line, which runs between Chicago and Seattle and Portland. The bus service is taking passengers from Wisconsin Dells, Tomah and La Crosse to St. Paul, Minn., where they're able to board the train.

One exception is the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway's route along the Mississippi River. It hasn't been disrupted in Wisconsin, and other railroads are using it as an alternate route.

But the BNSF has tracks flooded near St. Louis, said spokesman Steve Forsberg.

"We're doing so much rerouting of our own traffic because of problems farther south that we've added to the congestion on alternate routes," he said.

Among the worst problems:

- The Canadian Pacific line that runs from La Crosse to Milwaukee and south to Illinois, also used by Amtrak, is closed because of flooded tracks near the Reeseville Marsh west of Watertown. The same flooding has shut down the Wisconsin & Southern line between Madison and Watertown. The Union Pacific route between Chicago and Minneapolis also has flooded tracks.

- The Wisconsin & Southern line between Madison and Reedsburg is closed because of flooded and damaged tracks near Reedsburg and at Devil's Lake.

- The Wisconsin & Southern line between Madison and Prairie du Chien is closed west of Avoca, and 500 feet of the line has washed out at Wauzeka.

---

Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

[blhanel]

Thanks, Jim, I really appreciate the support.  Although the flood didn't affect me personally, I do know many people who have lost alot- especially a Lutheran minister who is also a member of our church.  A year ago he started Crossroads Mission to minister to the poor and disadvantaged people on the near SW side of town- today it is totally wiped out (it was in the basement of a church on 2nd Ave SW).  The good news is that he will recover, with the help of our congregation and many others.  My daughter is even drumming up funds and support over in her West Des Moines church for Crossroads.

We've got a lot of work to do here- our symphony lost their home, along with some of their instruments (Paramount Theater), our local theater troupe lost 85% of their costumes along with their building (Theatre Cedar Rapids), the main library got dealt a serious blow, the new YMCA is trashed, as well as the National Czech/Slovak Museum, etc. etc.

Give us a few months, though- I'm willing to bet we can erase the scars and make this town look better than ever.

[eolafan]

Brian, keep a stiff upper lip buddy and you and your neighbors and family/friends will come through this in good shape.

By the way, I stopped by the UP Proviso diesel facility while driving home from Milwaukee today and found tons of power congregating near the "house" with much of it shut down.  Very little evident movement in the yard as I crossed over the tracks on the Mannheim Road bridge.  No doubt this is all due to the lack of traffic attributed to your situation in Iowa.

Keep the faith!

[blhanel]

I just ran an errand down to the southwest side of town, and on the way I took a couple of "detours" to see what's happening- lots of MOW activity everywhere on the UP, didn't see any trains running though.  The crossing gates for C St. SW in front of the power plant are completely gone, not sure if the flood took them out or MOW did.  There must have been a dozen utility/maintenance trucks congregated down there.  I was not able to eyeball the bridge, as C St. is still under water north of the grade crossing.  Downtown CR is a beehive- the First, Second, Third, and Eighth Ave. bridges are now all open, in spite of having debris piled on the upstream side of the pillars.  A crew is working on clearing debris from along the UP bridge near Quaker.  People are getting access to their homes and businesses, and piles of curbside trash are growing quickly.  Quite a sad sight on an otherwise beautiful day.

[Anonymous]

Just updating from the east USA....On the old PRR monongahela Division, there is still 3 drags  a day of coal and nothing but NS locos I think all the BNSF AND UP are stuck Over in the midwest, because usually there are BNSF and UP helpers hanging out in Shire oaks(Average rail yard)

[Anonymous]

The quarry at Rock Springs hasn't opened yet for the season, from what I have been told.  Can't get to within 20 miles of there by rail right now anyways...  UP has been getting similar rock from South Dakota, D&I railroad.

Maybe the UP will get the rock it needs from the ballast quarry at Dresser, WI?

[tree68]

Fort Madison Railcam

Lots of water - the old ATSF station appears to have wet feet.

[zardoz]

Satellite photos of the flooded areas:

Iowa:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=18060

 

Illinois & Indiana:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=18056

 

[WSOR 3801]

The quarry at Rock Springs hasn't opened yet for the season, from what I have been told.  Can't get to within 20 miles of there by rail right now anyways...  UP has been getting similar rock from South Dakota, D&I railroad.

[Chris30]

The Overland Route with a one track bridge and bottleneck over the river in Cedar Rapids. That should have a few UP officials kicking themselves and muttering.... "not again!".

BTW.. I'm sure that the UP needs a lot of ballast right now. Are there in any issues getting the pink rock out of Reedsburg? I know there were some water issues up around Devils Lake and N Freedom.

CC

[RRKen]

From reading the posts on this thread, watching the news, etc. it sounds like the main issue to getting the UP Overland Route through Iowa back up and running again is the Cedar River bridge. Anybody have any ideas on how long it's going to take to inspect and repair that bridge? What's the process? If I'm reading / following everything, once that bridge reopens and traffic starts moving on the Overland Route through Iowa again it will be the only east/west main line open accross the state.

 UP sent it's new construction gang from Mason City to Cedar Rapids yesterday.   I assume they are there to rehab the route as they did in Wisconsin.    This is a crack gang who can lay new rail like the best of them.    

 Word up here is track #2 lost a span at CR.  Nothing verified yet.

[jeffhergert]

I just heard from a fellow engineer that at least one of the tracks over the Cedar River at Beverly is back in service.  He said they are going to start to run trains tonight.

I was watching CNN this afternoon.  They were reporting from Burlington, Iowa right by the CB&Q steam engine on display.  When they were live, there was quite a few shots of it.  Snippets that they re-broadcast don't show it as much. 

Jeff 

[eolafan]

I drove from Aurora, IL to Madison, WI this morning in 2.5 hours with no problems whatsoever, although I did notice the streams and rivers I crossed while driving were really super high.  This afternoon I took a chance and ventured onto I94 east towards Milwaukee (my overnight destination) and got about fifteen or twenty miles before eastbound traffic stopped dead in its tracks (no pun intended) before we crossed the Rock River where the water was within about ten feet of the roadway.  The WDOT was creating temporary crossover traffic lanes and plans on temporarily having the eastbound two lanes handle traffic in both directions (the westbound lanes must be a little lower than the eastbound lanes).  We crawled in traffic for about twenty miles until we got to about Oconomowoc where things let lose until we got to Milwaukee for rush hour...oh, well, whatever.

Hope we don't get lots  more rain this week or at least until the water level in the rivers and streams goes way down.

[EJE818]

The CP is washed out around Reeseville, and it sounds like it is washed out pretty badly. Hopefully the UP will be back up and running soon, I've seen far more BNSF trains on the Rochelle webcam than UP.

[Los Angeles Rams Guy]

Actually, the CPRS mainline between St. Paul and River Junction (La Crescent) is fine as trains are currently operating on it.  As mentioned in an earlier post this A.M., the CP is using the ICE between River Junction and Samoa and then across the River to Savanna thence eastward via Davis Junction to Bensenville (I'm a bit surprised that Amtrak's Empire Builder isn't doing the same).  Actually, the mainline between La Crosse and Portage was (to my understanding anyway) okay.  It's just between Portage and Milwaukee where there's a ton of problems. 

Presumably/hopefully UP will get the "Overland Route" mainline up and running soon between Clinton and Mo Valley.  When that happens I'd be leery about other railroads being able to reroute much over any one segment.  There's probably a huge amount of stuff the UP needs to get rid of at Proviso and Bailey Yards.  Having said that, I'm not sure when the CN's Iowa Division mainline will be fully operational again (much less the secondary mainline between Manchester and Cedar Rapids) or when the IAIS will get its Cedar River bridge at Moscow back.

Looks like the BNSF's former "Q" mainline at Burlington is going to be a bit wet for a while. 

Just saw the latest Customer Bulletin in my inbox.  Water levels that are affecting the CP mainline between Portage and Milwaukee are expected to crest today. 

 

[CShaveRR]

When we were out trackside earlier this morning (for about twenty minutes total), we caught four freights (there was one time when all three tracks were occupied simultaneously!).  Unfortunately, all pertained to this side of the river.  First was a westbound local to West Chicago, then an eastbound from Peoria, then a very short westbound stack train (hard to say on that one--was probably at least going to stop at Global 3), and finally an eastbound that seemed to be carrying nothing but traffic from Sterling.

[cnwfan2]

I live in Fond Du Lac,Wi and we were hit big time with the flood.I was in Chicago when the floods came into FDL.When I was in the Chicago Union Station, on June 15, I had seen and heard that the Empire Builder was having two buses going to Minnesota.1 bus was to go to Minneapolis,and those going farther were to be bused to St.Paul.From there passengers were to get on an express bus that would take them to the Dakotas,Montana,Idaho, and Oregon.The California Zepher was canceled outright.The Canadian Pacific Railine was washed out from West Portage to Tomah,LaCrosse,and all along the Mississippi River.The Watertown,Wi Subdivision was closed as well.The Amtrak Hiawatha train has no problem, from Chicago to Milwaukee and back.It was an excellent ride.Upon returning back to FDL, I saw alot of debris from people's homes,along the curbs.Where I live,which is near the Canadian National, South entrance to the Shops Yard,and the FDL River,there was more debris piled on the curbs,by houses,near where I live.Thankfully,spared,and very blessed,I did NOT loose anything I had ,which is my 8x16x6x2 foot HO scale layout ,out of print and current railroad books,magazines,locomotives,freight cars.....all was safe and in plastic containers,along with having built shelves to hold this stuff too.There were a few things in boxes,but none of the contents got water damaged,just the boxes.Only one magazine was hit,but very salvageable and readable -Trains magazine, February 1985-which featured the Tower 55 area ,and The Hill on SP.This is one of many favs I have.As for traffic on the CN,all is active,though the trains are going at restricted slow speeds heading Southbound.

[Chris30]

From reading the posts on this thread, watching the news, etc. it sounds like the main issue to getting the UP Overland Route through Iowa back up and running again is the Cedar River bridge. Anybody have any ideas on how long it's going to take to inspect and repair that bridge? What's the process? If I'm reading / following everything, once that bridge reopens and traffic starts moving on the Overland Route through Iowa again it will be the only east/west main line open accross the state. That would mean a lot of trains. Not just UP, but also detours from BNSF, CN, IAIS and maybe even the Amtrak Cal Zeph. Anybody have a guess as to what type of capacity the UP will be able to handle?

CC

[CShaveRR]

They've started deadhead crews to Clinton today.  I'ld guess this means the main is close to re-opening.

UP's report as of yesterday afternoon said that the Clinton, Trenton, and Tara Subs were all that remained out of service.  A lot of subdivisions that had been shut down (including the Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Adams Subs to the north) are now open.  If they were deadheading the crews to Clinton, I guess that line is at least now capable of being inspected, and the results look pretty good.

[Los Angeles Rams Guy]

Brian,

Some very good shots of what's been going on in C.R......Just amazing.

Meanwhile, it appears that the Turkey River bridge on the ICE must still somehow be hanging in there as the CP detours continue to roll hot and heavy on "my mainline" between La Crescent and Samoa.   Looks like there were at least 3 CP trains on Saturday (6-14)  4 on Sunday (6-15), and 3 again yesterday in addition to the normal ICE trains.  Another eastbound intermodal train went by the La Crescent reader very early this A.M.  Not sure when the Chicago-Twin Cities mainline between Milwaukee and Portage will be up and ready to go again.  Only wish I could be getting shots of all these detours going through the middle of the street in Lansing.     

[Victrola1]

Why the Cargill mess? The photos look like the grain elevators failed at their bottom.

I have seen flooded metal grain bins on farms burst at the bottom. Soaked grain swells. I wonder if this is what happened at Cargill.

[blhanel]

Here's a couple of shots I just got while wandering around outside the hospital-

A very dark Quaker Oats plant

St. Luke's helicopter:

[jeffhergert]

The UP's North yard is the ex-RI yard by Quaker Oats.

They've started deadhead crews to Clinton today.  I'ld guess this means the main is close to re-opening.

Jeff