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Juny 18, 2015 Trip to Control Points on the Seattle Subdivison Part V
17. Harvest SBCS.
18. Amtrak 506 heads north past the intermediate at Harvest which is only a control point on Main 1 and the Drill Track.
19. Work at Toleff. This is at the south end of the construction area. Lots of cables and a big assembly area for switches.
20. I don't know if they are going to build a overpass over the mains but with all of the heavy equipment in the area and the way it's appears to be shaping up, they may be doing that.
Juny 18, 2015 Trip to Control Points on the Seattle Subdivison Part VI
21. The U EVEROO1 18A slowly heading through the crossing at Todd Road near Toleff.
22. At Interstate South, NBCS. The Roo again this time in notch 8 accelerating. Also, a surprise to me since I didn't see it until it was in my camera's eye, G ANVKAL9 14A heading slowly north.
23. The Roo finally in proper range.
24. The DP of the grainer at the SBCS at Interstate South. There were some workers who were busy on a project north of me along the tracks but I don't know what it was. I'll have to wait upon some news from Pete Sakes...
That's it for the control points on the Seattle Sub. I'll keep looking at our General Orders for other control point improvements such as Nisqually and our triple tracking from Black River down to James Street and then from Thomas to Pacific, then I'll head off and take some more pictures. I had a picture of the WBCS for Camas Siding, on the Fallbridge Sub, from a 90 degree angle but couldn't get too close, plus I couldn't find the EBCS with some driving around in Camas. I may need to do a Google Map for them. Maybe I'll check it out at a later date.
20. I don't know if they are going to build a overpass over the mains but with all of the heavy equipment in the area and the way it's appears to be shaping up, they may be doing that.
That's about time in Ridgefield. They had been holding freight train speeds hostage for too many years. With the track configuration we could go through the town at 50 MPH but they wanted us down to 35 MPH across their crossings. The area I was at was right at Todd Road near the Harvest States Grain Elevator about 12 miles north of Ridgefield.
I had a picture of the WBCS for Camas Siding, on the Fallbridge Sub, from a 90 degree angle but couldn't get too close, plus I couldn't find the EBCS with some driving around in Camas. I may need to do a Google Map for them. Maybe I'll check it out at a later date.
Will the new bridge be single or double track? That line gets a lot of traffic.
I could think of a place I'd like to see the old bridge reused, but I don't think it'd be feasible to move something that large to Snoqualmie Falls. (Mad dreams of expanding a certain railroad museum's more scenic trackage)
Will all of this construction on the Seattle sub, it looks as though double tracking the remaining single track portions of the Scenic between Mukilteo and Pt. Wells will be put on hold for yet another year.
Will all of this construction on the Seattle sub, it looks as though double tracking the remaining single track portions of the Scenic between Mukilteo and Pt. Wells will be put on hold for yet another year.
Thank you for all of the good news. I forgot they were going to replace the bridge. I see the bridge's speed restriction is 40 MPH with the speed limit 40 MPH from 24.0 to 24.9 and the bridge's MP is 24.8 which I found by using the google link you included up above. Looking at the west end of the bridge from the ground I saw the MP sign, thanks.
5. NBCS at Kalama. On the left is the Drill Track (Storage three), Main 1 then Main 2 and the Kalama House Track. The Drill track will be raised to a higher speed and named perhaps the Peavy Main? The entering switches at Kalama and Harvest off of Main 1 are listed at 30 MPH but walking by the hand throw switches they have yet to have any electrical connections to allow a speed more than 20 MPH nor have any switches have locks on them. Currently the speed on the track is 10 MPH.
6. The construction area with a signal bungalow mentioned by Pete Sakes. Peavy Main is faintly scribbled on the bungalow.
7. The SBCS that are not in operation on Main 1 and 2 for the new CP at MP 105.71. Peavy the name perhaps??
8. A number #24 switch at the north end of Kalama near Peavy.
Looking up some info from WSDOT, they will fill in approximately 3.6 acres of wetlands east of Main 2 to make Main 3 mostly up in the Kalama area. This new Main 3 will be 4.1 miles long and will require a lot of filling plus grading since near Harvest CP there are some significant rocks to the east of Main 2. All in all, it will be a 3.8 mile long Peavy Main or maybe Running Track along the west side of Main 1 and the new Main 3 to the east of Main 2 from the Kalama River Bridge to south of the new Toleff Road overpass. I look forward to checking this out again in a few months.
A LOT of fill dirt has been brought in between the bridge north of the Longview yard and Kelso South along the main 2 side in the last week! Also, they are building up fill in the wetlands along main 2 across from the Longview yard. I'm wondering what they're going to do about the 2-track bridge just north of the yard? Build a parallel single-track bridge or build a new 3-track bridge? I didn't see any signs of bridge-related work yet, such as digging or foundation prep work.
A new 240 foot single track bridge is to be built over the Coweeman river right there. Bridges take a bit longer to engineer out and bring in all of the parts for so I'm not surprised that dirt is being dumped first. Also, with fill dirt, you have to load it for months before it can be used as a road bed. Up in Everett, they loaded up the Lowell Running Track's subgrade for 9 months with 3 feet of fill above where the beginning of the subgrade would be. It was 8 feet high at one time above the boggy ground which was prone to flooding and contained by big concrete blocks. I can't access the pictures from 2008 anymore on the Forum that showed that, for some reason. I got 'em on my home computer, though.
The new 1.6 mile long, 25 MPH, CTC, "Inspection Track" (IT) has become operational at Swift, WA. Now there is a Siding, IT and Mainline through there. The Siding speed has been dropped from 30 MPH to 25 MPH. I haven't been up there to take pictures in a long time but it seems they built the IT on the new subgrade to the east of the Siding. I know they moved signals and switches south 739 feet and north 452 feet and added cantilever signal bridges for SBCS at South Swift and NBCS at North Swift. If anyone goes by there, please add a picture of the IT and new signals to this thread. I might get up there in couple of months.
Peavy has become operational and the new switches at Nisqually are too. I don't plan on going down there for a while since so much more is going on and it's a long day recording all the action between Seattle and Vancouver. Once the Bypass of Vancouver is completed and the third main is laid down at Kalama is when I'll roll south and take it in. I figure late Spring 2016. Anyone else, please feel free to submit what you see before then. I believe the Bypass could be done before the end of the year. Also, in the Seattle Construction thread, they will have the new third main section tying Black River to Glacier Park operational next year. The Kelso third main subgrade is being trucked in and would be interesting to see. That portion won't be done until 2017 since they have to build a new bridge.
There are some pre-fabricated bridge parts sitting on the ground near the tracks in the town of Winlock. Is there going to be a bridge replacement project somewhere in that area?
There are some pre-fabricated bridge parts sitting on the ground near the tracks in the town of Winlock. Is there going to be a bridge replacement project somewhere in that area?
Don't have any info on that but I wouldn't doubt if bridge parts are there it will be built! There is a small bridge at MP 70.45 over Olequa Creek on the curve north of Winlock. That might be the one for replacement.
New "swing nose frog" switches are being installed at Kelso South. A new northbound 3-signal cantilever is in place at the south end of the control point. The signals are not in use yet. The fill they've brought in for the 3rd main between Kelso South and Longview Jct South is mostly up to ballast level for the entire length, except for near an underpass just north of LVJ South and in the area near the crossing and bridge at the north end of the Longview yard. Also, a mast is in place for a new cantilever signal south of the Kelso depot, which I am assuming will be where the 3rd main begins (or ends, depending on which direction you're going).
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