19-03-31 PHOTOS: Dallas Reunion

Dallas has a surprisingly diverse rail transportation scene including Amtrak, TRE commuter rail, DART light rail, a streetcar and a major Union Pacific freight line, and all of these can be photographed in and around Dallas Union Station. Since for this particular Dallas excursion I was staying in the hotel across from Union Station I didn't see the need to really go on any excursions as I had in past years going to Fort Worth or the various DART destinations. You can find all of the photos here (mirror).

We begin with TRE F59PJI #570, which I believe was purchased new from EMD as opposed to second hand from GO as was the case with its other F59PH locomotives.

Union Station is served by the DART Red and Blue lines.  These were the original two lines with the Green and Orange, which take the other split of the Victory Wye, having been built some time later.  There is currently no "crosstown" service between Green/Orange and Red/Blue requiring a transfer at the West End station for such points.  Here we see a Blue Line train with LRV #111 and a Red Line train with LRV #257.

Of course I had taken plenty of photos at Union Station last year so for 2019 I relocated a few blocks to the east where the Reunion Arena (home of the Dallas Stars and Mavericks) used to be.  This location provided great angles of the same rail lines that passes through Union Station with with less clutter.  Here we see a Blue Line train with LRV #220 and a Red Line train with LRV #192.

In addition the location provided the occasional glimpse of the Dallas Streetcar as is runs along the Houston Street Viaduct. This tram line connects downtown to the Bishop Arts District.  If you are wondering about the lack of overhead wire, the streetcars have a battery backup to run over the viaduct where trolley wire was unable to be installed.

 On this particular day the westbound Texas Eagle was again about 3 hours late, but it made it possible to catch both eastbound and eastbound Eagles without having to make two trips.  The westbound showed up first with Amtrak P42DC #59, seen here ducking under the Houston Street Viaduct that appears to gave been specifically notched out for high clearance cars.

19-03-28 PHOTOS: Texas Eagle - Part 2

If you tuned in for Part 1 of my March 2019 Texas Eagle trip, here is the continuation starting at Longview and proceeding on to my destination of Dallas, TX. This part of the Texas Eagle route runs over the formerly Missouri Pacific controlled, Texas and Pacific line, now operated by Union Pacific (which apparently bought every railroad with "Pacific" in its name). In case you forgot, the full set of photos can be found here (mirror).


Longview,TX is the last smoke stop before Dallas and features a UP yard and administrative hub. By this point in the journey my train was running about 2-3 hours late, but that would ensure that I got lunch on board as normally it is served between Dallas and Fort Worth. Apart from meals I was positioned in Superliner I coach #34039, which can be easily identified as a "I" due to the German-built trucks.

Waiting to depart the west end of the yard was a train with UP AC4400 #5889 and SD70ACe #8452.

A few miles outside of Longview we hit a bit of a traffic jam with a UP mixed freight led by SD70M #5039 and SD70ACe #8815 tucked into the Greggton siding along with a local powered by GMTX GP38-2 #2653, UP GP38-2 #520 and Up GP40N #1437.

Another Up freight headed by SD70M #4895, ES44AC #7876 and a second SD70M was waiting in the Gladewater siding. 

I decided to break for lunch just past the former Southern Pacific diamond at Big Sandy.

I returned in time to pass by the town of Wills Point which features a brick paved main drag.

In the Will Point siding was another mixed freight led by UP SD70M #3893 and CSX C40-10W #5384. UP was doing a pretty good job of getting the freight movements out of the way, but we were delayed in a siding for another 30-45 minutes while I was at lunch.

19-03-28 PHOTOS: Texas Eagle - Part 1

Of all of Amtrak's "western" long distance trains, the Texas Eagle is probably the second most bland, in terms of scenery, behind only the City of New Orleans. The only scenic part of the trip, through the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas, takes place at night in both directions of travel. My westbound Texas Eagle, despite being between 60 and 90 minutes late, had just departed Texarkana when I finally finished up breakfast in the dining car and started my work for the day. South of St. Louis the Eagle runs on former Missouri Pacific territory and within the State of Texas this means a single track with passing sidings, lots of pine trees and more than a few swamps. Still it was an interesting journey with more than a few classic signals still in service and a healthy amount of Union Pacific freight traffic.

You can find the full set of photos here (mirror), but I am going to be splitting this up into two parts with Part 1 covering Texarkana to Longview and Part 2 Longview to Dallas.

Crossing the KCS Diamond south of Texarkana it was only about 90 miles to Longview and, despite our lateness, the dispatcher had done a good job clearing opposing traffic into various passing sidings. The first of these was a train of autoracks hauled by UP ES44AH #8169 and AC4400 #7187 sitting in the Sulphur siding.

We were all set of a quick dash to Longview when the engineer slammed on the brakes and stopped short of a random red flag placed by the side of the right of way by persons unknown. Calls to the dispatcher could not ascertain who placed the flag and it took over an hour to resolve the issue as nobody wanted to run afoul of what could be an FRA rule compliance test. Although an MoW crew was nearby, the flag resembled something used by a local freight to protect crossings or mark the end of a train. 

Classic MoPac signals and relay huts were sprinkled around such as at the south end of the Springdale siding.

The hour delay on the main had forced opposing traffic to pull off into sidings and because the delay was the fault of UP and not Amtrak I suspect the dispatcher was told to give us clear track as much as possible. The first train we passed was led by UP SD70ACe #8844, NS C44-10W #7700 and UP GP40N #1575 on the Queen City siding.

The old MoPac station in Atlanta Texas.

Another northbound train in the Bivins siding with UP ET44AC #6314 and CSX ES44AH #3021 leading a merchandise train.

19-03-27c PHOTOS: Lincoln Corridor - Part 2

Here is the second of two ports detailing Amtrak's Lincoln Corridor, which stretches about 250 miles between Joliet and Granite City, IL. Over the past decade, the route, owned by Union Pacific, has seen about a 1 billion dollars worth of investment to upgrade it to support 110mph speeds and more frequent service. At this point 110mph service has been tested, but integration with active grade crossing protections is still ongoing and remains the real barrier to higher speed service. Still other improvements has increased line capacity and reduced delays in other ways line using higher speed turnouts and more double track.

Part 1 covered the section from Joliet to Springfield and Part 2 will cover Springfield to Saint Louis. This includes the last section of the line to be rebuilt, from Alton through to WR Tower on the Terminal Railroad. The full gallery of photos can be found here (mirror) and the previous Lincoln Corridor video post can be found here and the METRA Heritage Corridor post can be found here.

The station at Springfield, IL is arguably the most important one on the line as it serves the state lawmakers, many from the Chicago area, who need to make frequent use of the service. That being said the station still consists of a single low level platform that required two stops to service the long Texas Eagle tainset. In theory UP freights with clearance requirements could be routed around this downtown segment via the NS Springfield-Hannibal district allowing for the construction of a high level platform.

Illinois State Capitol dome and brick lined streets at Vine Street in Springfield.

Between ISLES and HAZEL DELL interlockings, the UP Springfield Sub runs over the NS Springfield-Hannibal District. Here we are departing the short 3 mile section of NS territory and re-joining the concrete ties of the Lincoln Corridor. 

Historic Alton station at Chatham.

Two track station at Carlinville, the second platform is new and can be used for timed meets.

South of Carlinville the line enters more hilly terrain, but despite the lower speeds, four quadrant crossing gates have still been installed.

Making the 60mph diverging movement onto the siding at Shipman in order to pass northbound Lincoln Service Train 306 with SC44 #4622.

19-03-27c PHOTOS: Lincoln Corridor - Part 1

Amtrak's Lincoln Corridor stretches about 250 miles between Joliet and Granite City, IL and over the past decade it has seen about a 1 billion dollars worth of investment to upgrade it to support 110mph speeds and more frequent service. Currently owned by Union Pacific, the former Chicago and Alton route benefits from a flat and straight profile and the presence of a second UP freight route between Chicago and St. Louis via the former Chicago and Eastern Illinois. The 5 daily round trips including the Texas Eagle make the run in about 5 hours. 110mph service has been tested, but integration with active grade crossing protections is still ongoing and remains the real barrier to higher speed service.

Part 1 will cover the section from Joliet to Springfield and Part 2 will cover Springfield to Saint Louis. The full gallery of photos can be found here, the previous Lincoln Corridor video post can be found here and the METRA Heritage Corridor post can be found here.

We begin at the start of UP territory in Joliet with the rebuilt Joliet Union Station and METRA's UD Tower, which closed in 2015. The Union Station at Joliet was situated at the crossing of the Rock Island with the parallel main lines of the Alton and Santa Fe railroads. With the station located in the Northwest quadrant of the diamond, passengers had to access Lincoln trains across active main line tracks via duckboards and METRA Rock Island trains had to cross all 4 main line tracks multiple times an hour to platform. The rebuilding effort added a island platform with grade separated access for Lincoln trains and moved the Rock Island platform east of the diamonds.

Without the need to block BNSF or UP traffic for passenger operations, the historic tower was closed and saved preserved with plans for some sort of use as a museum. A modern Transportation Center replaced the old Union Station building, which has since been converted into an event space. Note the old platform layout, now fenced off.

With the closure of UD Tower the interlocking was also rationalized with north/east end crossovers being eliminated, although some evidence of the old layout remains. The 4-track diamond is now primarily used by Iowa Interstate through trains and the UP/BNSF crossovers have been consolidated south/west of the tower. 

Since my last trip over this line in 2005, Union Pacific contructed its Global Four intermodal facility south of Joliet with new interlockings and 60mph high speed turnouts. Here we see UP SD70ACe #8617, SD70M #4060 and two CSX units with a fresh southbound intermodal train ready to depart the Global Four terminal lead. 

Slightly to the south a northbound train of autoracks was holding short of a crossing waiting for either the Texas Eagle or the intermodal train to make their moves.

Not all the planned upgrades are complete as one can see with the empty track bed on the new Kankakee River Bridge. Prior to the Lincoln Corridor project, the northern end of the single track route only had 2 or 3 passing sidings with 20 or 30 mile gaps between them.

A mixed freight on the HITT siding featured UP SD70M #4587 up front with some MoW tie flats on the rear.

Towns centered around the rail corridor like Mazonia are one of the major impediments to higher speed service. Fast passenger trains mixed in with slower speed road freight can create dangerous conditions where road users and pedestrians can misjudge the speed of approaching passenger trains while seeking to avoid the prolonged delays waiting for a freight to pass. Much of the improvement money went to securing the right of way in towns with black fencing and installing crossing protections that are harder to circumvent. 

 We encountered our northbound counterpart, Texas Eagle Train 22, on the Dwight siding.

The old Dwight, IL Alton station was used up through 2016 when the stop was relocated to a new transportation center a few blocks to the south.

19-03-27c VIDEOS: Lincoln Corridor

Amtrak's Lincoln Corridor is part of an Illinois State project to create a 110mph high speed train service between St Louis and Chicago with travel times in the 3-4 hour range.  Flat and straight the line's main issue are grade crossings, a single track layout with passing sidings and rural communities with a rather lax attitude towards rail safety.  The following videos capture the section of the line between Joliet and Dwight, throughout the Springfield terminal area and then southern end of the line from Alton to the start of the Terminal Railroad at WR Tower.  Generally note the concrete ties, anti-personnel fencing in  built up areas, elaborate grade crossing protections and high/higher speed turnouts on new and extended passing sidings.

In the first pair of videos we have a rear view from the back of Amtrak Train #21, the Texas Eagle, as it runs from the station stop at Joliet to just north of the town of Dwight, which is a stop for Lincoln Service trains.  Note METRA's recently closed UD tower, which is being converted into a museum, and the new island platform at Joliet, as well as the entrance to UP's Global Four intermodal facility.



The last time I traveled this route back in 2005 it was somewhat of a backwater as UP had a second, more preferred line between Saint Louis and Chicago.  B&O CPL signals were still present, sidings were far apart with slow entrance and exit speeds.  Today over a billion dollars in state funding has completely rebuilt the line, but the 110mph speeds have yet to be achieved in regular service.



Here we see one of the slower parts of the line where it picks its way through downtown Springfield, IL, the state capitol.  At about 5:10 in the video was the location of the old RIDGLEY tower, which, at the time of its closure in 2010, featured the last mechanically operated switch points in North America.  The tower was demolished shortly after its closing.  After the station stop the train slowly moves out of the city before running a couple of miles on NS Springfield-Hannibal District.



The southern end of the corridor past Alton (or Chicago and Alton fame) was the last to be rebuilt with WANN interlocking and it's CPLs and LENOX tower being closed only in 2018.  There is still some hints of old school railroading in the layouts like the split single track mains and the outside single slip switches at WOODRIVER interlocking.  Note the bright new CPLs at LENOX along with the closed tower and the NS traffic on their adjacent line.



Finally our train enters TRRA trackage at WR TOWER.  The interlocking contains some poor man's single slip switches, but the tower itself was demolished decades ago.



Hope your all enjoyed this abbreviated tour of the Lincoln Corridor.  Next week I'll be back with some photos on the old MoPac Texas Eagle route in the Big State of Texas.

19-03-27b PHOTOS: Heritage Corridor

The first leg of my actual journey on Amtrak's Train #21, the Texas Eagle, runs along the Metra "Heritage Corridor", which gets its name from the Illinois and Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor along which the rail line runs. In railroad Terms the line is the old Chicago and Alton which ran between Chicago and Alton in a similar fashion to the way Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac ran a single line between rail hubs in Alexandria and Richmond Virginia. The Alton was purchased by the B&O in 1931 then transferred to the Gulf Mobile and Ohio, which later merged with the Illinois Central before being ultimately purchased by Canadian National. The route below Joliet was sold by the IC and eventually passed to the Southern Pacific that finally became part of Union Pacific in 1994, but CN/IC retained ownership of the Heritage Corridor section due to a sizable amount of local industry. Today the line is part of the larger Lincoln Corridor, 110mph high speed route that connects St Louis, Springfield and Chicago with a 5 daily round trips, however due to the large amount of conflicting freight traffic, METRA service only consists of a handful of peak direction weekday runs.

Freight conflicts are endemic to this route due to the presence of four major at-grade crossings that can be tied up for long stretches by freight movements trying to negotiate the congested Chicago terminal area. Closures of interlocking towers and increased dispatcher workload has made coordination impossible and it is not uncommon for Amtrak traffic to get hit with sizable delays on this 30 mile stretch. Fortunately my train only lost about 20-30 minutes for a variety of reasons. You can view the entire set of photos here (mirror) and a video of the entire run here.

After turning onto the old Alton at 21ST ST crossing, the line parallels the CTA Orange Line to Midway . Here we see a CTA Orange Line train led by 2600-series car #2958 pacing the Eagle near Bridgeport.

Here we see the same train after passing the old BRIDGEPORT drawbridge over Bubbly Creek. The CN Joliet Sub's speed in this area of 40mph allowed the transit train to keep up even with its frequent stops. With new 7000 series cars getting ready to replace the 2600-series, the Budds were moved to the Orange line which had previously been the domain of M-K built 3300 series cars. 

The first of the major at-grade crossings is BRIGHTON PARK where the Alton crosses the former PRR "Panhandle" and B&OCT main lines that loop around the backside of Chicago. Until 2007 the crossing was non-interlocked, instead protected by stop signs with a switch tender displaying proceed signals to trains using a system of mechanical semaphores. 

A bit to the south sits the Amtrak Brighton Park car shoppes. Built to support the RTG Turboliners in the 1970's, the shoppes continue to be used to perform a variety of maintenance tasks on the midwest single level coach fleet.

This ancient cantilever signal structure is a remnant of the line's B&O heritage, which resulted in B&O Color Position Light signals being present from the 1930's through until 2018.

CORWITH interlocking and its three sets of diamonds sits at the immediate west end of the former Santa Fe Corwith Yard, their gateway in the Chicago terminal. Until the merger frenzy of the 80's and 90'd, only the Santa Fe and Milwaukee Road offered "one seat" service to the Pacific coast. CORWITH tower, located on the left between the two sets of diamonds, was closed and demolished in 2009.

BELT JCT marks where the Alton crosses the Belt Railway of Chicago, the innermost of the three Chicago terminal railways. Note the strange rusty crossover.

The Summit station is served by both Metra and Amtrak Lincoln trains with the latter using it as an option for people traveling to/from the Chicago suburbs. 

We happened upon a CN local switching a local industry with a cut of cars occupying Track #2. The Grand Trunk Western