Copyright 2013, Ron Minor

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Copyright 2013, Ron Minor

Sunday, August 26, 2012

August Blair Sub Update

After a really busy month I was able to get out and explore what has taken place along the sub. Since most work appears to be concentrated on the west end, I started this trip from the Fremont side of the sub.

Fremont to Arlington
From the current end of double track at East Fremont to S 8th St in Arlington there has been no work started. With the Elkhorn River being down to a trickle with this summers drought I had anticipated crews starting work on the new Elkhorn bridge. Since the new alignment is to run through a couple of fields it looks like the UP may not start this segment until they are harvested.

Arlington to Kennard
On my last trip through Arlington crews had started to begin the grading of the new row. In the last month they have completed this and laid down the sub base fines that the new track will be installed on.
North side of row at S 8th St Arlington, NE

Looking northeast up the new row toward the LPG tanks in Arlington, NE
The grading has been completed up to the S 8th St crossing on the southeast side of Arlington. The row will be located on the south side of the main where an old siding was once located.Somewhere near the grain elevator the row will be shifted to the south on a new alignment, It will be interesting to see if the LPG facility along the new alignment will be relocated. Any derailment on the new row would result in a direct hit of the tanks.

CR P11 was the end of the grading last month but since then the row has been completed and an access road created on the south side of the row heading east toward CR 15. West of P11 the UP contractors have brought in a crane to start the building of the bridge over the creek on the east side of Arlington.

Looking east from co rd P11. New row on the left access road on the right.

Looking west from P11 toward the creek and the crane that will build the new bridge.
From P11 to CR 15 the row is not accessible without trespassing on the new railroad access roads. Glimpses of the new row can be seen from Hwy 30 and from those glimpses it appears that the row is nearly completed.

CR 15 area is still being worked on and will be where a dramatic shift in the row will occur. The new alignment will be shifted to the north about 20 feet and the s-curve to the west eliminated.

Looking west from co rd 15 at new row.
There is a short section of new row between the road and were the existing track curves away from the new row that still needs to be worked on. Stakes are visible were grading work will occur along with some railroad equipment that will have to be relocated. On the east side of the co rd 15 crossing the new row has been completed up to about 30 feet from the area where the new crossing will be.

The row at the top of Arlington hill is completed. Stabilization work was in progress on the new drainage areas to prevent brown water run off. Looking east the row is completed with sub base fines having been laid down.

Looking east down Arlington Hill.

The interesting note from this location is the name the UP has printed on the signal box indicating the crossing is named New Road.

Between New Road and CR 19 the row appears to be completed and ready for track installation. At the CR 19 crossing a tandem dump truck was observed dumping fines to be used when the road is cut and the row. The truck was working with a grader to distribute the fines on both sides of the crossing.

One of the benefits of this work is CR 19 has been rebuilt and widened from Hwy 30 to the UP crossing to allow these heavy gravel trucks a road capable of supporting there weight and allow them to pass each other.


East of CR 19 crews where noted working on the new bridge that is about half way between CR 19 and CR 21. No other work was noted between these two crossing except for a crew mowing the weeds along the row.

At the Hwy 30 over crossing at west Kennard a crew was observed installing a new concrete retaining wall to shore up the embankment under Hwy 30. This embankment was cut back to allow the new row to fit under the over crossing. The storage area at west Kennard also had large sections of a concrete bridge deck stacked up for future installation. I do not know if these are the sections for the new Elkhorn bridge of the new Missouri bridge.

From west Kennard siding to the location of the old east Kennard siding switch no work was observed. Since my last time at east Kennard there has been a section of track installed on the new/rebuilt row. I'm not sure how far west this section is installed as I didn't explore the area around the old CR 32 crossing.
New section of track installed at old east Kennard.
Kennard to Blair
This area has been completed and been in use since earlier this year.

Blair to Missouri Valley
From CP Duffy to about 1 mile east of the Missouri River bridge no work was been done. I also did not note any survey stakes or utility line relocation markings in this area. This will probably be the last section to be worked on as the new row will involve a lot of work within the city limits of Blair.

About a mile east of the Missouri River bridge the new fill and row work is in place from California Jct to this point. Crossing over the river on the Hwy 30 bridge the new row can be seen briefly. Since it is being built on the north side of the existing row it is not a section that can easily be observed.

Significant progress has been done at the Corning ave crossing area. The new row appears to be completed and a new access road has also been installed. Crews have also installed a new fence along the south side of the row to separate the row from the existing fields.

Looking west at MP 338 at the new row and access road at Corning Ave.
At Austin Road the highway has been cut and asphalt placed in the section where the new crossing will be installed. There was a lot of activity will graders and gravel trucks laying fines for the new crossing in piles on either side of the crossing.

At California Jct, the area looks dramatically different. The old CNW search light signals are now completed gone with the new signals that control the jct to the Sioux City sub moved about 1/2 east of Fremont Ave. The only signals that are still in the area of the wye are from the Sioux City sub to the Blair Sub.

The last area to explore was the Italy Ave crossing. When approaching the Italy Ave signs where up indicating the road was closed. From a distance it could be seen that the UP was working on the crossing. Without not being able to directly see what was occurring I can only assume that crews where cutting in the crossing for the third main.

Until next report.

Thursday, August 09, 2012

The passing of a friend

As me grow older there are certain events that are inevitable and the lose of a friend is just one of those events. Very early this morning I lost one of the few people I have considered a friend.

I first met Mark back in 1981 when I was a first being introduced to the world of model railroading and railfaning. Though we became separated by my leaving the area, getting married and raising a family we still stayed in touch and remained friends for over 30 years.

Mark with Milw SD10's March 1986
Mark was a very skilled model railroader and amateur photographer with a love a fare with the Milwaukee Road. His pseudo home town of Sioux City, IA lost the Milwaukee in 1980 but during the 80's we often made trips to Sheldon, IA for a rare glimpse of his railroad. Those trips were always full of adventure and camaraderie.

Mark shared many diverse interests with others in his life. I am glad I got to share his interest in trains, model railroading and local history. His knowledge will be sorely missed in these areas.

In late summer 2011 Mark was diagnosed with lung cancer. It looked like he had it licked in October but had a set back with pneumonia in December and a relapse early this year. Unfortunately he wasn't able to recover and was quite frail from this. In the end the cancer did not claim him as it has so many others. Unfortunately a simple accident was to blame. He said the cancer wouldn't get him and with a bit of irony he was right.

Mark sitting in the engineer seat of a Milw F7 fall of 1986.
You will be missed my friend. You pain is over and you can enjoy a well deserved rest. Your memories will live with me forever. Until we meet again, good bye ole friend sleep well.