BNSF Sioux City Sub south end

I took a chance today and set out to follow a train or two on the Sioux City sub. My prior luck with this goal had been decidedly unlucky but with the up tick of traffic on the sub I figured my luck would change.

I headed over to Ashland, NE to try and find a northbound Sioux City sub train to follow. While passing over the Creston Sub on old Hwy 6 east of Ashland, I noticed a grain train holding the main. As I got closer to the wye from the Sioux City to Creston Sub the power came into view. Two faded and grubby warbonnet units where found leading the empty grain train. I typically don't give these units much time as the paint on them is way past its prime, but with two of them as the only power I was up for a chase.

BNSF 685 heads north up the east leg of the wye to the Sioux City sub from the Creston  sub. The Omaha sub will be crossed in the process.

While waiting for the grain train to start heading north the scanner was active with chatter between the Lincoln power desk and BNSF 7317. Seems the windshield had developed a crack and was getting worse and the crew wasn't too happy about it. Thinking this was a southbound train off the Sioux City sub I parked over by the car wash to get a shot of it coming off the Sioux City sub and of the grain train heading north. But after about 5 minutes the signal turned green and the Sioux City sub DS was giving a track warrant to BNSF 685 to proceed from CTC Ashland to the north switch at Elk siding. So the chase was on.

Heading north through Ashland my goal was to get to Wann Rd and ahead of the train. Turning off Hwy 66 at CR B I noticed that the train wasn't ahead of me nor even close. Unfortunately Wann Rd was on the wrong side of the sun for any shots so I headed north looking for photo spots. It should be noted that this area is flat and pretty featureless outside of a couple of bridges and an old elevator at Big Sandy.

Rolling north through the harvested fields.

Finally getting to the sunny side of the tracks north of Big Sandy I setup at CR J out in the middle of nowhere to get a shot of the train running across the harvested fields. Figuring this might be my last shot for awhile I headed back to Wann Rd to head back north. Even with waiting for the train to pass and heading about 4 miles out of the way to Yutan Rd I was still able to catch up with the train at Yutan (about 7 miles away from the shot location).

Since BNSF 685's track warrant was only good to the north switch at Elk I was anticipating a meet at Elk with a southbound. Going through Leshara and crossing over the main about a mile south of Elk I noticed a southbound waiting in the siding at Elk. I setup at CR T and CR 7 to get my shots of both trains. BNSF 685 was coming at me out of the sun and I decided to see what I could do with the shot.

Back lit through Leshara.

BNSF 685 rolled on through Elk and soon I heard the DS give it a track warrant to Pappa (Fremont, NE). Figuring that it would get stabbed at the UP crossing in Fremont and then have to wait for a southbound at Pappa, I waited for the southbound coal empty to pass before heading over to Hwy 77 and north to Fremont.

BNSF 5875 leads a empty DEEX coaler out of Elk siding.

As luck would have it the UP cooperated with the BNSF and BNSF 685 got to roll right on through town to Pappa. The anticipated meet at Pappa was with a southbound empty coaler that was already waiting for the grain train. BNSF 685 released the track warrant from Elk to Pappa and was given a new one from north switch Pappa to the south switch at Oakland, NE. Decision time, do I keep going north or do I follow the southbound? Well the need to get rid of 20 ounces of coffee and to get some food made the decision for me.

After a stop at Burger King I headed back down to the area of the UP/BNSF diamond to wait for the southbound. The UP wasn't cooperating this time as the ZSKGR was given the green to run through the diamonds but the southbound didn't wait long.

BNSF 8917 crosses the UP at Fremont, NE.

No sooner does the ZSKGR clear the diamond and I hear the southbound blowing for the crossings to the north of the diamond. A quick run over to N M st and W 2nd St to get the southbound crossing the UP. As the train comes into view I see its another empty coaler. Two coalers back to back are fairly unusual on the Sioux City Sub. As the coaler sneaks through Fremont I head south to CR W and head toward the Platte river to get a shot. CR W ends at the railroad crossing and becomes a private community with lots of signs letting you know you are not welcome.

Running along the Platte.

From CR W it was a quick run over to Elk and LeShara to get a shot of the train running through Leshara. Before heading over to Valley, NE and back into Fremont.

Rolling through Leshara, NE.

Back in Fremont I headed back up to Pappa to see if another southbound had rolled into town but only found the BNSF Fremont switcher heading back into town after switching the industries on the north end of Fremont.

BNSF 2809 rolls through Pappa

BNSF 2809 ended my day on the BNSF but not my day of railfaning.

Blair Sub Construction September Update

On Friday 21 Sept 2012 I explored the Blair Sub construction progress to see what was actually going on. Earlier in the month one of the local super foamers reported that all work was going to stop on this project, a rumor I could not find any confirmation of when I inquired on the internet. As I did the previous month I started out on the west end of the sub and headed east. The west end is were the most activity is currently occurring.

Arlington, NE
Contractors were actively driving piles for the new bridge over the creek on the east side of Arlington, west of CR P11. The sub grade work is completed through Arlington to the S 6th St crossing. No work has been started west from this crossing toward East Fremont.

Pile drivers and cranes at the new bridge installation in Arlington, NE.

Heading east from the CR P11 crossing the grade work is completed all the way to the west end of the old Kennard Siding.

CR P15 Arlington Hill
The short section of new ROW that was unfinished last month is now completed. A new drainage culvert was installed on the north side of the ROW under the road to allow run off from the hill to drain away from the new ROW.

Looking west the new ROW will cross the existing ROW and  be on the south side .

On the east side of the crossing the new ROW has been completed up to the crossing control box for the current main. The new crossing control box is located to the north (left in the pic) of the existing control box. The bases for the new crossing gates have been installed and the electrical work has also been completed from the control box to the gates.

Looking east at CR P15 the new alignment stops at the existing crossing control box.

CR P15 to Allen Creek
With the ROW construction nearly completed there is very little activity to be found from Arlington, NE to Missouri Valley, IA. This same lull in activities occurred with the first section of the double track over Blair Hill.

Contractors were noted adding rolls of soil stabilizers along the cuts on the east side of Arlington Hill. At the CR 121 crossing a set of new metal culverts have been positioned along with rip rap for installation in the area.

At the west end of the old Kennard siding, the contractor has completed the concrete wall on the south side of the Hwy 30 over crossing shoring this up for the new second main. The stagging area just south of the West Kennard switch has had a number of pre-stressed concrete bridge decks and metal pilings for a new bridge. These components maybe used in the replacement of the pile bridge on the main at this location.

Between Kennard and the Missouri River bridge no activity was noted.

When in Blair, NE be sure and stop by Fernadoe's and give the super foamer dish washer a shout out. It will put a smile on his face. 

On the Iowa side of the Blair Sub it appears that most work has stopped from the Missouri River bridge incline to the new junction on the east side of California Jct., IA. The ROW is completed but there has been no work on the installation of new crossing gate bases or electrical to connect those crossing bases to the control boxes.

The one bit of activity that was observed on the Iowa side was a track game working on connecting the third main to the existing main east of the Italy Ave crossing. The new main has also been connected to the existing main with the cross over that was just east of Italy Ave. Between Allen Creek and Italy Ave there is now a set of cross overs allowing movement between the two mains.

Until the next report.

Some accidental railfaning

With a very busy work schedule it seems that all of my railfaning adventures for the last year or so have been accidental. Friday and Saturday were two of those accidental occasions. The plan Friday was to get the Jeep worked on so I took a day of PTO to get it into the shop. To my surprise the work was done in an hour and a half. Not as long as I had anticipated but long enough to check out this Jeep on the dealer lot. Might make a good rig if it wasn't orange and $40k.

JK8 on the dealer lot

Nine AM and the rest of the day off, so what to do? I really had no plans so I headed toward Fremont, NE but first stopped at Elkhorn, NE to investigate where the old UP depot had been moved too. After being moved it had been made into a house and after looking over the only possible house it might be, I decided to not take any photos as it had been modified beyond recognition.

The first train of the day was found in Elkhorn. A loaded WEPX coaler that was stopped just to the west of the Hwy 31 over crossing. Strange place to be stopped but later in the day I would see why. Power was UP 5888-7318-DPU 5608.

East of Valley, NE an eastbound CWEX coal load was stopped on the main. UP 5615-6294-DPU 7291was its power. In Valley, NE the UP has a long string of fallen flag covered hoppers parked on the north siding. Western Pacific, Mopac, CNW, SP, SSW and old paint UP hoppers can be found in this string. There is even a SP ACF that is free of graffiti, which anymore is a rare find. This years poor harvest will cause these to become a common sight as grain loads will be way down from previous years. Unfortunately I missed the Lincoln turn as there was no power to be found in town.

Mercer, NE had the inbound MCOCB holding at the signal with UP 4890-4842 as the power. Though these two units are less than 50 numbers apart, they are in different schemes. 4890 lacks the flag and instead has Union Pacific on the side. Given the deplorable condition of the flags on most units five years or older, I like the non-flagged SD70M's with the flared radiators.

Fremont, NE was fairly quite. An eastbound wind turbine train was spotted headed up the Blair sub. No blades were noted just the turbines.I figured I'd be able to catch this train later so wasn't concerned about missing it. Unfortunately I never did catch it later.

Local activity was pretty quite. The BNSF road switcher was nowhere to be found and the UP switcher was parked near the office. When crossing the UP main at N. Pierce St an eastbound UP was seen in the distance approaching town. This train would need a new crew and there would be plenty of opportunity to see if it will take the Blair or Omaha subs, so it was off to check out Poppa siding on the BNSF. The BNSF holds trains at Poppa while waiting for time to cross the UP diamonds. As usual Poppa was not a disappointment.

Lined up at Poppa.

On the siding was a northbound empty grainer while on the main was a southbound ballast train full of ballast from the Dakota Iowa out of Dell Rapids, SD. BNSF 5256-7046 would take this grainer up to Sioux City while BNSF 9247 was the rear dpu on the ballast train. I wasn't able to get in position to see the head end power on the ballast train. On the Frontier Grain Coop lead the BNSF had parked the Fremont switcher. BNSF 2702 along with a tank car had the lead all to themselves.

Heading out of Fremont on Morningside rd, I "found" that eastbound UP train. It turned out to be a empty grain train with UP 8520-8205-DPU 5504 as power. As I neared the head end three toots signaled the train was restarting its journey east. A quick u-turn and a run over to the s-curve west of CR 15 to get a shot before this section is replaced by the new alignment on the west side of Arlington Hill.

Twisting though the s-curve.

Checking out the work being done on the Blair Sub I noticed that the signals were light up for a westbound. I setup for a shot but after about 20 minutes of waiting I decided to move east to see if I'd catch it over by Kennard. Sitting too long in one location tends to attract the wrong attention anymore even out in the country. As I dropped down the hill toward the Hwy 30 over crossing on the south side of the old Kennard siding, I spotted the westbound I had been waiting for. Unable to get into position to get a shot, I grabbed a backlight going away of the MCHNP with UP 5881-4105-DPU 8232.

West out of Kennard.

This was the last train I saw on the Blair sub and the last one until I got to Council Bluffs, IA. Even the scanner chatter was light until Missouri Valley, IA. DS20 was heard asking where the MSXCB was to position it off the Sioux City sub for a short jog across the Blair sub and then down the Omaha sub. The SX was head sating it was just north of Modale, IA. DS20 then gave instructions to a westbound to slow down a little to allow the SX time to make the transition from the Sioux City sub to the Blair sub and then the new double track west of Mo Valley. Though this set of moves sounded interesting I decided to head on to Council Bluffs and then home.

Coming into Council Bluffs I spotted a train holding at Beanos. UP 3940-3877-8144 were leading an eastbound freight, while the coaler that was stopped in Elkhorn 3 hours earlier passed on the right.  Getting further into town I noticed that the old CNW yard was fairly empty with the day switch crew working the lead on the south end near the Heritage shop buildings. Crossing the main at Ave B, I noticed a UP MOW crew working on the cross overs south of N. 11th Ave. This explained why the trains were backed up west of Omaha and why there was no action on the Omaha sub north of CB.

Over on the IC/CN had the typical stored cars and no power to be seen. Fridays are a day that the local does not come into Council Bluffs and the local switch crew had the North Omaha transfer over on the NE side.

On the old Burlington lead into the UP pool yard, the UP had the power parked from a bean train that had been run down the BNSF Council Bluffs sub to the Bungee bean plant. UP 6954-3498-DPU-6376 had been the power for this train and where waiting for it to be unloaded before heading back down to pick up the empties. UP 3498 was the first SD90MAC that I have seen post renumbering.

One of the rare AC6000CW's to have worn a set of wings on the nose.

Before a quick run over to the BNSF yard another eastbound coaler with UP 6881-5715-DPU-6061 passed by on the main. Parked in the BNSF yard where two KCS belles that had brought in an empty grain train to be loaded at the south house Bartlett elevator. KCS 4110-4129 brought in 72 empties for load out.

Belle power laying over.

Since I had some busy work to accomplish it was time to head back home but only after stopping to get shots of the two NS units parked on the elevator tracks in the UP yard. UP 5826-NS 8898-NS 9545 were positioned to be the power for the MCBDM later in the afternoon.

Saturdays accidental railfaning occurred while heading home after the Nebraska game. West of Adams St in Lincoln an inbound grain train was being tied down on the main. Power was HLCX 6241-BNSF 4546, the HLCX was an unusual sight as it is rare to see lease power on the BNSF. The Havelock switcher was spotted was tied down near the yard office with the BNSF 3171-2778 as  power. Further east an empty coaler was tied down east of N 98th st. Power was BNSF 9249-5834-DPU 9946.

The drive along Hwy 6 didn't reveal any more trains until Ashland, NE. Looking down into the yard from Hwy 6, two loaded  ballast trains where spotted. On that note my accidental railfaning ended.

An 844 Sunday

The decision to go out and catch the 844 on Sunday was just one of those spur of the moment wild hair type of decisions. After a lazy Sunday morning I was checking out the various railfan sources and stumbled on the realization that the 844 was heading back to Council Bluffs that afternoon. She was scheduled to have a servicing stop at Dunlap, IA at 1515, so the girlfriend and I made the decision to try and head out there to meet up and follow her back to CB.

Getting out the door around 1415, I thought it would be cutting it close to run the 50+ miles from my house in Bellevue to Dunlap but my concern wasn't needed. A check of the UP Steam twitter feed and the UP GPS tracking map showed that she was pretty far behind schedule and was still east of Carroll, IA when I arrived in Missouri Valley, IA. So with that knowledge (smart phones are nice for this type of tracking) I set out to find some spots to get a shot or two.

The back roads west of Woodbine, IA were scouted but I soon rejected the area as the main gravel road was pretty loose and wouldn't have been good to use as a chase road. The road condition and the spotting of BNSFrailfan - aka Allen Love, Jr. trespassing on the CN bridge over the UP convinced me to head further east with the Arion Ia area as a potential spot to setup. I wasn't in the mood for a UP popo encounter.

Checking the UP GPS tracking map showed that 844 was stopped near Carroll IA so I continued to head east until Denison, IA. I was thinking of going even further east but decided to stop and setup near the old CNW depot. After about 20-30 minutes of waiting, 844's whistle could be heard approaching from the east but ominously so could a air horn coming from the west. When I setup I was concerned about getting stuck on the wrong side if an eastbound came through and this thought kept getting louder as the steam whistle and the air horn keep getting closer to me. Well luck was on my side as 844 came into view before the eastbound did.

I packed up and headed west out of Denison to eventually catch up with the 844 as she made the servicing stop in Dunlap. By Arion I had caught the pace crowd who had Hwy 30 all gummed up while they paced the steamer. I absolutely hate these people especially on 2 lane roads that have impatient local drivers and foamers all mixed together. Its only a sneeze away from a big chain reaction wreck.

I was able to pass the line east of Dow City and get ahead of the chasers to setup at the Boyer River crossing west of Dunlap. I was the second person there and setup on the north side of the tracks to hopefully prevent getting blocked by another eastbound. In the 20 or so minutes I was waiting a couple of others showed up including a woman who was determined to stand on or near the tracks with her back pointed toward eastbound traffic. I was convinced she would be the next Darwin award winner as no matter what, she was going to get that shot where she wanted to stand.

844 got the highball at 1730 and the track and time was released allowing eastbounds to proceed which meant there was a good possibility of a meet at the bridge. Unfortunately this did occur and blocked a couple of people who had setup on the south side of the tracks.

After the stack train passed, I packed up and headed west to see if I could get one more setup for the day. The bridge construction on Hwy 30 east of Woodbine put an end to that though as all westbound traffic has to hold for a green signal to cross the single lane bridge. We were able to follow her into Missouri Valley and  was stopped at the Loveland IA crossing by the train before heading for home.

All in all a nice way to spend an Sunday afternoon.

August Happenings

August was a month to forget with the loss of a close friend and a work schedule that was less than conductive to a good life/work balance. Even with these challenges I was able to get out in the local area and capture some action.

With the month almost half over I was able to get in the first outing of the month. The late afternoon is a good time to catch the MCBDM out of Council Bluffs and its sometimes interesting power. The 14th brought some old friends in the form of two old Sierra dupes. These units followed me from California to be placed in the pool out of North Platte. Showing the scars of operating in the tunnels of Donner Pass, the flags have long ago faded into the soot and oil covering they wore for the entire time they worked the pass.

UP 5577 & 5564 head north out of Beno's along a field that was 10+ feet under water this time last year.

The MNPCCB or as the  yard master likes to call it the double B is a late afternoon arrival into the Council Bluffs terminal area.The double B is actually two complete trains that runs into CB as one long monster (typically 180+ cars) from North Platte. From this train the MCBVP and MCBSS trains are created when the double B is split up in the old CNW north yard.

UP 3958 & 6580 pause on the Big Lake under crossing in  CB as the MNPCBB is broken up into its two trains.

Last years flooding and the wash out of the CN/IC line into Council Bluffs changed the schedule and make up of the three times a week CB local when the line was restored last winter. Traffic appears to have recovered but the trains are now handled by single hp units were they used to be two units.

The North Omaha CN/IC switch job and interchange with the BNSF and UP still generates a fair amount of traffic The job was pushing over 30 cars down the UP main to the CN/IC connector switch on the 14th.

IC 1025 is pushing hard on a large interchange cut.

The UP Ak-Sar-Ben special is a August fixture and this year the Union Pacific used the E-units to power this train. On the 16th the units were run light over to Heritage Park to be positioned on the next days special.

Slowly heading down the switch off the main into Heritage Park.

I hadn't know about this movement, so I was surprised to see them round the curve heading to B0.0 for the run across town to the old CNW yard.

On the 21st I discovered that the IC SD70 had been replaced by the CN 2108. This old CNW C40 is in eye shot of the old GE shop at the CB CNW roundhouse where she and her sisters were maintained.

Old is new on the CN.

Having just pushed her interchange cars into the old IC yard the crew is adding them to the evening outbound train.

Typically the QNPSK is a late morning, early afternoon train but today she must have encountered delays west of Council Bluffs.

UP 5120 leads two CSX units at Beno's

UP 5120 provides needed ATS/CSS controls for the two CSX units as they leave the congested CB/Omaha terminal area.

With Berkshire Hathaway owning both Mid America and the BNSF the sight of an empty UP coaler from the CBEC complex may be rare in a couple of years. The contracts are currently being negotiated for haulage of the coal to the various Mid American plants and it will be interesting to see if its keep in the family of continues to be hauled by the competition.

UP 7251 leads the empty Mid America coaler past the CRI&P depot in Council Bluffs, IA.

The BNSF interchange train between the BNSF Gibson Omaha yard and the UP CB yard often occurs late in the afternoon and typically uses what ever is available in the yard to drag it over to the UP.

The interchange run on the 28th used the Bayard turn power in the form of two warbonnet B40-8W's and a GP 39-2. BNSF 517 is one of the best looking warbonnets I've seen in a very long time. An interesting note is the side says BNSF while the cigar ban on the nose says Santa Fe.

Backing through the yard the BNSF interchange train is heading up track 9 the yard to pick up its cars from the UP.

This train ended my month of observations

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.

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.

Blair Sub Construction Update

Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to get out and explore the work being done on the new double track the UP is building on the Blair Sub. Since my last report there has been some significant progress made on the Iowa side as well as the area from Kennard to Arlington, NE.

On the 7th I as able to do some exploring on the Iowa side of the project. At that time the new second main had been ballasted and the new cross over switch east of Italy Ave had been installed installed. The main had been extended as far as Allen Creek but had not been cut into the existing second main. Westbound movements still had to take the switch at Allen Creek to access the single track sub.

MKCVP passing through Allen Creek by the end of the new double track.

New second main looking west toward California Jct., IA

On the 14th one of the areas infamous mentally and socially unstable super foamers reported that the new double track section from Allen Creek to just east of California Jct was now open. Interestingly (probably telling of his status) no one replied to his notice.

During my trip to this area on the 20th it was observed that the new second main was indeed completed and being used. While looking over the area west from Italy Ave, I noticed that the old main had a MOW mobile welding truck on it and the third main contained around 20 ballast cars parked on it. A curious observation on the third main is that the eastern most 20 feet of track had been cut and stacked on top of  the continuous track.

UP 6747 leads a eb empty auto rack train on the new second main at Italy Ave west of Missouri Valley, IA.

At California Jct., IA the old CNW search light signals have been retired and pointed away from the main in favor of the new UP Darth Vader signals. Track sub grade work has stopped short of the west Fremont Ave crossing. Utility poles are being installed that will clear the new ROW both horizontally and vertically. Once this is completed the little bit of remaining ROW work should be finished rather quickly.

Looking west from Fremont Ave at California Jct., IA.

Current junction for the end of double track east of California Jct., IA.

Old CNW search lights have been replaced by new signals at California Jct., IA.

On both sides of the Austin Ave crossing I noted that the UP had laid down asphalt on top of the sub grade fines. I had only seen this done once before by the BNSF in western TX on the double tracking of the transcon. I am guessing this was done to add more stability to the row as this is old river bottom land and can get water logged during wet times.

Another interesting item was noted on the east side of the Austin Ave crossing. Four corrugated pipes around 12 inches in diameter are sticking up about a foot out of the ground in a square grid pattern. I'm not sure what these are for and can only assume its for signals.

The bridge over the slough between Austin and Corning Avenues is completed and ready for ties and track to be laid. The row is also completed up to the Corning Ave from the east.

Asphalt sub base west of Austin ave crossing.

West of Corning Ave there has been another dramatic change in the past two weeks. On the 7th I noted that grading of the new row toward the river had started. On the 20th this work had progressed to the point were the new row has the sub base fines laid down. On the north side of the existing row grading is occurring and trucks hauling in dirt were noted dumping there loads about half way up the incline to the Missouri River bridge.

A look out sits on the freshly built row as grading continues on the northwest side of  the Corning Ave crossing.

It is difficult to see what is actually occurring on the north side of the row west from Corning Ave as roads are not readily available. There is a county road that does go under the Hwy 30 bridge to the north side but is it closed except to construction crews. A grader and trucks dropping loads were seen across the fields along the southwestern running tangent but no real detail could be seen.

From the Blair, NE side of the river I could not see any activity on the Iowa side. I did notice that there is excavation work and pilings be positioned just north of the public boat ramp. I do not know if this is work being done by the city or part of the UP project. A curious note is this work does line up with the old SC&P row that lead to the river ferries back in the late 1880's.

West from Blair no other work was noted until Kennard, NE. The bridge work that had been reported previously is now completed on the old Kennard siding. The old row has been regraded and sub base fines laid down and compacted. Ribbon rail has been laid next to the new row and the row is being prepped for ties and the rail to be installed.

Looking west along the old Kennard siding.

From the area of the old West Kennard siding to Co Rd 21, the row grading has been completed and the sub base fines laid down. Culvert and bridge work is also completed and the row is nearly ready for ties and rail to be installed. Looking west from the Co Rd 21 crossing the new row is clearly visible with the white rock sub grade laid down. It appears that the existing track will deviate into the new cut and the new track will cross the existing line. When the time comes for this cut over it will result in the line being shut down while for awhile. These typically occurs on Mondays when traffic on the sub is low.

Looking west from Co Rd 21 at new row.

Looking east toward Kennard from Co Rd 21.

On both sides of the Co Rd 19 crossing the row grading is completed and the sub base fines have been installed. At the top of Arlington Hill the excavation work on the cutting back of the hill to the east has been completed along with the installation of the bridge east of the hill. Grading and sub base fines have been laid and the row is nearing completion for ties and rail to be installed.

Looking up grade west from Co Rd 19.

The area around Co Rd 15 is still under construction. It is here where the line will be dramatically changed, The s-curve west of the crossing will be removed and the line shifted to the north from its present location at the crossing. Some of the sub grade has been completed west of Co Rd 15 heading down grade toward Arlington, but this section is not complete.

The s-curve west of Co Rd 15 that will be eliminated.

At Co Rd P11 heavy equipment was seen working the new row up to the creek. West from the creek up to the grain elevator on the east side of Arlington, NE, row work has started. 

From Arlington west to Fremont no work has begun.

Heavy equipment working west of Co Rd P11.