Castleton Crossing Question
So I have a question for my friends here that work for CSXT and run across the Berkshire and Boston Subs? Does the Castleton Bridge have a special instruction restriction limiting it to only one train at a time despite being double tracked?
The last few times I've personally observed meets here they've happened like this in the photo. CSXT train I019 (Worcester to Bedford Park, IL intermodal) is crossing the Hudson River on Main 4 of CSXT's Castleton Sub while at the far west end of the bridge holding at the signal at MP QG9.1 on Main 3 is train M426 (Selkirk to Rigby manifest).
So why didn't or couldn't they have pulled east to CP SM at MP QG9.5 to wait for I019 to clear the single track at the end of the Berkshire Sub instead of holding back off the structure until they'd cleared?
The massive double tracked Alfred H. Smith Bridge is in total 5255 ft long and 139 feet above the Hudson River below. In 1921 a contract for the main grading and drainage work and for all the actual bridge construction except its steel superstructure was awarded to Walsh Construction Company, a well-established Iowa-based railroad builder that would later go on (in 22 joint venture with others) to build the Grand Coulee Dam and, still later, to achieve national prominence as a builder of urban skyscrapers. The 23,000 tons of structural steel required for the bridge would be fabricated in Pittsburgh and erected by Bethlehem Steel's McClintic Marshall subsid- iary under a direct contract with the railroad. Physical work began in early 1922 and two years later on November 20, 1924 the first train crossed the bridge. It was named in honor of Alfred Holland Smith, the president of the New York Central Railroad who authorized the construction of this bridge as part of an extensive project known as the Castleton Cut-Off. He died in a horse-riding accident in Central Park in 1924, only a few months before completion of the bridge. He is sometimes confused with Alfred E. Smith, New York's governor at the time who was aboard that first train and christened the structure in honor of the other fallen Mr. Smith.
This bridge is now the southernmost place a freight train can cross the Hudson River (excepting NYNJ's barge service) and is used by all CSXT traffic heading into New England via the old B&A as well as any traffic direct to New York City via the historic NYC Main, now Amtrak and Metro North's Hudson Line and on a typical day 18 to 20 trains will cross. The parallel structure beyond is Castleton-on-Hudson bridge opened in 1959 to carry the New York State Thruway's Berkshire extension connection to the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Schodack, New York
Saturday October 26, 2024
Castleton Crossing Question
So I have a question for my friends here that work for CSXT and run across the Berkshire and Boston Subs? Does the Castleton Bridge have a special instruction restriction limiting it to only one train at a time despite being double tracked?
The last few times I've personally observed meets here they've happened like this in the photo. CSXT train I019 (Worcester to Bedford Park, IL intermodal) is crossing the Hudson River on Main 4 of CSXT's Castleton Sub while at the far west end of the bridge holding at the signal at MP QG9.1 on Main 3 is train M426 (Selkirk to Rigby manifest).
So why didn't or couldn't they have pulled east to CP SM at MP QG9.5 to wait for I019 to clear the single track at the end of the Berkshire Sub instead of holding back off the structure until they'd cleared?
The massive double tracked Alfred H. Smith Bridge is in total 5255 ft long and 139 feet above the Hudson River below. In 1921 a contract for the main grading and drainage work and for all the actual bridge construction except its steel superstructure was awarded to Walsh Construction Company, a well-established Iowa-based railroad builder that would later go on (in 22 joint venture with others) to build the Grand Coulee Dam and, still later, to achieve national prominence as a builder of urban skyscrapers. The 23,000 tons of structural steel required for the bridge would be fabricated in Pittsburgh and erected by Bethlehem Steel's McClintic Marshall subsid- iary under a direct contract with the railroad. Physical work began in early 1922 and two years later on November 20, 1924 the first train crossed the bridge. It was named in honor of Alfred Holland Smith, the president of the New York Central Railroad who authorized the construction of this bridge as part of an extensive project known as the Castleton Cut-Off. He died in a horse-riding accident in Central Park in 1924, only a few months before completion of the bridge. He is sometimes confused with Alfred E. Smith, New York's governor at the time who was aboard that first train and christened the structure in honor of the other fallen Mr. Smith.
This bridge is now the southernmost place a freight train can cross the Hudson River (excepting NYNJ's barge service) and is used by all CSXT traffic heading into New England via the old B&A as well as any traffic direct to New York City via the historic NYC Main, now Amtrak and Metro North's Hudson Line and on a typical day 18 to 20 trains will cross. The parallel structure beyond is Castleton-on-Hudson bridge opened in 1959 to carry the New York State Thruway's Berkshire extension connection to the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Schodack, New York
Saturday October 26, 2024