View allAll Photos Tagged doubletracking
UP 3022 & CSXT 118 lead a Chicago to Seattle intermodal train through Speer on an overcast Wyoming day.
IG4SE 15
On the face of it there's nothing particularly wrong with this photo but it irks me and will for a long time I'm sure. We were on a quick family trip to Duluth and I'd successfully avoided hijacking the trip for any railfan sidelights.
A week ago we were headed home on a beautiful bluebird day. On the way out of Superior I spied this train of GATX hoppers departing on the "coal main". With a slight detour I was able to beat them out here just east of the 15.9 control point. They were easing to a stop. I had also seen the Rapids local ready to head this way as well. I figured it was the Rapids that had the green here to highball up to Cloquet. With this shot in the bag I got back into the car to reposition for the Rapids. Unforced error, I had just enough time to get myself out of position for when the local came bounding around the corner.
I had the rest of the drive home to stew in the realization that all I had to do was sit still for one minute and collect the well-lit overtake shot here (with a handsome H-3 SD40-2 leading). Thus it will take some time to make my peace with a perfectly average shot of a GEVO-led unit train without the regrets of what should be in the frame with it. March 28, 2022.
The sun hovers momentarily over a large bend in the Mississippi River at Ferryville, WI. It's hard to beat an evening along the river even when the BNSF is between trains. August 18, 2024.
A westbound intermodal train has just crossed Lake Pend Oreille as it meets an eastbound intermodal on a nice fall day in the Idaho Rockies.
Moduverse+
32x32 Double track module with gravel between tracks.
160 parts (frame only)
Very high setting rendering using Stud.io.
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Free building instructions:
www.snakebyte.dk/lego/instructions/moduverse/moduverse_ra...
The sun had set but it had been a fine day and I was taking my time packing up. When I saw a green approach signal pop up for a westbound on main 2 I tolerated the emerging gnats a few more minutes to see what was coming. A couple minutes later the headlight popped over the horizon with just enough light to play with and try a few shots. 5565 lead a Wisconsin Public Service "double" unit coal empty on it's way back to Wyoming. All GE powered, it was set up 2x3x1. August 10, 2024.
After a couple requests for prints, I've created an account with imagekind to make my images available for sale. If there's something you'd like, let me know and I'll upload it for availability there. Thanks!
And thanks very much to everyone for your support and encouragement during this difficult time. It really means a lot.
By request, this image is now available for sale through imagekind: click here.
A pair of Wisconsin Central SD45s were roaring through Grayslake with train T045 on a hot and humid day in 1999.
The single-track Chicago Subdivision would soon become the doubletrack Canadian National Waukesha Subdivision when CN took over in 2001.
Not the greatest grab shot, but it was one of the few times I caught a Lakes States Division train on the original SOO during the one and only summer of LSD's existence.
With SOO's 1986 takeover of the Milwaukee Road, all traffic shifted over to the doubletrack C&M Subdivision, leaving the Chicago Sub devoid of trains south of Duplainville, with the exception of the Schiller Park and Burlington locals.
As SOO continued to experiment with its Lake States Division, and its motley roster of GP9s, GP20s and GP30s, they briefly shifted the eastbound train #12 to Chicago onto the Chicago Sub straight into Schiller Park.
A difficult line to chase, we managed to catch up to it crossing US 45 in Vernon Hills, Illinois.
Part of my "30 years of slide film" series.
It was more than 23 years ago that I moved to the Upper Mississippi River Valley for a new job. The landscape and the railroading helped seal the deal. I would buy my first house along the river, eventually change jobs, eventually live elsewhere, but had kept the house where I could see the BNSF St. Croix Sub out the front windows. This day would be bittersweet as within the hour I would be closing on the sale of that house and my place along the river would be no more. I had a myriad of reasons to hang on to the old place but also the reasons to sell were piling up, it was time. Thankfully I still have family connections in this direction and don't live too far away. I'm looking forward to my future trips being for pleasure and not strictly work sessions.
The raw weather seemed appropriate for this day of farewell. I've made the drive hundreds of times but it never gets old. Skirting Lake Pepin I caught sight of an eastbound train a couple miles behind me on the other side of Maiden Rock. A brief pause here at Pepin allowed the BNSF 5926 to overtake me before we both continued down river. Even without a place to hang my hat along the river it retains a piece of my heart.
November 10, 2020.
Amtrak F40PH 200 heads up a westbound Northeast Corridor train whose passengers have a nice view of Long Island Sound near Niantic, Connecticut. This route between New Haven and Boston, along with Amtrak's New Haven-Springfield, MA line, were the last routes where F40PH locomotives were used in regular service. And the line is doubletrack and under wires now.
The paint isn't so fresh anymore on UP 6664 as it leads a westbound manifest on UP's Houston Sub northeast of H-Town. UP is currently double-tracking the Sunset Route here between Crosby and Dayton, about a 9 mile stretch.
MNOEWB 09 (Manifest- New Orleans, LA to Englewood Yard [Houston], Second Train)
UP C44ACM #6664
Crosby, TX
August 11th, 2021
Clouds, clouds stay away!
Adelante 180106 in FGW livery departs from Malvern Link on 10-8-17
The working is the 1P40 09.54 Great Malvern to London Paddington Great Western Service
After getting a fresh crew and waiting for a couple westbounds, the CNXNA 16 pulls out of Cheyenne as it meets the Fresno, California bound MNPFR 16.
A pair of H1s kick up snow as they fly down the St. Croix Sub with a Z-train. Fountain City, WI, March 4, 2003.
The sun is just starting to shine through the bare trees as GBSO crosses the Ford River at Hyde, MI. I can think of very few double track bridges in the UP, mostly a short over pass here and there. It does attest to how busy this line once was with traffic off the Metropolitan Branch merging in at nearby Narenta to combine with what came off the more westerly parts of the Menomonie Range and even Gogebic Ranges plus all the traffic from the south. WC had moved the trains off it's parallel ex-SOO route a handful of years before adding some more traffic back to this old C&NW route. In a couple minutes this train will reach Escanaba. February 6, 2000.
UP 2754 & 8335 lead a Stockton, California to Chicago intermodal train around the curve at Archer as they meet a westbound grain train.
ILTG2 15
26 degree celsius, I was expeting thunder, but not:-) A 40 km ride after painting house = Reward! See note:-) One million of em. This playground is mine:-)
As part of the massive double tracking project up Steelton Hill in Duluth, CN is building new bridge over 108th Ave West. The old bridge and track alignment can be seen in the background.
Weird to think that there was a period where we saw more lease units on locals than actual yellow ones. Here's such a duo of leased Geeps on the Eagle Lake Local as it heads for the Hines Industrial Lead off the Glidden Sub in Sugar Land.
This was taken during the double tracking of the Glidden Sub through southwest Houston. The little red board in front of the HLCX unit is there to protect MOW equipment parked on the new main.
LHT47 04 (Local- Eagle Lake to Sugar Land, TX and back)
GMTX GP38-2 #2617
HLCX GP38-2 #1029
Sugar Land, TX
August 4th, 2015
2x 3-car Met Camm DMU's approach Kettlebeck Bridge in August 1982
The train is a Morecambe to Leeds working
LMS 4-6-0 5MT 'Black5' 45264 heads west at Fladbury in Worcestershire between Pershore and Evesham circa 1965.
The station closed in 1966.
If no one comes up with an answer I will post the solution tomorrow.
Withdrawn from 5B [Crewe South] on 30-9-67
Disposal at Cashmores, Great Bridge circa 31-1-68
Part of the Tom Derrington Collection
Not just yet, fellow Gorge lovers. This was taken in 2009. But it's just a couple of months away for the 2010 season.
A nice SD70ACe-T4 leads a North Platte to Portland mixed freight across the plains of eastern Wyoming as it makes its way across the Overland Route.
MNPPD 01
Turbo 166201 still in FGW livery departs from Malvern Link station on 10-8-22.
The working is the GWR 2C12 0845 Great Malvern to Westbury service and running 5 minutes late.
I have enjoyed photographing the Turbo's particularly those that remained in First Great Western livery. Having resumed photography in 2015 after quite a long break means that I timed it just right to capture these changes without realising at the time that their visits to Malvern would soon become extremely rare [if ever]. Does anyone know when the last one worked through? There have been a couple of workings from Paddington with Turbo's after the through trains to Bristol and beyond were finished with.
Ref: IMG_4623 10-8-22
Some end of the day sun broke out just in time to illuminate a classic lashup of NorthWestern power on this westbound train. 6854 wouldn't last the year before falling to the Union Pacific paintbrush. Flagg, IL, February 17, 1996.
Smoky skies create an interesting sunrise over Lake Pend Oreille at Sandpoint Idaho. With the plans to doubletrack this bridge...and all the fires we spent a few days here at the bridge.
About mid-way between Morocco and Ade, Indiana was Shuey Ditch bridge, located at MP IH 52.95. This photo is looking north and shows the southbound main track abandoned in place. The northbound track had been removed long ago. Between Morocco and Kentland, all the bridges look similar to this, with the southbound main still in place. However, south of Kentland, the northbound main was favored when they single-tracked this in the 50's, so the northbound track would be left in place abandoned. Photo taken March 20th, 2013. This one was a little bit of a walk.
NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD
Shuey Ditch Bridge
Ade, rural Newton County, Indiana
MP IH 52.95
March 20th, 2013
Status-Abandoned
3rd try's the charm, they say. I('m still) pretty unfamiliar with BNSF ops out of the Twin Ports, and that showed when I missed the Grand Rapids turn with a BN duo because I was confused on which direction they came from (it was from Superior, for those keeping score at home).
So, a few days later, I went out to try again and waited at Boylston for them to roll south. As they get close, I reach for my camera, turn it on - no SD card. Out of literally three I have, I brought none. That's me. Luckily, the BN pair was split, and there was only 1832 leading. And, as the next day would demonstrate, the conditions (cloudy, dark) weren't the greatest.
Onto the 3rd try. The next day, with the night off of work and sunny skies, I set up at the end of the doubletrack at Irondale, Wi. Armed with two failures and a few friends talking me through this, I was ready to not mess this one up. A call time half an hour early of 1430 meant that they could go that much further before the reality of December daylight hours (future name drop, remind myself) humbled everyone.
HSUPNTW left superior around 1515, and the Grand Rapids Job, wasting no time OD, quickly followed them out. Just before 1530, they advised the dispatcher that their TGBOs had been issued to the wrong engine number, but with that fixed, west they went. However, the sun was quickly setting behind a line of very strategically planted pine trees behind me, and the shadows grew quite obviously longer across the rail as mere minutes went by. At 1536, the train was clear of Boylston, and a minute or so later I saw their headlights a few miles down the straightaway. It was my last chance to move to the wide open road a few hundred feet closer. I took my chances. Just a minute or two after their headlights appeared, the train rocketed through Irondale, and I got off a single shot of the headend not obscured by shadows, and flew after them.
Fast freight Q540 (Etowah, TN - Cincinnati, OH) enters single track at Frantz, Kentucky on the L&N CC Subdivision on the hazy afternoon of May 2, 2021.
At 6:06 a.m. during a humid and hazy dawn on July 1, 1990, two Conrail trains meet at speed at Chesterton, Indiana. The westbound TV487 intermodal train meets an eastbound steel coil unit train on the busy double track.
Train 505 waits for 608 to clear the bottleneck switch at the far East end of the Double-Track mainline near 11th Street Station. Car #1 is looking sharp (compared to #13) on the rear of 505 while waiting near the Lafayette Street grade crossing before proceeding East. This is CP 33.3 on the South Shore Line in Michigan City Indiana.
April 3, 2024
This railroad has been a dream of mine to see since the first time I learned about its existence decades ago. The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) Ybefore another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here is eastbound NICTD train 503 with a consist of Nippon-Sharyo built electric multiple unit cars. Lead #48 is a double ended car built in 1992 though the oldest of the type date from 1982 and were the cars that replaced the old Pullman and Standard Steel cars dating from the 1920s.
The train is about to stop at Michigan City 11th Street station near MP 33.9. The historic station with its ornate facade was built in 1927 and closed to passengers in 1987. It has been vacant since with trains stopping at a bus stop style shelter adjacent to it. It was sold to the city in 2007 and has an uncertain future with the coming changes.
Michigan, City Indiana
Saturday August 15, 2020
@ Miner's trail head
(high clearance required for a few miles of doubletrack, 4WD for the mud along the way)
This railroad has been a dream of mine to see since the first time I learned about its existence decades ago. The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) before another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here are three South Shore Freight units (GP38-2s 2005, 2007, 2008 from that 10 unit 1981 order) headed light engine back to the Caroll Ave. shops. This going away view looks east down 11th Street at the Ohio Ave. intersection, MP 34.35.
Michigan, City Indiana
Saturday August 15, 2020
About 3/4 of a mile north of Ade, Indiana is Chizum Ditch Bridge, located at MP IH 54.39. This bridge is of the plate girder type. View is looking north with Ade behind me. This is accessible by a farmers private crossing. Taken March 20th, 2013.
NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD
Chizum Ditch Bridge
Ade, rural Newton County, Indiana
MP IH 54.39
March 20th, 2013
Status-Abandoned