Western Railroad Discussion > Graham Line Wye Photos. Portland, OR

Some photos from this morning. For those not familiar with the area, the line in the photo is the Graham line and connects with Albina yard which is off to the right. The left leg of the wye will connect with the line to Brooklyn yard which is off to the left.
They are making progress!

Enjoy!

Len

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Additional photos. These are looking east.

Len

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It just dawned on me that the new turnout is on concrete ties.  The other one for the south end of the new leg is a normal wood tie turnout.  Pretty much confirms my statement that the new switch was built in place.  Now if they would jsut eliminate that 6 mph S curve just around the corner!

Rob

Here is the Brooklyn Yard end of the "Y".  In the background is the Graham side of the "Y" retaining wall.  On the river side of the Brooklyn line is an assembled switch ready to install.  Picture take from AMTK Cascades #507 on 8-29-15.

jb

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Now it's all starting to take shape. For some reason, I'm still not able to picture what the south leg of the wye will look like. This is such a congested location to begin with. Once in place, it will be quite an asset to the U.P.
On a recent trip through the Columbia River Gorge, I was amazed at all the intermodal traffic on the U.P. It reminded me of the hotshots of the '70's and the DDA40X-'Fast Forty' sandwich power sets zipping along at 70mph!
The new wye will certainly be the new shortcut gateway to Brooklyn for these trains.

Posted from iPhone

Great pictures and very good story, Thankls!

great pictures....if you count four freeway ramp pillars going from the right to left, that is where the line to the Brooklyn Sub sneaks under the freeway to head south.   they built a large protecting wall adjacent to the pillar to protect it. 
Appears the scheme is to build track, close the line, pull out the old and slide over the new.  with the ballasting west of the switch, it looks like this portion is final. 
UP vehicles heading to corporate offices will cross at grade as the office will shortly be in the middle of a wye.  

Yes, that 5 mph corner is interesting and sure slows long southbound freights as many creep by the Oregon Rail Heritage Center until their tails pass that restriction.  Shorter traffic booms past ORHC at the posted 45 mph.

The MLK viaduct is a nice viewing platform....great view and legal.    Arlen
 

Thanks for posting, that should clear up any doubts about how the track will be arranged.

Anyone got a closeup shot of those odd ties with the braces and provision for gaurdrails? Going west off the concrete tie switch, it looks like the south leg is going to be very sharp. Hard to see how they will make that curve before the piers with the current layout of the switch..

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Tried to "EARTH GOOGLE" the location could you give a better location.....thanks, really enjoy new railroad construction progress phots. Thanks all robert162

robert162 Wrote:
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> Tried to "EARTH GOOGLE" the location could you
> give a better location.....thanks, really enjoy
> new railroad construction progress phots. Thanks
> all robert162

Its located right under where I-84 and I-5 merge in Portland, Oregon. The Wye leg goes under the absolute very end of I-84

What is the signal in the lower portion of photo one???  Maybe it is built but not in the right place yet.

Rob

Does anyone know yhe anticipated project completion date ?

SilvertonRR100 Wrote:
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> What is the signal in the lower portion of photo
> one???  Maybe it is built but not in the right
> place yet.
>
> Rob

It looks to be in the right place for the new switch. Installed with the heads turned until the extended (or new) control point is put into service.

portlander Wrote:
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> SilvertonRR100 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What is the signal in the lower portion of
> photo
> > one???  Maybe it is built but not in the right
> > place yet.
> >
> > Rob
>
> It looks to be in the right place for the new
> switch. Installed with the heads turned until the
> extended (or new) control point is put into
> service.

While it is in line with the new head block, it is a long way from the track line, but may be set up to be visible a ways uphill.  Time will answer that question I guess.

Rob

Im only a little familiar with the location and from the photos, wondering, how tight of a curve is the new "leg" of the wye? what would speed limit be? I have seen trains creeping through the existing "leg" very slow, but I think this is due to switches near steel bridge...TIA.

SilvertonRR100 Wrote:
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> portlander Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > SilvertonRR100 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > What is the signal in the lower portion of
> > photo
> > > one???  Maybe it is built but not in the
> right
> > > place yet.
> > >
> > > Rob
> >
> > It looks to be in the right place for the new
> > switch. Installed with the heads turned until
> the
> > extended (or new) control point is put into
> > service.
>
> While it is in line with the new head block, it is
> a long way from the track line, but may be set up
> to be visible a ways uphill.  Time will answer
> that question I guess.
>
> Rob

Yeah, it's hard to tell with the angle of the picture exactly where the base of the signal is. However, since the new track is going to essential cross over the current track west of the new signal, it will probably a lot closer to the new main than it seems.

Scaling those pics down, it looks like laying out sectional Lionel track for a model train layout. Great pictures.

Jim