Western Railroad Discussion > Bay Area (CA) UP branch updates

Vasona Branch: CWR has been laid on one side but not the other on the branch -- kind of curious, as before recent work started, there was CWR lying on both sides of the old track, but now there is CWR lying in the dirt beside the newly installed rail....is new rail laid opposite to the side it was laying on before installation? The ballast under the new rail looks woeful still. By the way, the old stick rail is stamped 1906, the relay rail is 1976.

Port of Redwood City Branch: As others have commented, wow this track looks horrid! There is no ballast left, and the worn-out, wavy stick rail just wallows in the dirt. The switch and surrounding rail are new at Granite Rock as previously described by BNATSF and vcrail (http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1847329,1847329#msg-1847329), and there are many bundles of new ties and many long strings of CWR about mid-way along the port track. There are also stacks of track panels near the 101 overcrossing. It looks like there needs to be some serious ballast work here to this novice, as the ground looks very soft and one cannot even see ties at some locations -- just rail in mud.

Of note, remnants of the old Leslie/Cargill salt rail line are still there, as described before: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1291113,1291612#msg-1291612

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Also the run-around track out past the main Port of Redwood City entrance is missing at the moment. They have removed the rail and the ties. Yes there were actually ties under that muck. Some even look to be in decent condition. You should see the piled up old rail from that track. There are sections where in a 15ft space there are 4 or 5 different sections of rail. In one spot it looks like someone cut down a joint bar to make room for yet another one.