Western Railroad Discussion > Changes coming to Grand Crossing

Well at least it was not raining or snowing this morning but clouds still ruled the day. 

#1 - Looking southeast from River Valley Dr on the Gateway Bridge.  Water levels are a bit high due to all the recent rains and spring melt but crews have been pounding in wood piles.

#2 - Looking southeast from River Valley Dr  on the Gateway Bridge. Green boxcars are on the La Crosse River Bridge.

#3-  Looking south from River Valley Dr on the Gateway Bridge the bridge in the distance is WI-16.  A 2nd larger crane has been brought in and boomed up, likely do do the La Crosse River Bridge.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/15 16:37 by pyroman.

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Looking north from River Valley Dr on the Gateway Bridge toward Grand Crossing.  The second track will be on the left in the images on the west side of the current track.  The wider area where crews are working on the right of the existing track is to be a pair of crossovers like Graf, etc to allow trains access to the La Crosse yard.  Not sure if it will be a separate named control point or if they will roll it into Grand Crossing (suspect the former so something like CP 2995).  Other persistent rumor is the CP RR will be also putting in a new set of crossovers on the west end of Grand Crossing to allow trains to leave their yard and hit the main without the need to run east on the Medary Siding.  Same time the will also shift their tracks a bit at Grand Crossing to smooth out an S curve there.

PS CTC now extends south on the Aurora to CP 2546 at Lynxville.  What you see in the above images also took place in about a week, so things are changing fast!



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/15 18:16 by pyroman.

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What state and city is this location in?

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

Grand Crossing, WI

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.84498,-91.22966&z=15&t=T

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Make that LaCrosse, WI. 

So the pilings just stabilize the sub-grade, and the track structure is built on several feet of fill poured on top of the pilings?

Yes. DNR permit specifies no major construction done May - July do to some "black tern" or something, that "may" nest in the area. If the BNSF can get the subgrade in place by then and judging from just one week of work that should be no problem, the DNR may just let them keep going since they are "out of the water/marsh". That being the case a July\August completion is doable I would think.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/15 09:31 by pyroman.

Thanks for the updates. Apparently the Corps of Engineers gave the ok?

commissioner Wrote:
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> Thanks for the updates. Apparently the Corps of
> Engineers gave the ok?

Yes.  The permit was delivered about ten days ago.

That is awesome! Great to see this bottleneck alleviated.

Will this help Amtrak?

Amtrak runs on the CP here, so no not directly. If the rumor of Grand Crossing going full automatic then it could get dinged when BNSF does a crew change or has a train going in/out of the yard.

pyroman Wrote:
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> Amtrak runs on the CP here, so no not directly. If
> the rumor of Grand Crossing going full automatic
> then it could get dinged when BNSF does a crew
> change or has a train going in/out of the yard.

First, thanks fo the updates and photos, explains a lot.

Second, would Amtrak get dinged by a crew change?  It seems to me,
and I'm not an expert, that the BNSF was pulling westbounds up to the
west end of the North La Crosse Yard and changing crews there.  I would
also think the circuitry would be such that an eastbound could stop at the
yard office and not trip the circuit.  So, it seems to me the only way Amtrak
could get dinged would be if they arrive and a BNSF train is actually crossing
the diamond.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Westbounds still change at the office a lot, especially ones not running trought the yard.

Actually, CP will continue to control the interlocking at Grand Crossing.  The field hardware will all new "green field" equipment.  None of the legacy hardware will remain.  Those close to the situation at Lacrosse will recall that three years ago there was only single track on BNSF west of Grand Crossing and that was all restricted limits.  For a couple of years now that has been double track CTC from Sullivan to where single track starts just west of the crossing.  With double track CTC all the way through Lacrosse on the BNSF side when the project is completed to Graf it will be much easier for CP to clear out the train volume with greatly reduced delay on both sides.  That should benefit Amtrak as well.

rdb

Interesting pics!! Thanks for sharing.

RollinB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually, CP will continue to control the
> interlocking at Grand Crossing.  The field
> hardware will all new "green field" equipment. 
> None of the legacy hardware will remain.  Those
> close to the situation at Lacrosse will recall
> that three years ago there was only single
> track on BNSF west of Grand Crossing and that was
> all restricted limits.  For a couple of years now
> that has been double track CTC from Sullivan to
> where single track starts just west of the
> crossing.  With double track CTC all the way
> through Lacrosse on the BNSF side when the
> project is completed to Graf it will be much
> easier for CP to clear out the train volume
> with greatly reduced delay on both sides.  That
> should benefit Amtrak as well.
>
> rdb

2nd main will definally help with traffic clearing on the south side of La Crosse here, glad to see it happeing.

RollinB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually, CP will continue to control the
> interlocking at Grand Crossing.  The field
> hardware will all new "green field" equipment. 
> None of the legacy hardware will remain.  Those
> close to the situation at Lacrosse will recall
> that three years ago there was only single
> track on BNSF west of Grand Crossing and that was
> all restricted limits.  For a couple of years now
> that has been double track CTC from Sullivan to
> where single track starts just west of the
> crossing.  With double track CTC all the way
> through Lacrosse on the BNSF side when the
> project is completed to Graf it will be much
> easier for CP to clear out the train volume
> with greatly reduced delay on both sides.  That
> should benefit Amtrak as well.
>
> rdb


No such thing as double track CTC ;)