Western Railroad Discussion > Houston After Harvey

As most of us have seen in the news the accompanying rains spawned by hurricane Harvey overwhelmed 52 south Texas counties with rain accumulations like never experienced before. In the surrounding Houston area some locations received a total of 52 inches during the days the weather system stalled overhead. As flooding occurred the railroads suspended service through the area with most lines reopening by mid-week. Though some lines are still closed or have portions out of service, most of the Houston rail scene is back in operation moving traffic in creative ways to get shipments in and out of the city. The railroads are working together hosting numerous reroutes making for interesting viewing trackside. Here’s a look around the area as things work their way back to normal.

1). The day after Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi the rains began to let up and UP began staging outbound trains around the Houston Terminal in anticipation of resuming operations. Here the second westbound lined out of the city sits on the double track main near West Jct., ready to depart on rails heavily rusted by the relentless rains as soon as the railroad reopens the Sunset Route to the west.

2). Normally polished to a mirror shine by large volumes of traffic headed for the west coast the railhead of Main One on the ex-SP Sunset Route through town took on this appearance after being closed for three days.

3). A week after hurricane Harvey made landfall operations were going along as normal at UP’s Englewood hump yard with SD40N 1675, PS6B 409 and mates shoving cars over the hump and past a curious collection of debris deposited by flood waters in the deep ditches protecting the yard.

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4). A look at UP’s Englewood hump from the east end of the yard as the sun begins to set on Saturday September 2, the colossal amount of humidity in the air has caused the murkiness in the sky. Normally the ballast is fairly clean but the trash along the roadbed is debris washed up from the flooding shows how close the water got. The yellow track machines to the left have just been offloaded from a MoW train and will be put to work soon.

5). An odd collection of debris lies in the ditch alongside UP’s Englewood Yard in Houston after the flood waters receded three days earlier. Some of this was trash dumped by area residents prior to the storm while other items washed in as flood waters rose in excess of three feet. Since the yard is built up it was not overwhelmed by rain like the surrounding neighborhoods were.

6). Charging across at track speed indifferent to the angry flood waters below UP ES44AC 7356 heads west with a vehicle train across the Brazos River bridge at Richmond, TX. The central pier that the locomotive is passing over is barely a year old having been replaced last spring when a previous flood weakened the original causing it to sink. See: ( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4085375,4085375#msg-4085375 )



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/17 21:57 by cuontv.

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7). While the water runs fast at well above flood stage a hyrail-equipped Caterpillar 325F-RX excavator plucks submerged debris and tree trunks from around the supports of UP’s bridge over the Brazos River. Notice the hyrail wheels between the crawlers have been retracted and the machine sits on the track structure for added stability while the operator gingerly threads the boom through the truss uprights to dislodge the accumulated debris from around the pilings supporting the cross beam. This central support in the middle of the river channel is barely a year old having been replaced last summer after the original masonry pier began sinking. See: (https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4079210,4079253#msg-4079253 )
Thanks to all the new construction last year, this more than century old bridge remained solid as the river reached heights never seen before. It was feared the river would contact the bridge at the forecast 59 feet but thankfully the river only reached a total depth of 56 feet as seen here.

8). Out of Track & Time while clearing river snags from under the Brazos River bridge on UP’s Glidden Sub the Caterpillar 325F-RX hyrails to the South 2nd Street crossing in Richmond, TX to set off and let trains pass. Part of an integral package mounted between the crawler tracks the hyrail wheels are hydraulically driven allowing impressive travel speeds on the rails. I’ve never seen an excavator move that fast.

9). Rerouted from the UP’s Brownsville Sub the M-BLEW [Manifest-Bloomington (TX) to Englewood (Yard, Houston)]led by two NS locomotives speeds east above the flooded Brazos on September 4, 2017. As soon as the train clears UP bridge maintenance crews will be back out on the spans dislodging more flood debris snagged in the new pilings under the bridge.

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10). UP 7356 makes its way west across the San Bernard River at East Bernard, TX on September 3, 2017 as the water continues to recede below. This river was forecast to be a trouble spot with water flowing over the bridge similar to the Brazos River but did not live up to official predictions as the remaining vines still clinging to the bridge indicate.

11). Passing through Columbus, TX UP ES44AC 7356 rolls past the Brunson Building in the quiet downtown area. The building is home to a local storm relief center and is overflowing onto the sidewalk with piles of clothing donated by the local residents for the victims of hurricane Harvey.

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Excellent coverage of the Houston railroad industry recovery process. Well done.

Nice group Tom. Good to see UP moving back to normal.

Neat series!

Very nice shots. Thanks for sharing!