Western Railroad Discussion > Tucson Abandon/Changed? route question

Dear TOs,

  While visiting the Tucson area(its a dry heat) i attempted to see the stored UP power (all gone) off of Empirita Rd, i followed the line west(north) and found at one time it connected. Does anyone know when it was severed, did it go under/over I-10.   thanks all robert162 

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The railroad went over Interstate 10.

As to when, it was sometime after October 2010. Perhaps early 2011. Someone may know precisely.

Yes, it was the original mainline alignment.  It went over Interstate 10 on the steel and concrete girder bridge.  This bridge had both low clearance and was fairly narrow, thus it didn't meet modern interstate standards.  Instead of constructing a new bridge (and doing so without disrupting train traffic) the Arizona Department of Transportation decided that constructing the new alignment was cheaper and ultimately the best option.  I beleive the work was finished around 2012 or so.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/18 09:01 by BNSF6400.

In the secound photo, I see lower quadrant semaphores with the SD45T-2 lead freight. Did those semaphores last until Union Pacific came along?
SantaFeRuss









 

Presumably the eastward climb is steeper now--
anyone know how much?

Thanks for the info, seem to be quite a bunch of interesting finds along this line;

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Looks like you found the old El Paso & Southwestern roundhouse in Tucson, about 1.5 miles south of the SP depot.
Your first image is part of how the original line wound around the drainage channels to minimize excavaton, it was "quick and dirty" construction to allow CP Huntington to get his SP to El Paso before the Texas and Pacific arrived (he did and extended east to Sierra Blance where the  T&P met him.)
When the EP&SW was built a couple of decades later they invested much more in a reduced curvature alignment from Mescal (west of Benson) to Tucson.  When the SP took over the EP&SW that became the westward line of double track.  All the way through to the present day hot westbound freights get over the district faster than they would have had the EP&SW not been acquired; there was little incentive to invest in curve reductions for eastward traffic only.  One could imagine if the Blue Streak had to endure those 10 degree, 25 MPH curves money to straighten out the line would have been found.
As far as I remember the grade on the new line is not a problem.

do you know anything about this warehouse its in Vail?

It was finished between July and December of 2011 for sure. Mike Huggins posted photos of the ROW without rails and I have a photo of a train on the new line on 1 Jan 2012. It wasnt the first train but I know the line had recently been opened. My other in law kept me updated so she had seen a train on it the week before. So in my guess guess I'd say it was near the end/sometime in mid Dec of 2011.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/18 08:25 by RayLewis.

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> Looks like you found the old El Paso &
> Southwestern roundhouse in Tucson, about 1.5 miles
> south of the SP depot.

Where is this? I tried entering the coordinates on the photo with no success. You know nearby cross streets?

BigDave Wrote:
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> railstiesballast Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Looks like you found the old El Paso &
> > Southwestern roundhouse in Tucson, about 1.5
> miles
> > south of the SP depot.
>
> Where is this? I tried entering the coordinates on
> the photo with no success. You know nearby cross
> streets?

Try these:
 32.203503° N, -110.978466° W

Street intersection:
South Freeway and West 25th St.

robert162 Wrote:
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> do you know anything about this warehouse its in
> Vail?

IIRC, it was a manufactured home plant.  I seem remember a faded sign there when I was in high school years ago.

When it comes to the "new alignment" east of Vail, it's kinda funny to read, but it's actually roughly on the original alignment.  According to "Railroads of Arizona Vol 1." by David Myrick, the Espee originally had the tracks following the alignment today.  Massive floods (possibly caused by overgrazing of the area) caused the railroad to realign to the section that ended up being south of the freeway.

thanks for the info "railroads of az 1"    what do you know about Port Of Tucson"

this help
 

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