Western Railroad Discussion > Flint Hills DT report 8-10

Here’s the latest BNSF Flint Hills DT progress report, with a few train shots added:

1. & 2. Looking east at Ellinor (KS) at another piece of the signal puzzle being erected. I was shown a rough, hand-drawn final layout of the new crossover plant, but I’ll still have to see the finished product to fully understand how it will work…

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All done with Ms Ellinor proper, I took to the usual square-corner back roads down the Emporia Sub toward Gladstone:

3. And it turns out that small bridge at the West Rd crossing on the La Junta Sub is apparently getting either a make-over or a move-over. Or it may just be a temporary shoo-fly while the real bridge is replaced. Time will tell. In my last DT report I had originally thought the steel H-beams stacked there were for some other location close by. I also labeled this drainage gully as “Stout Run”, which shows in Google Maps. But Stout Run actually passes under the L J Sub just east of “UW” Road, almost a mile to the west.

4. Another telephoto look over the milo(?) field along West Rd shows the new second bridge at west Ellinor has now spanned the high-water drainage slough. Images #3 & #4 also ID’ed as Ellinor, KS.

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5. I made the jog ‘around the corner’ from west Ellinor to see if there was any progress at the bridge over the Cottonwood River. Not much, as it turns out. A little more of the sub-grade was filled in, which I shot #5 from. This image is looking NNE (TT east).

6. The freshly cut field along ‘UP’ road provided me an agriculturally tinged shot of the westward signal at east Gladstone. Unless I’m guessing wrong, the control point here will probably be history after completion of this massive DT project.

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7. Now at the “Miller Cemetery” crossing we’re looking TT east over the new subgrade as…

8. …BNSF 4274 +3 come racing west with stacks-on-stacks. I got a friendly toot from the engineer! Maybe there was some influence from the ghost of a hogger I road with here 35-40 years ago… ;^)

At this point, even though the westbound trains were starting to break loose, I thought it prudent to make a side trip over to Casey’s at Cottonwood Falls. Some necessary hydration for the railfan soul…

9. Normally, I would have returned to the back roads to trace the Emporia Sub down through the valley. But I thought my pit stop at Cottonwood took too much time. So, in a 1-time-out-of-20 situation I kept on KS hwy 177 to go south a lot quicker. Sure as you-know-what, here comes a hot eastbound stacker, no doubt a Z-train, racing up the valley. All I could do was grab a ‘God’s eye view’ image from K-177. At 240mm the train is just over a mile away. And that faint line of background hills is probably 5-6 miles away. BTW: “Kansas is FLAT, dontcha know…”
(Photos 5-9 taken at or near Gladstone, KS)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/20 13:16 by santafe199.

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10. & 11. I had to swallow my error in judgement and proceeded south on 177. It turns out that westbound I shot back at Gladstone had taken the hole at Bazaar to meet the Clint Bowyer-style* EB Z-train. I caught up with BNSF 4274 west about half way out of Bazaar siding. So I had time to beat it down to the K-177 overpass between Matfield Green & Cassoday. I parked far enough off 177 so I wouldn’t be some goofy railfan putting other motorists in potential danger.
(I’ve labeled shots 10-11 as ‘Matfield Green, KS’)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/20 13:25 by santafe199.

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12. Here’s a 240mm look straight up the new subgrade at Cassoday, taken from the 1st St crossing. I had seen signal evidence another westbound train was on the way. I waited a long time, and almost gave up. But I decide to tough it out… My obstinacy was rewarded 63” later:

13. & 14. Here comes BNSF 6825 streaking by the construction sight for the new Walnut River bridge & new second track. I could see a bank of clouds coming from the west. It was 6:38 PM and I was ready to head north anyway, and eventually head home to Manhattan. I got back on K-177 northbound…
(Images 12-14 taken at Cassoday, KS)

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15. & 16. But the railfan gods couldn’t pass up a chance to tease a tired old railfan who was still 75” from home. I came around a corner and saw that the eastbound signal at west Matfield was lit up all red, which meant the DS had a westbound lined up. So I parked in a position that let me shoot from my driver’s seat. I machine-gunned a series of shots with the D7100! Now, at long last I could finally head for home.
(Images 15 & 16 taken at Matfield Green, KS)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

*I chose Mr Bowyer as my speed example because he’s a professional race car driver who happened to have been born in Emporia, KS.

count-down to norman ah bates

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I've been meaning to ask you in our recent phone conversations about the progress.  Thanks for the update!   Maybe I can wander out that way this fall.  

Thanks for the updates. Nice to see new track being built in 2020

Rathole Wrote: > ... Maybe I can wander out that way this fall ...  

(complete with a fake red-neck accent): Wull, pardner... jes' cum-own-dowun!

:^)

Good ATCS coverage with Trainmon5 service for the area. You won’t miss or wait for a non existent train again. May take some of the fun out of not knowing though.

Posted from iPhone

santafe199 Wrote:
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 jes' cum-own-dowun!
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> :^)

Yikes.

Great coverage on the rebuild.
Gary

Nice to see one railroad still doing large infrastructure projects!

Keep up the good work on the updates . It's appreciated .

Posted from Android

Thanks for a very enjoyable update!

Larry

Thanks for the update, Lance!  Keep us posted, please.

RC Lundgren