Western Railroad Discussion > Flint Hills DT report 3-03b

We pick up part #2 of my 3-03 DT report witnessing a dog-catch in progress at Cassoday, KS. From there I knew I had to take a look at the still-not-finished Aikman crossover plant just around the corner from Cassoday along KS hwy 177. And a neat little surprise awaited me! To the captions>>v

1. & 2. BNSF 9037 approaches the 1st St crossing at Cassoday, KS while a relief crew dons their day-glo monkey suits. In my Santa Fe days, if a crew was being relived at Cassoday they were most likely on the way back to Emporia after doubling right back out of Wellington or Ark City. But with today’s loooooonger crew districts anything goes…

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3. Making the jog over to Aikman, KS I got behind this quaint contraption going very slow on K-177. I should have grabbed a shot through my windshield, because I didn’t realize what it was doing until I passed by it. It was back-sweeping loose rock off the highway. There have been a gazillion ballast/earth-fill trucks pounding up & down all parts of K-177 since the project started a year ago. So I’m quite sure this little sweeper will have a job until all the needed ballast has been transported to the various locations...

4. Here’s the relived train now rolling through Aikman. The scene here hasn’t changed much from last fall. The crossover plant is still only half-finished. So in technical terms, right now Aikman is still the east end of 2 main tracks reaching up from West Chelsea down by El Dorado Lake.

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5. Heading back north I stopped at the staging area at the overpass over K-177 halfway between Cassoday & Matfield Green, KS. Which I use for this location. Empty & loaded ballast trucks meet at the entrance to the “strip mine” up on the hill overlooking the overpass, which is also over Mercer Creek...

6. ...A minute later the empty is taking on another load…

7. ...and five minutes later there’s still no rail traffic. But a Sema Construction pickup comes down out of the no-man’s land between this spot and the east siding switch at Cassoday. He watches as another truckload of material (loaded elsewhere) comes barreling south along K-177.

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At this point I received a strategic phone text and learned there was a gap in immediate traffic, which I can take advantage of to move back north a bit further …

8. Back at Bazaar, KS I take to “the sticks” between there & Gladstone. With the lull in trains I had time to take a closer look at some of the brand-new photo locations opened up by the removal of trackside trees & shrubs. Here’s a hi-railer between the approach signal and the east siding switch at Bazaar. This stretch of the Emporia Sub had a solid line of trees & shrubs hiding the track before initial work started on the new “Orient” crossover plant. We’re looking basically NE from “TP Rd”.

9. About 8 minutes later I’ve made the jog over to “UP Rd”, passed by soon-to-be-history Gladstone, KS (as a siding) and run up north a ways. Looking to the east I came to a quick hard scrabble halt. (It’s pretty hard do a screeching halt on a gravel road!) I had to shoot this scene of a decades-old farm structure backed with a modern day crane sticking up over all the history. This crane is at work on the new trestles between Gladstone & Ellinor. Between that tree line and the crane flows the Cottonwood River…

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10. In current Ellinor siding BNSF 7004 is apparently tied down at the same “Rd X” crossing I shot BNSF 7075 from earlier in the day.

11. Back on Old Hwy 50 I sneaked up on a short, 2-unit ballast train sitting ready. I believe this is the 1st time I’ve ever seen a push-pull ballast dumper!

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12. & 13. Four hours after my initial visit to Ellinor the sunlight angle is only marginally better. In image #12, at the future control point called “Ice” the guys are hoisting a piece of track equipment I’ve never seen before. It reminds me of that 1970s shop class console thing you hooked up a timing strobe to while testing a running engine. In behind image #13 there’s the sneaky nose of BNSF 6824, the DP unit for the 7004 sitting on the Emporia Sub siding over at Rd X.

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14. & 15. Two ballast-working machines are at work on the rehabilitated La Junta Sub track just west of the future Ice.

16 While exiting the scene I had to grab a poorly-lit shot of BNSF 5069 on the business end of that patient ballast dumping train.
(Photos 10-16 taken at Ellinor, KS)

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Instead of heading north for home I got a wild hair and ran northwest for Lost Springs. I shoulda bought a lotto ticket, because there was indeed a BNSF grain empty just entering the Strong City Sub for a run up to Abilene. A series of chase shots ended at #35 just as the train was entering my 2nd home town. I’m using the 27th shot in that series for my patented “just one more”…

17. After a stop at Jeep Rd and crew-van accomplice pit stop for some supper, BNSF 3739 leads a Nebraska-bound grain empty around that sweeping curve, about to cross east 1st St and enter Abilene, KS.
(ALL photos taken March 2, 2021)

Thanks for riding along!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/21 16:14 by santafe199.

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Ok I'm ready for part 3 Just Kidding thanks for your report looking forward to your next post on the Flint Hills.

dpc37 Wrote: > ...  Ok .............. looking forward to your next post ...

That might come sooner than we think. I've heard that BNSF will try to get as much of Ellinor done as possible while the CA derailment has traffic held up...

Lance/199

In. Track electric flash butt welder from Holland Comapny it also has a puller and shear built in after the Weld is done.

Thanks for another update on the DT activities on the Flint Hills!

Larry

Thanks, Lance!

RC Lundgren

Glad your are doing all the foot work to keep us posted on how the transcon is changing, interesting.

Thank you Lance for your coverage of the double tracking..
When you worked this territory did you envision this happening?
Traffic may have been lighter then?

zaltwsp7 Wrote: > ... did you envision this happening?

Truthfully, YES. In late 1979 into 1980 Santa Fe was as busy as I ever saw it during my 9 year stint. My 1980 timebook shows 297 "starts", which means I worked an average of just over 6 days out of every 7. I had aspirations of "writing" (heh heh heh) a major article for Trains magazine about the Middle Division. It didn't take long to figure out how far in OVER my head I was. And thank goodness Fred Frailey & Joe McMillan came along in 1983 to research & gather photos for the April(?) 1984 Middle Division article! But I do remember talking with Middle Div Supt Doyle Duncan in early 1980. I was specifically wanting to know Santa Fe's posture on double tracking the 4th District. He told he expected to see DT all finished by 1985. Boy, was I pumped! But then reaganomics came along and kicked everybody in the bulls-eye...

Lance/199  

Thank you for your story Lance.
It's pretty cool your able to see that the DT is finally happening after all these years.

Lance, word has it there’s going to be a major window on 3/10 to do the Ellinor realignment.

Posted from iPhone

Looking at ATCS, I think they moved the cutover to today.

chiefds Wrote:
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> Looking at ATCS, I think they moved the cutover to
> today.

Cutover was moved to 3/5 account low traffic thanks to the Needles Sub derailment.