Is the diamond still intact?
Is still accessable from Valley Bkvd?
TIA for any replies [:)]
Yes to your first question.
You asked, spbed, if the diamonds are still accessible from Valley Blvd.
In short, yes and no! Crazy answer, I know. Note the below photo from the south walkway of Valley Blvd. looking south:
!(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kpharrier/sunset ca-texas/DSC04496.jpg)
An angled view from Valley Blvd. of the northwest quadrant’s transition track:
Access, if one dares to use that term, from Valley Blvd. to the diamonds is via what is generally recognized as Sixth Street. But, one can turn onto that Sixth Street by going through lowered curbing and up over the sidewalk, which indicates one is entering private property!
There used to be a restaurant there with an easement to a business on the south side of the freeway, but those are all gone now. That south of the freeway business was located in the below photo’s far background upper center. The photo was shot from 4th Street.
!(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kpharrier/sunset ca-texas/DSC06742.jpg)
About the closest one can get to the diamonds while on public property is at the southwest quadrant. A ballast train is heading east on the old SP Sunset Route in the below photo.
!(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kpharrier/sunset ca-texas/DSC07204.jpg)
Thanks a UPRR cop showed me where the public property is on the SE corner of the diamond entering off Valley Blvd. So to sum up the construction of the under/over has not begun yet is that correct? [:)]
The last I heard, the design engineering process should end in July 2011, with construction beginning three to four months after that, and will last three years till late 2014.
There is public roadways in three of the quadrants around the diamonds (between half a block and a block away), but the diamonds themselves are off limits.
Thanks for the info! [:)]
Since the design is still ongoing have you or anyone heard if BNSF and / or UP will maintain present alignments or will a temp shoefly be built for one or both of the RRs? If a shoefly is a design possibility maybe that is why erected signals have not been activated?
Blue Streak 1 (2-20):
This forum contributor has not heard anything officially. However, two aspects can be commented on.
First, the BNSF line cannot reasonably be altered because of present freeway structural supports.
PHOTO #1:
A southward view from “E” Street:
PHOTO #2:
A closer southward view from Valley Blvd.:
The two tracks under the freeway are on wide centers, as discerned in comparing Photo #2 with Photo #1. So, three tracks on traditional centers would easily fit under the freeway overpass, but NO shoefly is possible.
The present new BNSF tri-light signals (photos posted earlier in this topic) are believed to be related to the installation of the mandated Positive Train Control (PTC).
PHOTO #3:
Second, note the UP Sunset Route as viewed eastwardly from the Rancho Ave. overpass:
!(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kpharrier/sunset ca-texas/DSC08770-M.jpg)
Official webpage diagrams have changed, so it is inconclusive what approach the flyover construction will actually take. The ea
Considering all of the ‘jogs’ that the UP line in the above photo already has (I count 3, with 6 short curves altogether), one more - or maybe even one less, depending on how it’s ultimately aligned - would not be a big deal. Like K.P., my superficial observation is that the left side would be easier and better, particularly if the industry lead on the right will be retained. It could even be used as part of a temporary ‘shoo-fly’ arrangement if the left track needs to be taken out of service for the construction of the fly-over.
What’s the gray building on the left, a couple hundred yards past the BNSF line ? It seems to be sacrosanct, since all of the UP tracks appear to jog to the right to avoid it ? Will that affect the fly-over’s location or construction ? (A bridge span could probably go right over it . . . [swg] ).
Link to the official website, which is out-of-date or incomplete in many aspects:
Enjoy seeing the updated views of Colton Crossing.
I like the old views, with the Colton Tower present,
as seen on Charles Smiley Presents,
Santa Fe Vintage West.
Paul D. North Jr. (2-21):
About that gray building …
PHOTO “A”:
… on the other side of the diamonds, on the left, partially behind the trees …
!(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kpharrier/sunset ca-texas/DSC08770-M200.jpg)
Immediately past the diamonds is the north-south line alignment (NOT the roadway) of Sixth Street. The La Cadena Dr. (Eighth Street) underpass is just this side of the building in question, which building is part of a now abandoned business between La Cadena Dr. and Ninth Street, i.e., the old Colton Depot’s complex.
PHOTO “B”:
From Ninth Street, looking west at the old Colton Depot:
!(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kpharrier/sunset ca-texas/DSC01615.jpg)
PHOTO “C”:
The old Colton depot from the northeast: That building behind the tree (Photo “A”) is the tin and frame structure to the right of the depot.
!(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kpharrier/sunset ca-texas/DSC01604.jpg)
PHOTO “D”:
From the depot area east: