CP C&M Division Shut by Down Power Lines

Greetings,

About 5pm on Saturday Oct 9th two electric transmission line towers collasped causing power outages to 17, 000 people on the south side of Milwaukee, including General Mitchell Airport. Also the power lines fell across the Canadian Pacific mainline between Chicago and Milwaukee just south of College Ave or for those more familiar “Lake”

As of the lastest report Amtrak’s Hiawatha trains might resume service around 1pm. The last northbound train was shown waiting at Sturtevant on Friday evening. I have had my scanner on since about 10am this morning and I have heard almost zero talk from the CP C&M dispatcher

Now the interesting part, the FBI has been called in because for two transmission towers to fall down on what was a perfect fall day, sun no clouds, slight breeze, is considered “Suspicious”. Some early news reports were mentioning that one of the towers had “bolts” missing from it. The area where the towers fell is kind of remote and may have actually been on some of the old North Shore right-of-way.

So when the tracks are cleared, the floodgates will probably open with alot of trains.

I have also been told that Amtrak is detouring Trains #7 and #8 over the BNSF today, because the entire area around the collapse of the towers is considered a “crime scene” and the FBI is investigating.

Interesting, I wonder what the FBI will find out…

Keith,
Just wondering if you know what train number the westbound that got held at Sturtevant was? I left Lake at 1430 on 487 and was out of Milwaukee and on the Watertown Sub by 1620 so I had no idea what was happening behind us.

Man, anyone look at the bolts on the big tranny towers. There are a bunch of them near the house back home. I do not think it is a case of some bored teens because you would need some searous tools to even move a bolt on one of them.

Adrianspeeder

Greetings,

I believe that the train they showed stopped at Sturtevant on TV was one of the Hiawatha’s probably 339. Local news interviewed a passenger that said first they were told it would 10 minutes, then an hour and then they were told to try and have someone come and pick them up.

The latest news is that the towers were definitely tampered with. Some speculate “eco-terrorists”. But the FBI has not said anything for sure. Apparently the CP and Amtrak are hoping to have rail service return by tomorrow. Until then the CP has detoured some eastbound trains on the Canadian National (WC) using the Duplainville interchange track.

Below are some photos taken on Sunday Oct 10th showing the toppled towers and a CP detour train.

Here is the last southbound train stopped just short of the fallen wires. Just behind the locomotive is some of the wreckage of the fallen towers. This shot was taken from College Ave looking south on Oct 10th. This train hasn’ t moved since Saturday night when it was stopped.

Here an eastbound CP train is backing off the CP mainline at Duplainville and onto the CN.

Here the CP train is about to cross its own mainline at Duplainville and head south and eventually into Chicago.

C&M Sub is back Open. According to scanner traffic. Trains are again running between Milwaukee and Chicago. However it sounds like a speed restriction is in effect for a while. But Amtrak should be running tomorrow.

Here’s a question: Why were they unable to detour over the ex-CNW between Milwaukee & Chicago? Did it have anything to do with the rumored poor relations that exists between UPRR & Amtrak? Also, why didn’t they detour over the ex-CNW between St. Paul & Chicago?

Clearing up a couple questions:

  1. The area where the towers fell was not former North Shore, the CNSM r-o-w turns north around where MATC is (about 1/4 mile east). The transmission lines that the towers were on DO follow the CNSM farther to the south/east. Incidentally, the same line runs right through the parking lot at work – UPS Oak Creek. Glad I’m on vacation this week!
  2. I’ve been hearing quite a few trains tonight!!! Hopefully it will continue into tomorrow’s daylight…
  3. No good connection exists anywhere near Milwaukee for UP-CP trains. Most crossings are grade-separated, and the only good connection that DID exist was removed a few years ago, even the bridge over the KK River was removed. The only other connections are via industrial trackage that would require back-up moves on questionable track – not a good idea for Amtrak.
  4. As far as a longer detour, apparently this was not practical, otherwise I’m sure they would have done it – but you never know. The lack of good connections may have been a factor, or the shorter detour over CN’s WC, which ends up in the same yard in Chicago anyways IIRC.

Nice pictures Keith! I got one at 1:30 this morning out of six attempts, posted at:
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken/downed_tower.html

-Mark Hintz

What could and probably should have been done is for Milwaukee to have asked METRA to extend a few of its Kenosha trains to Milwaukee on an emergency basis. However, since this was mostly a weeked, I guess public transportation wasn’t considered that important, and the existing bus service could handle the overflow.

Amtrak’s rerout of the Empire Builder over the old CB&Q line made a lot of sense and was done several times in the past.

Greetings,

Mark, Thanks for info and that is a great night shot. I hear now that the company that owns the transmission towers and lines is offering $10,000 reward for any information regarding the sabotage of the towers.

FBI and local police are saying that there was definitely sabotage.