Starting yesterday June 27, 2008 Amtrak started running the Empire Builders on the UP (ex CNW) lines up from Chicago through Milwaukee and onto the Adams Sub then at Tunnel City the Builders return or leave Canadian Pacific tracks there usual route. Below are some shots from yesterday of the “400” Builders running in Wisconsin. Also some shots of Canadian Pacific detour trains running on the Wisconsin & Southern
Amtrak #8 the “400” Builder passes under the coaling tower at Clyman Jct near Columbus, WI. The time is about 5:15pm usually #8 is in Milwaukee around 2:15. Oh Well
After passing under the coaling tower at Clyman Jct #8 meets a waiting w/b UP train.
Amtrak #7 “400” Builder westbound at Lake Five Road near Merton, WI around 7:20pm. The two Builders met in Butler Yard. This is about 8 miles west of Butler Yard.
#7 heads into the sunset on the first day of the Amtrak 400 Builders detour.
Also with the CP railroad still flooded at the marsh near Reeseville, WI they are running trains on the Wisconsin & Southern railroad. The shots below are of a detour train at Madison, WI. Usually these tracks only see a switch job not through trains with big road power.
I read about the detour via the UP on the Amtrak site. Do you know anything about the specific routing between Chicago Union Station and Milwaukee? Anyone?
This is what was posted on one of the other sites regarding the detours.
7&8 start running tomorrow on the Chicago-A5 on the regular route
thence A-5 B17 (Metra Elgin line) B-17- Bryn Mawr (CP Bensenville cut
off) Bryn Mawr - Valley - St Francis - Belton - Butler - Adams -
Wyeville - Tunnel City on UNION PACIFIC thence back on the
regular route, LSE-WIN-RDW-MSP.
Hopefully one can make heads or tails of that. All I know for sure is that they are running about 2 blocks from my house.
Fascinating detour, and rare mileage, if you can catch it. It means that the trains leaving Chicago hang a left at Pacific Junction, and head out the Metra Milwaukee West line. Just west of the Bensenville yard (Tower B-17), they turn right, and join the UP at Bryn Mawr (paralleling York Road from Bensenville north to Bryn Mawr). They then use UP all the way up, crossing the diamonds and bridge (simultaneously!) at Deval, and taking what used to be called the New Line up to Milwaukee (I’m assuming that–from the description, either UP line is a possibility, but the old line through Kenosha and Racine to St. Francis is not in as good a condition). No easy way to get into and out of the station at Milwaukee any more, so they didn’t stop there for passengers. Instead they stuck with the UP, via Butler (couldn’t they have shuttled passengers there?), joining the CP at Tunnel City.
If I didn’t have a dentist appointment this weekend…
Unless it was used as company inspection train or some odd-ball rail fan trip, that route from Bensonville to Milwaukee is more like never than rare. I believe Dave Ingles would be the special expert on such things. Perhaps someone on the Trains staff could touch base with him-that is, if he hasn’t already made the trip on this detour.
For some reason the train was given numerous slow orders thru the Kenosha area; there was about 3 miles of 15mph, about another 3 miles of 30mph, all starting around MP48 extending to MP54. Now if I only knew how to get my photos posted on this site…
Perhaps it would have been just about as fast for the Amtrak to have used the Kenosha sub–at least it could have run 70mph to Kenosha. Then Amtrak could have bussed passengers to the South Milwaukee or Cudahy depot for loading, instead of bypassing Milwaukee passengers entirely.
I am not familiar with the physical details of track conntections between the CP and UP and assume other routes for the detour move were considered and dismissed for good reasons. Just on the face, it would seem that moving over at Rondout (via the “J”) or on other lines between the two roads anywhere between there and up to Butler would have been quicker. On the other hand, poor track, the absence of interchange tracks in the “right” quadrant or no interchange tracks at various crossings would be the reality.
I would be interesting hearing from those of you who know the territory as to why other routes wouldn’t work.
Bryn Mawr, Deval, and Shermer are the only places I know of this side of Butler that the two railroads connect (there is also Wepco, Bain, Waxdale, Washington Street, and Mitchell Belt, but those are industrial trackages).
For that matter, St. Francis might have been an okay place to board the Milwaukee passengers, and that would have worked for either route.
If you’d taken the Kenosha Sub instead of the Milwaukee Sub, you’d only have had the benefit of 70-mph running from Lake Bluff to Kenosha–not very far in the bigger scheme of things.
I think the big problem would be north (west?) of Milwaukee–were there a reasonable connection up there, Amtrak could stay on its regular route as far as Milwaukee, then switching to UP.
