New ties on the racetrack?

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I have noticed large piles of brand new wooden ties all along main track one on the BNSF mainline “racetrack” in the Naperville area and all the way west to (and through) the Eola yard (not sure if this is true east of Naperville station). Does anybody know for sure what is going on and whether these ties are all intended for main one or the other two main tracks as well? Thanks

2

Jim, if BNSF does it anything like UP (no guarantees there), those ties would be for one track. If the new ties have been distributed, you should be able to see some indication of which ties are slated to be removed (marked with a red dot, or something similar). I suspect that this is along one track only. A grade crossing or station platform would be a safe and legal place from which to observe this.

Never having been to Route 59’s station, are there provisions there that would allow the dinkies to make a station stop from the center track?

3

Thanks Carl. I have been suspecting that those ties are all for main track number one (the northern most main track) and your comments seem to support that suspicion. I don’t recall for sure about passenger accessibility from the center main track (number two) but I don’t believe this is possible at Route 59. My guess is that Metra trains will all stop along the platform adjacent to track number 3 (this is the “main” platform used for morning inbound stops anyway so they would need to double up when there are inbound AND outbound trains at about the same time…a DS nightmare to be sure). Thanks for your help!

4

Quote by: CShaveRR

The Rt 59 Metra station has limited access to the center (#2) track. There are three crosswalks that extend from the south platform accross the south main (#3) track to reach the center track. The means that a Metra dinky has to pull in very slowly and spot the doors of just three cars exactly on the crosswalk. Most BNSF Metra dinkies have between four and eleven cars on them. It also means that the south main (#3) will be fouled when unloading/loading passengers from the center track.

I have been on one eight car dinky that had to use the center track at Rt 59 due to freight train interference on the north main (#1). I was in the very last car because I had my bicycle with me (first time I ever had it on the train). Three cars in the middle of the train were spotted on the crosswalks meaning that I had to lug/drag/bash my way through three Metra cars.

CC