WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE DIAMONDS TODAY, LOTS OF TRUCKS, NEW PILE OF SOMETHING, SAW SOME THERMITE WELDS BEING DONE, SMALL CRANE ON SITE.???
11/11/10 12:15 pm I watched work train dumping ballast on the diamonds just now.
I was wondering the same thing…I stopped by Rochelle for a McDonalds on my way to Dubuque today and watched for a quarter hour with a couple dozen other railfans…didn’t look like a complete diamond repair but I was not able to stay until it was finished. It looked like they had both UP mains blocked and the two BNSF tracks as well.
Jim, if you want to stay until it’s finished, bring a tent…or give us a report on that B&B by the tracks over there! From what I’ve heard, they’re assembling a new set of diamonds there (parts still coming in), to be replaced on the 20th instant.
(That means the 20th of this month, for those of subsequent generations.)
Get any screenshots? I still see the pile on the right.
Stumbled across a picture of the new diamond over on Flickr…
Let me try that again, since it won’t let me edit my post-
Well someone got a real nice shot there (the same photographer’s photostream has some winners).
I seem to recall that diamond was replaced about five years ago or so. Given the pounding it takes all day and night that schedule sounds about right. At least they have a good “staging” area near the Milwaukee Road caboose for it. I wonder what they do at Joliet when that diamond needs replacing. That would be a fascinating project to see.
Dave Nelson
The current diamond was installed back in September of 2000, so it has been in place for more than 10 years. Suprised that the Union Pacific got all the pieces together for the new diamond so quickly, last time they had the pieces for it east of the depot for months before they got it together and installed. The parts for this round have only been on site for less than a month.
Lance
The diamonds at Joliet were replaced in 2005. Before that they were so rough that you could see sparks coming from cars going across it at night. They replaced the diamonds one at a time rather than all at once at Joliet
I’m surprised they are using wood ties. Would concrete ties shatter from the pounding? What about steel ties?
You’d be more likely to see concrete ties if this were a major track upgrading on both railroads. But I suspect (perhaps MC or RWM can confirm) that a small stretch of concrete ties (like for just a diamond) isn’t done, because of what it can do to adjacent track. If UP were doing its second track with concrete, that might be different, too. Or they might be able to persuade BNSF to put some more in.
…Beautiful photo and an artform of awesome assembly.
Don’t see how the flanges miss intreference with those support pieces bolted inside each rail near each actual crossing.]
And i suppose it will take {and get}, the same level of quality of installation.
Rochelle has a B&B?
Rochelle has a B&B?
Al, I can’t find it in Google, and I hope it stayed in business, but there was one in that house kitty-corner from the park (the one with the MILW caboose in the yard).
Too many ‘specials’ or unique ties would be required with all the different rail locations and special tie plates, and the varying shapes/ ‘humps’ of the ties - almost “No 2 alike !”. Plus the loadings at the midpoints are not something that concrete ties deal with real well.
Further, lLook at the photo linked above real closely and ask yourself if there are any long ties that strech all the way across, from left to right - probably not, which means that there are likely some that end in between the running rails of one of the tracks.
Maybe more on this later.
- Paul North.
From the Rochelle trainwatching park, you can see that the UP side has concrete cross ties. (I do not know if they extend all the way up to the double-diamonds frog, though.)
BNSF is still using wooden cross-ties, although from the releatively less pounding and swaying those TOFC’s do going over the diamond heading east, both the frog and the crossties are more secure now than they were just a couple of years ago.
The crossings just east of the park now use synthetic “microchip” warning bells, but BNSF’s sounds more realistic.
Does anyone know the time that this will take place?
THANKS FOR THE PHOTO, blhanel. I’M IN JERSEY BUT HAVE BEEN TO THE DIAMONDS THREE TIMES ON TRIPS TO VISIT FRIEND IN CHICAGO. LAST TRIP WAS 14 MONTHS AGO. UP CREW WAS THERE WORKING ON IT THE DAY I ARRIVED BUT THE NEXT DAY I GOT UP CLOSE AND IT WAS STILL IN POOR SHAPE. ITS AMAZING THE PUNISHMENT THEY TAKE. I WILL BE OUT THERE
NEXT MAY ON A ROUTE 66 TRIP TO CALIFORNIA, WILL BE GREAT TO SEE WHAT A DIFFERENCE THE NEW DIAMONDS MAKE. THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE FILLED IN THE GAPS THAT I CAN’T SEE ON THE WEB CAM.
STEVEL
Rochelle diamond replacement is going on today, Saturday November 20, 2010. The crews shut down the line right about 0700 this morning (the Trains webcam shows a UP movement of a stack train at 06:54).
The project is expected to last the whole day–up until 1800 or so. The Union Pacific will hold most of their traffic. The BNSF is planning on sending four eastbound intermodal trains south out of Savanna to Galesburg and then east into Chicago and deramping them at Willow Springs/Corwith. The rest of their traffic will be held until after the work is complete.
When the last time they replaced the diamonds, the UP sent two eastbound intermodals over the IMRL (now it’s the ICE/DME) through Savanna and Davis Junction, IL. Don’t know if that will be the case today.
Lance