Sitting here in Kent UK and watching two freights coming towards me at Rochelle at the same time is interesting. However I have noticed once before the move to rival tracks and suspect this is to keep the junction from ‘Gumming’ up but can someone tell me what the track layout is behind me on the left hnd side.Is it another switch to get the trains back on the correct track heading East? Another question is how do the public put up with the long delays on crossings when all this traffic movement goes on?Emergency vehicles must have a really rough time of it.
It took ten minutes the other day for one train to pass by.
My best guess is how the people put up with long waits at the grade xings is to just wait. Where I live many of the grade Xings are for passanger trains so the people siting waiting for the train at the grade Xing don’t have to wait too entirely long. However, the grade Xings farther up north from me are 99% freight. Sometimes, people might be waiting for 10 or 15 mins for a train to go by. There is no other way around it. The only way an emergancy vehicle will get around the long wait is to take another route. I would think cops or other EMTs in the area can alert the emergancy going vehicle to take an alternate route.
Pay a visit to http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/ and bring up Rochelle, Illinois. You’ll get to see how things look around the diamond (which isn’t hard to find). There are both maps and aerial photos available, with some pretty impressive resolutions. I would suspect the photos and maps date to before the new intermodal facility, though.
Just took the aerial trip to Rochelle and you must be a keen railway fan to live there it seems as it looks like there are several double level crossings in the town. I went to a talk here in Kent about level crossings and mentioned the length of trains here to the USA and it seems the answer is you grin and bear it.I wonder what the commercial cost of the waiting by trucks etc over the whole of the States is costing the nation?
I know I’m not using Briti***erminology, but I hope some of what I’m describing is clear. Most of the crossings near Rochelle are grade crossings (level crossings, I guess you’d say). Interstate 39, of course, crosses over the UP tracks on overpasses east of the city, and Interstate 88 crosses over BNSF on overpasses south of the city. Illinois 251 (used to be the main north-south highway before I-39 was built) now has an overpass that crosses both main lines just to the east of the diamond. Things were a mess before that was built.
The UP line is two main tracks in both directions from Rochelle. Since it is CTC, either track can be used in either direction, as the dispatcher sees fit. There is a crossover between the tracks at Dement Road, about two miles east of the diamonds. There’s another one at the west end of Global 3, about five miles to the west… BNSF has two tracks for some distance either side of the city, but this is basically a single-track line. I’m not sure if there are any crossovers in the entire two-track stretch. There is a small yard about a mile east of the diamonds.
If it is known that trains are going to encounter delays in going through Rochelle, they will often be held back to keep the grade crossings clear.
Your question about the cost of delayed commerce is a good one. Part of the reasoning behind CREATE (the Chicago-area proposal to basically re-draw the railroad map of the city) is to cut this time down significantly; up to 25 new grade separations betwen roads and railroads are part of the plan.
Sarah, some of the stalled trains out here are long enough to cut a suburb in half. Many of the suburbs have firehouses on both sides of the tracks for that reason. If an emergency vehicle should need to get across the tracks, it usually takes the route that has a grade separation, even if it is less direct.
On the BNSF side there is a cro
I meant someone from the UK @ Daggett last summer was that you? In any case that track leads to a manufacturing company that is not seen on the cam. There is a little yard their about 7/ 8 tracks also not seen on the cam. The yard is accessable from both the UPRR & BNSF tracks. [8D]
I thank you all for your replies, most informative. I have two web cams I check every time I am on line, Rochelle and Mt St Helens just to see how things are going.(I usually see a little smoke from there which looks a little like steam) SPBED.If you were asking me.I only sent a question to the contact E-Mail address saying how sad it was that sound could not be added to the Rochelle Webcam to give everyone a huge boost in the power of these diesals that silently pass by. I did see a fan once standing out front who showed by his actions that something big was approaching from the East.Although I am not a diesal fan, I do appreciate the sheer power they represent.
I thank you all for your replies, most informative. I have two web cams I check every time I am on line, Rochelle and Mt St Helens just to see how things are going.(I usually see a little smoke from there which looks a little like steam) SPBED.If you were asking me.I only sent a question to the contact E-Mail address saying how sad it was that sound could not be added to the Rochelle Webcam to give everyone a huge boost in the power of these diesals that silently pass by. I did see a fan once standing out front who showed by his actions that something big was approaching from the East.Although I am not a diesal fan, I do appreciate the sheer power they represent.
I noticed one day there was a BNSF (looked like a local) that stopped on the left hand side of the BNSF trackage and backed up onto what seemed like a track parallel two the UP trackage. After I saw that I was wondering what was back there. But now I know[:D]. Thanks spbed for that information.
Your welcome. I to always wondered what that track led to also. That is why I visited there? Are U really from NJ? I lived most of my life in Monmouth County. [:o)][:D][:p]
[quote]
Originally posted by NJMike
[quote]
Originally posted by Old Limey
I was at MSH live & in person last year. Spectular view. I also met several people who were staying at the motel I was staying at that were affected by the explosion as they lived west of the mudslide & floods that were the result of the eruption. It will take reams of words to explain what occurred to relay thereeye witness account. They said they saw rail cars go floating by. I was lucky to get such a 1st hand review of what occurred on the aftermath of the explosions. [:(]
My question was were you in California in Sept 04? If you were not please disregard the question. [:D]
[quote]
Originally posted by Old Limey
[
i must be blind i can’t find it. would some one post a link to a good pic of it?
What pix are you looking for? [:D]
I could make a diagram of what is behind the trees if you send your address to spbed@yahoo.com [:D]
[quote]
QUOTE: Originally posted by spbed
Your welcome. I to always wondered what that track led to also. That is why I visited there? Are U really from NJ? I lived most of my life in Monmouth County. [:o)][:D][:p]
[quote]
Originally posted by NJMike
Yes, I live in Suusex County, New Jersey.
Nice country their. Prettier to the eye then Monmouth[:D]
[quote]
Originally posted by NJMike
Sussex county is pretty good. It’s not the best and it is not the worse.
Surely not yet as densely populated as Monmouth was when I left 8 years ago.
[quote]
Originally posted by NJMike
[
Strange that talk has got round to Sussex as I was born in Sussex just before WWll at a place called Barcombe Mills near Lewes now the County Town of East Sussex. I lived in Sussex until I went into the RAF to do my National Service but I now have lived longer in Kent.
Barcombe Mills was on the “Bluebell Line” http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/ but not now active as the track has been removed. I suppose this may have been the start of my interest in Steam although I was to young to appreciate it at the time.
We were discussing Sussex county in NJ not the UK as he lives now in NJ & I lived in NJ most of my life. [:D][:o)][:)]
[quote]
Originally posted by Old Limey
[