So i have been hearing that the manual signals at Brighton park Junction are gonna be comin down this year? Is this true? Does anyone know the cuttover date? I would really like to get some footage there before they come-a-tumblin down.
I think that if you were to go to Brighton Park right now, you’d find that the railroads involved have all put up the ubiquitous hooded color-light signals. They aren’t cut in yet.
I can’t visualize this as an automatic interlocking (OK, I can visualize it, but I can’t see it as an improvement!). You have a large number of scheduled Amtrak trains, plus a few Metra round-trips, attempting to cross two railroad lines with three routes that run nothing but slow freights trying to get into other yards down the line.
I thought the CREATE program was calling for a grade-separated crossing here. Maybe it’s too hard to shoehorn in there, now that CTA’s Orange Line goes over the whole thing.
Brighton Park may become a remote interlocking (probably controlled by the CN dispatcher), which would be a major improvement over the current non-interlocked crossing with its statutory stops. An automatic interlocking would be a problem because of the passenger service through the crossing.
I have heard rumors the cutover date may be sometime next week! Get down there NOW if you want to see the semaphores. Again, this is what I have been hearing so I can’t guarentee this is really what is going to happen. I have also heard around July 4th. CSX and NS already have new signal bridges up so they semaphores will be coming down any time. It will become a remote interlocking controlled by NS from what I have heard.
I was just at Brighton Park yesterday. I don’t know about the next week rumor. We noticed that the insulated rail joints had not been installed yet on the CN tracks. There appears to be some work yet to be done. I could possibly see the July 4th. The CSX and NS signal bridge is up with the signals turned. When crews call Brighton Park they say “NS Brighton Park” so I doubt that NS would give up control.
I was up there for about 3 hours yesterday. No one bothered us. However we never crossed the tracks and we tried to stay back from the tracks. Here are some photos from Saturday May 26, 2007
Here Amtrak crosses the NS/CSX. The new signal bridge is visible somewhat in the photos. Also the old track level stop signs have been replaced.
The stars of the show. Yes the semaphores are still there and looking as good as ever.
With some brush clearing for signal installation this shot on the CN side is now open.
One of my favorite paint schemes rolls by the semaphores at Brighton Park.
In the 3 hours we saw about 10-12 trains. Things started slow but got busy quickly. We arrived about 9:30am.
Keith
Those new townhouses in the background would be perfect for a railfan, eh? Too bad they don’t have balconies – with roofs for rainy days.
Thanks for the photos.
PZ
Maybe a rear porch would be for the “Railfan Upgrade Package”. I mentioned to my friend the same thing. Wouldn’t those condos be great for a railfan. Sit out on the porch and watch the action at Brighton Park.
Keith
Wow.
When did those townhouses go up?
I havent been there in awhile.
ed
They’re in the northwest quadrant and I’m sure close enough to where you can hear the banging of the diamondsn from the 80-plus trains per day ( oh goody!). [:D]
They also may be partially on the old ROW – the now-gone, once triple-track main of the PRR which was downgraded in the early 1980s and finally removed .
Triple Track PRR mainline - WOW. Brighton Park must have been the place in the day. I know the NS Panhandle line still goes through. I have only seen a train on the Panhandle once in the 4 times I have been there in the last couple of years.
Keith
Actually, didn’t the Panhandle have four tracks of the eight that crossed the canal on those drawbridges (B&O had two, and Chicago Junction had the other two)?
Pre-Amtrak, there were passenger trains running north and south through Brighton Park as well (I was on plenty of them from 1969 through 1971–C&O trains using the B&O line).
Oh, yeah–they had to stop, too.
Hmmm, my trusty '06 Atlas doesn’t seem to have Brighton Park identified on it. Could somebody enlighten me as to where this is at?
A road atlas wouldn’t show it, Brian–it’s west of Western Avenue in Chicago, just north of Archer. I-55 is not too far north of it.
BTW, happy birthday, again!
OK, gotcha. Thanks Carl!
Archer and Western Avenues.
There is a Burger King on the NW quadrant. Just west of BK there is a service road takes you right up to the junction.
Carl…did you email me something? I got notification, but nothing.
ed
I just spent a a few hours at Brighton Park this morning and talked with the switchtender personally. The scheduled cutover date is set for July 6. However, there is no set date as to when the semaphores will be dismantled, so they may stay in place for awhile longer after they are non-operational.
I have died there a few times in my train recently and was told once they get the new signals up and running they will move the office to the ashland yard where they now keep supplies and yes the burger king is a nice place for crews to eat while waiting as sometime we spend several hours waiting there if you go by the BN on western there is a large set of buildings being turned into condos with the balconies facing the tracks, also if you look closly in the brighton park area there were once six tracks running that way up from 55th st
It’s not a rumor, it’s fact. Work is already underway. Cutover will be some time in early June.
July 6th is the scheduled cutover. If you want to see the semaphores and switchtender, get up there soon as the cutover could be earlier or later, it all depends on how quickly NS gets the new signals running and how quick they re-wire the junction. The new signals have already been put up on all lines but not operating as NS is still doing work on the junction. The junction will no longer be a manually controlled non-interlocking junction, but it will be a remote interlocking controllede by the NS Ashland Avenue dispatcher. As a result, all trains will not have to stop at the junction anymore and be able to head straight through. It is a major upgrade that will benefit all railways running through there. Unfortunatly, the semaphores will be the price of the upgrade. Those condos there look like a railfan’s dream!