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Union Pacific to upgrade Wisconsin yard
As with most all old C&NW infrastructure, Altoona was mostly scrapped by UP, including a roundhouse (!!!), and now comes reconstruction/restoration…like all those “second mains” put back all over the country. Of course, who can blame the RRs for the dire straits they found themselves in back when?
I don’t know what exactly happened in Wisconsin, but I know down here in Iowa most of the deferred maintenance and ripping out of double tracking happened in the waning years of the CNW. For instance, while UP always used the CNW for its “Overland Route” across Iowa even before the acquisition, CNW took out the second main track for several miles in western Iowa in the 80’s, which UP had to restore after buying it.
I attended a talk a few months ago where I heard that most states tax RR infrastructure and that the companies rip out their second mains to reduce their tax burden. Vermont, on the other hand, does not tax the track, so that railroads there can leave little used track in place until needed again. It sounds like a policy other states should consider.
Gotta wonder if that WYE has the number 4-8-8-4 in it anywhere??
The sand trains may be a bonus. Yet I still don’t see much traffic from Adams to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’m guessing the sand trains go West at Altoona.