Detroit, MI: 1916-1996 Beaubien Street and Lake Shore Junctions

(see below for satellite)

Charles Geletzke Jr. posted
Today you would say that our train was headed southbound; but on January 6, 1991, before the hands of the IC assumed command, our GTW train was headed west. Here we are approaching the tower at Beaubien St. (aka "Sleepy Hollow") in Detroit, Michigan. You can see the former MC-NYC-PC-CR tower in the distance. (C. H. Geletzke, Jr. photo)

Charles Geletzke Jr. shared

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Photo

Beaubien Street Junction Satellite

This junction is southwest of the Milwaukee Junction, and it is where the two double-track routes cross each other. The northern double track route of CN+Amtrak/GTW+Wab on the west becomes the southern double track route on the east. And vice-versa for the CRSA (Conrail Shared Assets)/NYC/LS&MS+MC route. In Chicago, when double track routes cross each other they first merge the four tracks on each side down to two and then use crossover turnouts between the track pair to complete the crossover. An example is the 75th Street Junction, one of the biggest bottlenecks in the city. Here they use a diamond of tight-angle, double-slip turnouts or puzzle switches. This is the first time I have seen them on a mainline. The only place I have seen them before are in the dense approach tracks to big train stations where speeds are reduced anyhow. For example, the throat of the UP/C&NW Station in Chicago. In addition to reducing train speeds, double-slip turnouts must be a maintenance headache. Note in the satellite image above that there are two maintenance vehicles in the area. Track maintenance not only has the cost of the MoW workers, it has the cost of reduced capacity while the turnouts are being worked on.

Satellite

While studying the satellite image, I noticed the two abandoned bridges south of the junction on John R St. The 2005 SPV Map labels the northern one as Wab and the southern one as LSMS. Zooming out, both spurs headed east and then curved south to join the DCON/GTW+LS&MS route south of Milwaukee Junction at the Lake Shore Junction.

I assume that when the Milwaukee Junction Tower was an "armstrong tower" these these two "satellite" junctions had their own switchtender shacks. When Milwaukee Junction Tower was upgraded to pneumantic or electric control, then the tower probably also controlled these remote junctions. Of course, now the spurs and their corresponding junctions are gone and the Milwaukee Junction is controlled remotely by a dispatcher.

Once again, we now have useless bridges because the Interstate system had to build over or under the railroads that they would help kill. At least someone is getting some use out of these bridges.

Update: Charlie Whipp Flickr 1985 Photo (source) is facing Southwest and we see the Beaubien Street Tower on the left. You can see the now abandoned tracks behind the tower. The building with the GM sign is now the Cadillac Place because GM moved its headquarters downtown. The tower on the right in the photo is the Fisher Building.

Peter Dudley posted

The Michigan Central / New York Central / Penn Central / Conrail Beaubien Street Tower, as photographed by member Charlie Whipp in January, 1986. The tower opened in 1916, closed in 1996, and was demolished shortly after closure.

This location is unusual, in that it features four (previously six) "movable point diamonds", which are necessary due to the severe angle of the level crossing. Normal open diamond points at this junction would lead to derailments.

This photo, taken in a northerly direction along the eastern edge of Brush Street, shows the 1911 former - Michigan Central Peninsular Spur overpass, before the rails were removed (foreground), and the previously-vacated 1911 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway / New York Central overpass (visible just south of the tower).

Beaubien Tower housed a 36-lever Saxby & Farmer interlocking machine. As of the tower's closing (February 28, 1996), nineteen levers were still active.

In 1935, Beaubien Street Tower controlled:  

the crossing and connection of the former-Michigan Central (MC RR) double-track Bay City Branch, with the former-Lake Shore single-track New York Central mainline; 

the crossing of the Bay City Branch, and Grand Trunk Western's double-track Mt. Clemens Subdivision; 

the connection (east of the tower and Beaubien Street) between the west end of the Wabash-owned Russell Street Branch, diverging from the Mt. Clemens Subdivision; 

the connection (near Woodward Avenue Station) between the west end of MC RR's Peninsular Spur, diverging from the Bay City Branch [Michigan Central Railroad Detroit Terminal Timetable No. 76].

[Information and photo retrieved from RRHX (www.MichiganRailroads.com)]

Tim Shanahan shared