Alden, KS: Grain Elevator and Railroad Transit Tarrif

(Satellite)

Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:

Alden branch of the Central Prairie Co-op based in Sterling Kansas shows several things. The original main working house appears to be a Sampson build. The concrete annex could be a Chalmers & Borton. Then they added a steel flat storage building filled via an auger from the main working house. In more recent times three McPherson Concrete jump form tanks have been added, likely because when, the railroads eliminated "transit," country elevators had to add space locally since they could not ship Grain to terminals for storage pending sale by the producers so it could be marketed. Also of interest is the outside truck receiving pit and leg so they could handle the larger grain trucks being used to deliver the grain to the elevators from the field during harvest. This facility also has an overhead auger so they can pile Grain outside on the ground if needed. The rail road is now the K & O (Kansas & Oklahoma) operating on a former AT&SF branch line. I am thinking the K & O allows loading cars at multiple elevators on their line so their "short line" railroad can then deliver the full unit train to the BNSF or UP, likely where they connect in Hutchinson, for shipment to destination.

Jim Merrick Thanks for the explanation, especially the "why" of the change in "transit."
Marc Mcclure Love the shots from all angles. Definitely a Sampson house.


From this and other postings that Bob has made, I think the railroads did not charge the farmer or the local elevator for hauling grain from the local elevator to a terminal elevator. The railroads added the cost of the local haul to the haul from the terminal elevator to its final destination. That is, the railroads accepted delayed payment for the local haul.

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Kansas City, MO: Triple Crossing of railroad tracks (Argentine Flyover)

(3D Satellite)

The triple crossing in Richmond, VA, is generally considered the only triple crossing of Class I railroads in America. As of about 2004, Kansas City also has a triple crossing. But the Kansas City Terminal Railway owns most, if not all, of these layers. The ground and middle layers connect to the two decks of the Highline Bridge.

 

BNSF
Kansas City is a busy rail hub, second only to Chicago, and also part of our Southern Transcon.
Given the number of railroads and trains that operate here, the KC Terminal Railway was formed as part of a public-private partnership by railroads operating in the area to coordinate the use of tracks and to finance the Argentine Connection Flyover – essentially an overpass. The Sheffield Junction, another flyover just a few miles east, was similarly built in 2000.
Work on the two-mile Argentine Flyover began in 2002, running east-west and connecting the Kansas City, Mo., Union Station with BNSF’s Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Kan.
The $60 million Argentine Flyover opened in September 2004, creating three levels of track that enabled increased train speeds and reduced congestion.
[I count nine locomotives on the top train. The train must include a power move because at some point you have enough horsepower to pull the couplers out of the cars. I believe "public-private partnership" is a euphemism for taxpayers paying part of the cost.]

BNSF

 

Jim Pearson Photography posted
The DPU end of a Union Pacific grain train heads across Santa Fe Junction on the Kansas City Terminal Railroad (KCT) High Line as a BNSF train below pulls through the diamonds at Tower 3, at Kansas City, MO, on June 30th, 2022.
Santa Fe Junction sees on average over 100 trains a day and it hosts the double decked railroad bridge that crosses the Kansas River into Missouri, a triple crossing in addition to Tower 3, which is used by maintenance of way these days. The junction is partly in Missouri and Kansas and sees BNSF, UP, KCT, Amtrak, KCS, NS and CP traffic.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100.
Jim Pearson Photography: https://fineartamerica.com/.../up-and-bnsf-action-at...
Mel Wilson: The double deck bridge wasn’t with ATSF. UP and Rock Island passenger trains used the top deck, while MoPac passengers could use the top but taking a turnout crossing over the UP yard and could get to their Omaha line. Rock freights also used the top and bottom, along with the Kansas City Terminal using the bridge. ATSF “took a left” at Tower 3 (Santa Fe Junction, also known as AT Junction). And of course, now, the BNSF uses the newer flyover 73 feet above the ground.

Jeff Wojciechowski posted

Stacks meet windmills on the Hi-Line in Kansas City. This is one of only two places in the United States that has three levels of train tracks.

4/17/2019

[Richmond, VA, is the other.]
Sam Bailey Center of Photo is the former Frisco/BN Interlocking. Santa Fe Jct Tower is around the corner on left side of photo.
J.d. Black Wind turbine blades.
Michael Gallagher That's a BNSF Logistics train...
Jeff Wojciechowski Michael Gallagher which one?
Michael Gallagher Jeff Wojciechowski the wind train...we are the only company that does blades by rail

Jeff commented on his post
The wind train was a UP train heading east out of UP 18th street yard via KC Terminal Railway.I I just didn't show the UP unit because this is a BNSF affiliated group. Also I've personally seen CP and UP wind trains and google suggest also NS and CSX have had wind trains as well.
Michael Gallagher Jeff Wojciechowski BNSG Logistics is a sister company to Railway....but we are railroad neutral

Dennis DeBruler commented on Jeff's post
Given the Amtrak train on the ground level in this 3D Satellite view, that would have been Santa Fe.
https://www.google.com/.../@39.0796587,-94.../data=!3m1!1e3
What was the 1960's names of the railroads on the other two levels? A railroad map shows, like Chicago, a lot of railroads terminated in Kansas City. Santa Fe goes through. Maybe MoPac and/or Rock Island.
Dennis DeBruler I was wrong about the Amtrak train being on a former Santa Fe route. Most, if not all, of this track is owned by the Kansas City Terminal Railway. The ground and middle layers connect to their double-deck Highline Bridge.
https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../two-level...
Martin Mazur Dennis DeBruler I think the Wabash did in pre Norfolk and Western days.

Jef commented on Dennis' comment on Jeff's post
Santa Fe Jct is really close just to the west. Arrow indicates direction of photo. I might be wrong but I think this is called BN junction. Picture below source: Openrailwaymap.org

Dennis DeBruler commented on Jeff's post
Which railroad's roundhouse has been preserved?
https://www.google.com/.../@39.077968,-94.../data=!3m1!1e3
Jeff Wojciechowski Not really sure.

Jim Pearson Photography posted

Union Pacific 8897 brings up rear as DPU on a grain train as it heads across Santa Fe Junction on the Kansas City Terminal Railroad (KCT) High Line, while BNSF 7767 and 3947 lead a westbound train past Tower #3 on June 30th, 2022.

Santa Fe Junction sees on average over 100 trains a day and it hosts the double decked railroad (ATSF Double Deck Railroad) bridge that crosses the Kansas River into Missouri, a triple crossing in addition to Tower 3, which is used by maintenance of way these days. The junction is partly in Missouri and Kansas and sees BNSF, UP, KCT, Amtrak, KCS, NS and CP traffic, from what I saw during my visit.

The Kansas City Terminal Railway Company (KCT) is a Class III railroad located in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. KCT serves as a terminal railroad for its five Class I railroad owners (Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific). Amtrak also operates over the KCT providing passenger service to and from Union Station. Currently the second largest rail hub in the United States, KCT owns and dispatches 95 miles of track spanning Missouri and Kansas.

According to the website railfanguides.us Santa Fe Junction Interlocking is easily the busiest location for trains in Kansas City and trains from any of the five railroads which jointly own KCT can be seen here. Tower #3 was closed in 1969 when a central dispatching center replaced it and all the other towers KCT had at the time.

The black bridge is KCT’s double deck, double track crossing of the Kansas River. The odd-looking silver towers on the bridge are lift mechanisms to raise the bridge in the event of flooding and are not connected most of the time. The upper deck line was primarily used by passenger trains from UP and Rock Island, moving to and from Kansas through the KC Union Station. Today primarily freight trains use this bridge.

The tracks through the junction have been reduced or changed around over the years, but the area remains one of KC’s Busiest locations.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100.

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/union-pacific-and-bnsf-at-santa-fe-junction-at-kansas-city-ks-jim-pearson.html

Bill Barnes: During the flood of 1993, the lifting mechanism on the river bridge had not been tested for years, probably since installation in the very early 60s. After days of repairs, one span failed to lift out of the floodway, and large trees were dangling from the bottom for years. Currently, the river levees are being raised again and the Corps plan is now based on the hydraulic jacking system being non-functional. If it works, it's a bonus.

3D Satellite

A copyrighted photo includes an interlocking tower.
Dennis DeBruler What is the name of the tower? It is still standing in satellite images: https://www.google.com/.../@39.082469,-94.../data=!3m1!1e3
Glenn Anderson Dennis DeBruler, I think that is State Line Tower. The state line runs literally a few feet east of the tower. Here's the https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0825096,-94.6075911,134m/data=!3m1!1e3

This interlocking is so complicated that different parts of it have their own junction name. Jeff shows above the Openrailwaymap names. Both the 2005 SPV Map and Google label this tower the Santa Fe Junction. the SPV map shows State Line is a little further east.

I was going to annotate a satellite image with the names the SPV Map uses. But the track layout seems to have changed enough since then that some of the junctions have been removed.

Satellite
[But the Santa Fe Tower is just a couple hundred feet from the state line border.]

Jordan Lebahn posted three photos with the comment:

02/22/2020 A friend and I spent a few hours at Santa Fe Junction on the first decent weather of the week. Saturdays are almost always busy in the KC area. Our time saw several occasions of trains on all three levels. My favorite shot is the Chiefs Kingdom flag flying high over the Argentine flyover.

 Randy Bayne I think it was a recent issue of Trains had a nice article on Santa Fe Junction!!!

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Dan Hildebrand 3 at once. Wow what a video that would be.

The $60m flyover takes BNSF east/west traffic over BNSF north/south traffic. But since UP already had elevated tracks over BNSF, BNSF had to go even higher with their east/west route. [ble-t]

Dave Blaze Rail Photography posted

BN Junction Broadside

Here is another frame from the first hour of our trip spent at BN Jct. This shows the DP power on the rear end of our third train on the middle level while the NS train headed to Argentine is seen still sailing above at top. This shot follows right after this image: https://flic.kr/p/2mjSSsj

The top level of track here is the Argentine Flyover leading from the KCT east west corridor to BNSF's massive ex Santa Fe hump yard of the same name. The middle level is the KCT Kansas high line heading toward the UP's Armourdale (now closed) and 18th Street yards across the river. And the tracks in the foreground the train is on are KCT Line Segment 5001 and become BNSF's Fort Scott Sub just to the south behind me.

If you're interested in some technical details and maps the KCT surprisingly has some great documents publicly available here: http://kctrailway.com/tools/

Kansas City, Missouri

Friday August 27, 2021

Roger Riblett shared

A 17:43 video of a Feb 3, 2022, derailment and cleanup

Screenshot @ 2:11 at the end of the wreck (source)
Derailment starts at 1:37.  Some Cranemaster action starts at 7:13.  At 7:25, the rearend of the tracks leave the ground! At 7:56 watch the guys start backing away from the suspended load except one. And then at 8:11 he turns, ducks and runs. At 14:03, is that tank car loaded? Coming to think about it, even if it had a load, they probably drained it before they moved it.

Vicksburg, MS: IC/Yazoo Depot and Caboose Design

(Satellite)  The Lower Mississippi River Museum is just a block away.

1917 photo

George Bolls posted
The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley depot in Vicksburg, MS. The Y&MV was a subsidiary of Illinois Central and was eventually absorbed by IC.
Dennis DeBruler From a bridge posting, I see the MidSouth existed as part of ICG's fire sale in the 1980s. Specifically, it was created in 1986 and bought by KCS in 1994.

Mike Bartels: "IC spun off the Meridian-Shreveport line to MidSouth Rail in 1986. KCS acquired MidSouth in 1994 and sold a 30 percent interest in this route to Norfolk Southern in 2006 to help finance improvements to what is now called the Meridian Speedway. The bridge was opened in 1930, replacing ferries. A new parallel highway bridge opened in 1973, although the rail bridge wasn't closed to motor vehicles until 1998."

Kirk Reynolds commented on George's post
A postcard view, circa 1910, looking northwest.

Kirk Reynolds commented on George's post
Another view, circa 1910, looking west.

Dennis DeBruler commented on George's post
When we were passing by Vicksburg 12/30/2018, we deliberately got off on the exit to see what we could find down by the river. They were doing restoration work when we were there.

Dennis DeBruler commented on George's post
The IC caboose has the little door in the side that seems to be unique to IC. The best theory I have read for the purpose of this door is that it was deemed a safer way for the conductor to lean out and catch train orders.
Kirk Reynolds You are correct, Dennis. When the IC built new cabooses in the 1960s, a longer "porch" at each end of the car was added to give crew members a protected area in which to stand when picking up orders. The MidSouth caboose on display is an example of the newer design.
Dennis DeBruler Kirk Reynolds Thanks for the confirmation.

Dennis DeBruler commented on George's post
Here is my other view of the newer design.

On the same day I learned about IC caboose design, these two posting showed up on my timeline.

William C. Heirtzier Jr. posted
Vicksburg MS..... ICRR steam and the paddle wheeler Sprague on the riverfront.
Cliff Downey This is most likely a storage line of retired steamers from the mid-1950's. Look closely and you can see the smoke stack and sand dome of a third steam locomotive barely visible along the left side of the photo. Plus, the track they are sitting on has lots of weeds. It is a great photo, but for the sake of historical accuracy folks shouldn't think that is an IC train.
Ron Hill The Sprague was the world's largest steam powered sternwheeler towboat. She was nicknamed Big Mama, and was capable of pushing 56 coal barges at once. In 1907, Sprague set a world's all-time record for towing: 60 barges of coal, weighing 67,307 tons, covering an area of ​6 1⁄2 acres, and measuring 925 feet (282 m) by 312 feet (95 m).[3] She was decommissioned as a towboat in 1948.
George Bolls I like the river and rail them the photographer captured. The Sprague was a beast and the railroads in Mississippi basically started in Vicksburg on what would eventually become an IC line.

This is why the tracks and depot are down by the river.

Pete Zimmerman posted
The Mississippi River circa 1906. Steamboat landing at Vicksburg. Sternwheeler Belle of Calhoun and sidewheeler Belle of the Bends. Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. (unknown photographer)

Christian Boepel posted
Gaffed this capture online of an IC caboose on an unconfirmed train at Indianapolis, IN, in the 1950s.
[Obviously, it has the little doors in the side.]

John DuFrane posted three photos with the comment: "Spotted in Champaign today."
[I now recognize the longer platforms to accommodate side rails for the conductor to lean against.]

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Chris Goepel posted, cropped, Facebook resolution
Excerpt from a 1935 IC Vicksburg Division condensed profile (with grease pencil updates to 1938) showing details on the IC Meridian District (ex-Y&MV, née-A&V) at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Thomas E Lucas I have seen profile charts before. This is the first time I have seen a bridge represented in this manner. The bridge access track is also represented in a manner I haven't seen on a map before, however it is common in industrial drafting, which I have done. Thanz for the posting.

William C. Heirtzler Jr. commented on Chris' post
Chris Goepel Nice! What year is the profile from, William?
William C. Heirtzler Jr. Chris Goepel hello.... dates on lower right corner of each page range from 1923-1931? I have an ICRR locomotive blueprint roster from 1926..... think these both are about same age. Got these from
My grandfather who was a Trainmaster for more than 40 years on the Mississippi Division.

Randall shows that they do build a temporary flood wall between the concrete one and the river bluff when a flood threatens.

Randall Hampton posted
Unknown cabooses in Vicksburg, Mississippi at the old passenger station - March 2016
Eric Domboski: Is the blockade to keep potentially-runaway cabooses in their place?
Randall Hampton: No, this is for flood control. High water on the river was expected, so they were plugging up upper level gaps in levees that they hadn't had to worry about in years. Those old sidings are no longer used south of the station. They didn't want to block the main line until the last minute. Lower levels of the levees get put to work every year.

Randall Hampton shared
A different angle on the Vicksburg MS passenger station, you can clearly see that it's on the wrong side of the temporary floodwall section being assembled. Why they didn't extend the permanent wall to the far end of the station, I have no idea. I don't believe the 2016 flood reached track level, but the forecasted crest was close enough that they had to get ready to close the main line on short notice. The river gets high every spring due to snow melt in the far north, but usually stays well below railroad level.
[I added closeup photos of the two cabooses with comments about their design.]

Randall Hampton posted
Vicksburg MS passenger station   4-15-2017

C Kent McKenzie

Moderator

This photo appears to be during high-water conditions. Now a museum.

http://www.vicksburgbattlefieldmuseum.net/

Randall Hampton: Yes, but not as high as the previous year. I was there two years in a row, around the same time of year.

USACE, May 13, 2011, Public Domain

Screenshot
[The river scenes have no barge traffic. I presume the currents are too strong. I've seen videos showing that it is hard threading a tow under the bridges with just normal currents. At 3:22, it appears that the poor side of the town is not only on the other side of the tracks, but on the other side of the levee. At least most of the homes are on stilts.]

(Facebook Caboose Post)

Oct 2022:

Sam Evans Strickland posted
Well, the river done run dry mamma at Vicksburg.
Mike Evans: “Preacher Man’s Saying It’s The End Of Time, And The Mississippi River She’s A Going Dry”......Hank Jr..
Ron Bishop shared
Joe Dwyer: Which river?

Dennis DeBruler commented on Joe's comment
The Mississippi River. This photo posted by George Bolls with the comment "The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley depot in Vicksburg, MS. The Y&MV was a subsidiary of Illinois Central and was eventually absorbed by IC." shows what it is supposed to look like by Vicksburg. The depot in the photo is here:
 https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Dennis DeBruler commented on Ron's share
This is a textbook example of a photo being worth a thousand words. I've read a lot about the Mississippi River being low, but I would not imagine it was this low if I hadn't seen this photo. That means all of these businesses along the back meander are inaccessible.
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.3856948,-90.8863547,4433m/data=!3m1!1e3
A farmer in southwest Wisconsin has said the basis was down to $1.70 for soybeans in Dubuque, IA, so he is having to haul twice as far to Warren, IL.

Mar 2023: And just a few months later they can worry about flooding again.

USGS

USGS-data

USGS-data after clicking Discharge and Display Median

Clyman, WI: Clyman Junction: C&NW vs. C&NW

(Satellite)

The 2005 SPV Map calls this Jefferson Junction instead of Clyman Junction.

Mark Llanuza posted
Its June 1983 CNW steam 1385 at Clyman tower Wis [photo collection Mark Llanuza ]

Note the coaling tower in the background.

Joe Holman posted
CNW Train 495, Clyman Jct WI, August 25, 1974 -- We are at the crossing diamond at Clyman Jct as train 495 comes west with GP35 slug set 835-BU37-853 and 42 cars. The diamond was the crossing of the Butler-Adams Adams Subdivision and the Janesville-Fond du lac Janesville Subdivision. Today in 2019, the Adams Sub remains, but the diamond is gone and a remnant of the Janesville Sub (now the Clyman Sub) continues in existence south to Fort Atkinson. Train 495 in the 1970's ran west all the way across Minnesota and South Dakota to Rapid City. Joe Holman photo.
Dennis DeBruler https://www.google.com/.../@43.3250938,-88.../data=!3m1!1e3

The tower in the background at Clyman Jct. looks like the same design as the tower at Nelson, IL.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Joe's post
The coaling tower is of interest to me. Looking at a satellite image, it appears it has been removed. But this photo teaches me that the one at Nelson, IL must have had a tower on top.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7971338,-88.0096135,111a,35y,180h,39.43t/data=!3m1!1e3

Now knowing it exists, I took another look. It was closer to the junction than I had thought.
https://www.google.com/.../@43.32362,-88.../data=!3m1!1e3

Justin Kreklow posted
UP CARES train pauses briefly at Clyman Jct WI before heading back to Butler June 2012
Dennis DeBruler A nice view of the coaling tower.

Justin Kreklow posted
Weston coal empties pass underneath the former C&NW coaling tower at Clyman Jct WI 1/2013