Track Work to Affect Keystones on Weekends

Track work will lead to schedule changes to Amtrak’s Keystone Service on weekends starting May 21 and lasting through June 26.

Train 615 will depart Philadelphia at 2 p.m. and operate five minutes later to Harrisburg, arriving at 3:47 p.m.

Train 663 will depart Philadelphia at 11 a.m, operating 10 minutes later to Harrisburg, arriving at 12:55 p.m.

Train 667 will depart Philadelphia at 5 p.m, operating five minutes later to Harrisburg, arriving at 6:50 p.m.

Train 669 will depart Philadelphia at 7 p.m., operating five minutes later to Harrisburg, arriving at 8:50 p.m.

Cleveland RTA Completes Track Work Project

Greater Cleveland RTA said it has restored all service on its Blue and Green lines that had been suspended for the past eight weeks due to track construction.

The track work took place between the Buckeye-Woodhill Station and Shaker Square.

The project involved replacing 7,000 ties, 29,600 e-clip fasteners, 54,800 spikes, 27,400 feet of rail and 12 turnouts.

The agency spent $8 million on the work and said that last time this segment of the track had been repaired was in the early 1980s.

LSL Boston Section Canceled by Track Work

Track work being undertaken by MBTA in Massachusetts will result in the cancellation of the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited between Boston and Albany-Rensselaer, New York, next week.

Between July 5 and July 11, passengers about Train No. 448 traveling to the intermediate stations in Massachusetts of Pittsfield, Springfield, Worcester and Boston (South Station) will get off the train at Albany and ride a bus to their destination.

No alternative transportation is being provided to Framingham or Boston Back Bay station.

Passengers for Train 449 at the same intermediate stations will board a bus between July 6 and 12 to travel to Albany-Rensselaer, where they will board the train to continue their journey.

No alternate transportation will be provided from Boston Back Bay station or Framingham.

Passengers boarding at Boston South Station should go to the Amtrak Information Desk for instructions on boarding the buses.

Worcester passengers will board their bus at the main entrance in front of the station and not at the bus terminal.

No business class or sleeper class service will be provided for passengers traveling on Nos. 448 and 449 will be offered between Boston and Albany-Rensselaer.

Track Work Affects Keystone Corridor Trains

Track work on Sept. 8 and 9 will result in minor schedule changes to Keystone Service trains in Pennsylvania.

In a service advisory Amtrak said all trains will operate 25 minutes earlier from Harrisburg to Coatesville, 15 minutes earlier at Downingtown and back to current schedule at Exton.

Kentucky Tourist RR Repairing Track

A Kentucky-based tourist railroad has suspended operations in order to repair track defects and put down new ballast.

Executive Director Louis Capwell of the Big South Fork Scenic Railway said Federal Railroad Administration inspectors pointed out various gauge and cross-level issues.

The railroad hired contractors to help with replacing ties, installing ballast and leveling the rails. This fall the railroad plans to replace six miles of aging 90-pound rail with 130-pound rail.

“We don’t want to put ballast down in the winter, because it won’t settle when the ground is frozen,” Capwell says, “If we put more rock down now, our track guys will be happier in the off-season.”

Capwell said most of the track work has been completed and the Big South expects to resume operations next week.

He said none of the FRA concerns resulted in civil penalties.

The work was undertaken now because it is a slow time of the year for the railroad and it wanted to get its track in better condition in advance of the busy fall season.

Located 70 miles northwest of Knoxville, Tennessee, the Big South offered trips of an hour and a half using a former Atlantic Coast Line EMD-SW9.

Michigan Trims Wolverine Service for Summer

At the request of the Michigan Department of Transportation Amtrak has annulled some Wolverine Service trains for the remainder of the summer.

Cut from the timetable is eastbound No. 350, which had departed Chicago in the morning and ran only as far as Battle Creek.

Also annulled is an afternoon train from Battle Creek to Chicago, No. 353.

The service cuts mean that Monday through Saturday the first Wolverine Service eastbound train of the day departs Chicago at 4 p.m. A second Wolverine Service train leaves two hours later. Both trains terminate at Pontiac in suburban Detroit.

As for westbound service Monday through Saturday, No. 351 departs Pontiac at 5:15 a.m. while No. 355 leaves at 6:50 p.m.

On Sunday, Wolverine Service returns to normal with three roundtrips scheduled between Chicago and Pontiac.

However, the schedule changes with departures from Chicago at 7:10 p.m., 12:25 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Westbound trains leave Pontiac at 5:15 a.m., 10:35 a.m. and 6:50 p.m.

MDOT asked Amtrak to alter the schedule after reviewing ridership data for May and June and deciding that the cost of providing the Chicago-Battle Creek trains was not being adequately covered by ticket revenue.

During May, ridership and revenue each fell 14 percent from the May 2015 performance figures.

There had been no connecting bus service between Battle Creek and points east on the route.

Michigan is undertaking a track rehabilitation project between Battle Creek and Jackson that involves replacing 26,000 ties, repairing 13 switches, rebuilding 23 highway crossings, and modifying or realigning 29 curves.

The work began in late April and is expected to be finished by Sept. 23 when schedules will reset to normal.

Amtrak recently said that regular service of three roundtrips will be offered during the Labor Day weekend.

The Chicago-Port Huron Blue Water and Chicago-Grand Rapids Pere Marquette are not affected by the track work.

Work Continues on Sterling Crossover Switch

CSX track machine is busy tamping the ballast and checking track alignment of the new switch on Track No. 1 at Sterling on Aug. 4, 2013.

I visited Sterling on Sunday, Aug. 4, to watch and photograph the installation of the new CSX crossover switch on Track No. 1.

My initial report of the new crossover switches planned by CSX and the initial work was posted on the Akron Railroad Club blog on June 13, 2013. This past Sunday, work was underway in earnest.

When I arrived shortly before noon there was much activity taking place. The Kauffman Avenue crossing was closed and also the County Line Trail parking lot.

Bikers and hikers were relegated to parking their vehicles at Bradley’s, which is closed on Sunday. CSX trucks were everywhere. Large machines dominated the trackside of Track 1.

There was a large crew of both CSX and R. J Corman workers on hand. Corman handled the lifting and placing the switch panels onto the right of way. That had already been done.

CSX completes the mating to the existing track, welding the rail, and finish grinding it. That was followed by the wiring for remote control of the new switch and connections to the signal circuits.

Following that, a CSX track machine tamped the ballast in place and checked the final track alignment. A ballast regulator followed to form the ballast.

Meanwhile, CSX trains were run through the work site using track No. 2. Track 2 is the usual eastbound track but today it served trains in both directions.

The trains ran through at 25 mph when allowed by the CSX maintainer foreman in charge of the work site. My scanner reported the CSX IO dispatcher telling the train crews that today the line was single track from Lambert, south of Akron, to the Lodi crossovers.

The first train I saw was Q296, an eastbound auto rack train at 12:02 p.m. The next train was Q137, a westbound intermodal train at 1:14 p.m. It ran just as I was about to leave. I hurried to the crossing to get a passing shot.

Large front end loaders were busy transferring ballast from the pile adjacent to the CL&W west wye to trackside of Track 2. It would then be ready for use on Monday when the Track 2 switch would be installed.

I then left for home with a bunch of photos on my Sony camera’s SD card. It had been an interesting two hours watching a large CSX maintainer crew and their machines at work.

On Wednesday, I had watched the new Summit Street crossing installation in Kent. That operation paled in size to the Sunday work at Sterling.

Article and Photographs by Richard Jacobs

Moving the ballast to trackside for Monday’s work on switch No. 2, while the ballast regulator waits at Kauffman Avenue in Sterling.

Regulating the new ballast on track one!

CSX intermodal train Q137 is westbound at the Sterling work site.

CSX auto rack train Q296 is eastbound through the Sterling work site.

Lunch break in the County Line Trail’s parking lot next to the Sterling work site.

Working on the new Track No. 1 switch at Sterling.

Grinding the new rail weld.

Putting Their Rails to the Grindstone

A Loram rail grinder train works at Enon Valley, Pa., on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013.

My friend Adam and I headed toward Pittsburgh on Saturday in what turned out to be a futile attempt to spot the Lackawanna heritage locomotive. Internet reports had it at Conway Yard so we gambled that it might be put on a westbound train taking either the Fort Wayne or Youngstown lines. It wasn’t.

We never saw the Lackawanna unit or any other heritage unit all day despite making three passes along the east side of the yard.

But we did encounter this Loram rail grinder train at Enon Valley, Pa. We didn’t know until it showed up what it was. We had heard something trip the detector at East Palestine, Ohio, on Track 1. It had to be an eastbound because we’d been sitting for an hour to 45 minutes and not seen anything go west.

We were intrigued by the defect detector saying at the end of the transmission, “your train is too slow.” Our initial thought was that it might be a dimensional train.

Rail grinder trains are not rare and they probably make for more dramatic photos at night. Yet this was my first opportunity to photograph one in action.

In all of the photographs posted here, the train is easing eastward. All images are presented in sequence in which they were made.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Putting the Track Back

A westbound grain train passes through downtown Kent on Track No. 2 on the CSX New Castle Subdivision. Track No. 1 (at left) has been reinstalled after workers finished undercutting the roadbed to allow for greater clearance beneath the Main Street bridge.

Work could be wrapping up by the end of this week in undercutting the roadbed of the CSX New Castle Subvision in Kent. Since April, workers have been creating greater clearances beneath the Main Street and Wheeling & Lake Erie overpasses.

This past Sunday, crews were working overtime to get Track No. 1 back into service. The track has been put back into place and welders were connecting the panel sections of track.

As can be seen from this series of photographs, workers will need to place ballast on the track.

The work is part of a project to increase clearances on the former Baltimore & Ohio route in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Double stack container trains will be able to begin using the route once the work is completed.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

A welding crew works to connnect the panel track sections in downtown Kent. The location is just below the former Erie Railroad passenger station along the Cuyahoga River.

An eastbound auto rack train passes the work site in Kent on Sunday evening.

A back hoe straightens the ties on Track No. 1.

Akron Railroad Club member Richard Antibus photographs westbound intermodal train Q135 as it passes through Kent.

The rear of a slab train passes the work site.