Interesting to see the concrete ties laid out there. What I saw last time thru (November) were stacks of new creosoted wood ties.
It may be that the wood ties were being used to rebuild the decking on bridges and trestles. There is a long stretch of trestle over the Bernard River and a lot of other smaller short ones.
How are they working this? The truck is dumping past end of rail, and then? Or is the ballast going elsewhere along the project? Boxcab E50
I am not sure. I did not have time to see where the trucks were going. I will have to check it out later.
Today I found where they had dumped piles of ballast on the right of way outside Beasley. They also were replacing old timber trestles with steel piles and concrete abutments.
I hope someone can catch photos for us, as the track laying progresses. Watching that process can be fascinating! Boxcab E50
I may try tomorrow. I drove by tonight after dark and there was a ribbon rail train at the end of track. They had lights set up and had tractors dragging rail down the right of way.
They were already unloaded and gone by the time I got there today. I found the empty train backing off of the UP main onto the BNSF main at the interlocker in Rosenberg. They put it on a siding just north of Rosenberg. I have heard the line is supposed to be up and running, first quarter of 2009.
Looks like it was a great day to be out there. Blue skies, with some fluffy cotton balls... Early 2009... Any hints of where there will be sidings? Or possibly any spurs to serve a few customers? Boxcab E50
KCS bought a huge chunk of land just outside of Beasley for an inter modal yard. Not sure where they will put sidings but probably where there were sidings in the past. A large grain elevator outside Wharton is negotiating service contracts and there are a few other industries like a plastic pipe manufacturer who are interested.
Welcome drawbar. No photos today, however when I went by yesterday they had about half a mile of ribbon rail laid out on concrete ties west from where the old rail ends. I could not tell if the rail was clipped in yet but it looked nice and straight. No ballast yet but a string of gondolas full of some sort of aggregate was backing down the old track to be unloaded.
Don't really know my Texas geography that well and being too lazy to pull up a map, and since I will be in Waco next week, I'll ask where is this in relation to Waco?
A long way away. This is just a bit southwest of Houston, heading southwest towards Victoria. Let me edit that a bit in view of how "a long way" may be interpreted. Waco to Rosenberg is about 200 miles. Waco is maybe 170+ miles northwest of Houston, and Rosenberg is about 30 miles southwest of Houston, so if your route to Waco takes through Houston, you wouldn't be all that far away. Ed
