Have not heard anything unusual going on over the Sunset so it could just have been UP or BNSF borrowing some KCS power. On the Macaroni, I watched them load ballast hoppers from gondolas and them pull short little trains with track mobiles over to where they were raising the rail level by pouring ballast over them and then tamping it up underneath. I don't know how anything was able to run on the rails as they were buried out of site. Rail still ends in Kendleton at Farm Road 2919.
Yup, I don't know if it has traction motors or a drive shaft but can pull seven whole loaded hoppers at about 5 miles per hour.
Regarding using cranes as rail power...Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, MS has 3 or 4 rail mobile cranes with electro-magnetic units in place of hooks. These cranes go out to the CSX interchange yard and pick up flat cars loaded with steel. They bring the flats to welding or machine shops on the shipyard where they use the electro-magnet to unload the steel, then return the empty flats to the interchange yard. This allows Ingalls to release the cars back to the railroad within 24 hours, avoiding demurrrage charges. IIRC, the cranes had hydraulic drives, but I don't know if they were axle mounted or through a shaft. I can't get photos of this process because I'm no longer authorized on the shipyard since I retired...sorry.
I don't know how long this link will last but the local news is trying to put a positive spin on things. My Victoria Online - Progress on Rail Line
There has been a discussion on the Yahoo TNO Groop about the use of concrete ties. It was noted there that wood ties will be used around El Campo and Victoria because of the possibility that those tracks may be rerouted to bypass those comunities. That all depends if KCS can get funding from TxDot, FRA or the building of the I-69 corridor. Also noted was right of way clearing going on in Jacson and Victoria Counties.
The TNO Yahoo group is at TNO : Texas New Orleans Railroad I think you can read the messages without joining.
I went for a long field trip today all the way to Victoria and back to check things out. The rail still ends in the middle of Kendleton although there is still a lot of activity beyond such as grading the approaches to the new San Bernard bridge and installation of metal culvert pipes farther west. There was an old trestle pulled out just west of Wharton but after that nothing could be seen until about the Wharton/Jackson County line. The ROW clearing and trestle work picked up again. In Wharton County there were still areas where the ROW was still crossed by barbed wire fences and cattle were grazing on it. There were places where farm implement dealers were using it to display their wares. This is just west of Hillje. Combines and ferilizer tanks all lined up on RR property. In Victoria I found where the end of UP track was east of town. They still bring hoppers in to a customer way out on the east end. There are lots of piles of new ties and track building supplies along the cleared ROW east of the end of track. As you can see from the photo above the UP track is in pretty bad shape and will need major work before they start hosting a lot of KCS trains. On this Google link you can see just how far the UP track goes in the upper right, before it ends where the light colored ballast is no longer visible. And then there was one business farther east that had put in a new concrete driveway right across the ROW. Either they never heard what is happening, they know something we don't about a bypass around Victoria or they are playing games with the railroad. There are a lot more new photos posted on the last page in my album.
Sorry, I really don't know. No where near as tall as the welded ribbon rail that KCS is installing. On the Rosenberg end, UP just replaced ties as needed and cleaned and re-tamped the ballast. Still the same old light weight jointed rail. So, I assume that is all they will do on the Victoria end. I doubt they will let KCS go too fast on it but it is in an urban area with lots of crossings. Once they get out of town on their own track they should be able to high ball for sure. These old rice farmers will have to learn about fast trains as anything they would remember from the old SP days was probably waddleing along at a pretty slow rate. There will probably be a slew of grade crossing incidents when the KCS gets cranked up.
This has always made me angry. Most times the fault lies with the driver of the vehicle who want's to save a "few minutes" instead of "saving a few lives." I recall a radio PSA that used the motto "Never race a train, because even if you tie...you lose!!!" Thank everyone for the updates.
Just a Victoria note. The first KCS ribbon rail train was delivered 8-18 to Victoria and unloaded. They are starting to work north. Sorry no pics.
Looks like the usual comments from a public that just has little clue about reality. I'm sure there'll be more... Boxcab E50
