Just drove in to the office past the fire. It's still buring and they expect it to burn all day today. It is still putting out a huge smoke plume, and the flames are still shooting higher than the trees between Capitol City Freeway and the track location.
Saw this on the news last night. I still wonder what they're going to replace it with. In 3 to 5 weeks, it almost has to be prefabbed concrete. I have a bad memory of Sacramento's layout, where exactly is this?
It is located in Central "Sacto", across the American river from Cal-Expo. A few miles N-NE of downtown. This Friday morning, UP was staging their front loader cars and crains. The plan to demo the trestle this Friday after noon. Still a few days of work but this is a typical washout, train derailment, etc, recovery work so it's nothing new to them. I think there certainly will be a lot of prefab and at least it is a straight, low bridge over fairly level ground, albeit wet. SF Bay Area trains have no issues to Sacramento (Amtrak Capitol Corridor) or the freight yards. West bound passengers are bussed from Roseville to the SF Bay area. Freight has been rerouted thru Marysville.
I would assume East bound trains would be re-routed to the old WP in Sac. Trians Eastbound out of Roseville would not be inpackted. West bound is a little more dicey. they could connect to the Feather River route in winnimucca or Reno and travel to the Feather River route via the Reno Branch. Amtrak will not do this ofcourse, but they could do the same thing. Bus passengers from Colfax to Sac and Trukee to Reno and follow the same bypass. those are the onlt two stops impacted by the fire. It's doable, BUT UP probably will object. The Feather river route now as all of the Stck trains because the tunnel on the Donner route are too low ....and the BNSF has joint operation on the FRR and head to the Highline a Keddie. Dispatch for both is UP out of Omaha.
Binney Jct Sounds like Binney Jct is getting the southwest connector put back in. This will eliminate reverse moves and locos changing ends of the train. Can't wait to see it.
I was working on a roof top at the north end of the Roseville yard where the track takes off north to go to Marysville and noticed loads of lumber heading north which is unusual because the mill is up that line a ways in Lincoln, usually the lumber is coming south out of there. Also loaded autoracks heading up that way which is also unusual and being pulled by some very smokey and decrepit looking locomotives including UPY numbered ones. I'm guessing maybe they pull them up to Binney Jct that way and then hitch some newer locos onto the other end of them to head further west? Birken
THANKS JOHN!!!!!!! This is just another example you doing a great job with the UP forum! :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:
Binney Jct... Urgent rail line built at junction By Breeana Laughlin/Appeal-Democrat Union Pacific Railroad workers are building a connector track in Marysville for trains being routed around a burned trestle in Sacramento. The new segment will make it easier for trains on the Oakland-to-Salt Lake City route to bypass Sacramento by taking a right turn at Binney Junction in Marysville. The trains will then head south to Roseville and back to their original route over the Sierra Nevada. Binney Junction is where a major east-west line from Sacramento through the Feather River canyon to Nevada, Utah and points east intersects at a 90-degree angle with a major north-south line between Roseville and Portland, Ore. The new connector will allow trains to seamlessly switch lines. The bypass comprises a 90-mile detour around the burned-out trestle. Train traffic on the lines to and from Marysville is expected to double to about 40 trains per day. About 30 track workers have been constructing the Marysville connector around the clock since Saturday and should be finished sometime tonight, said David Wickersham, chief engineer for the Western Region of the Union Pacific Railroad. In the meantime, eastbound trains are stopping in Marysville and locomotives are being connected to their rear to pull them down to Roseville. This process adds more than an hour to the three- to four-hour detour route, Wickersham said. The Marysville connector will ease delays for trains making the detour. “This will help us get our railroad back in business,” Wickersham said. The fiery destruction of the trestle carrying a double rail line through Sacramento on Thursday forced the bypass. “It is a suspicious fire,” Wickersham said. “We've had tremendous help from the governor's office on down to the fire departments to help us with this disaster. Everybody from the community to state government has offered assistance to help get our tracks restored,” Wickersham said. The rebuilding process is expected to cost $25 million to $30 million. The first rebuilt line through Sacramento should be finished in about 14 days, Wickersham said. This will lessen the amount of train traffic through Marysville. “Then, after we complete the second track bridge in a month and a half, the train levels will be back to what we had before,” Wickersham said. Appeal-Democrat reporter Breeana Laughlin can be reached at 749-4724. You may e-mail her at blaughlin@appeal-democrat.com. http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/2007/03/18/news/local_news/news2.txt
Thanks Darren! Sounds like CalRailfans Yahoo group may move one of their get togethers to Binney next. Also regular reports from Binney are available from many foamers at other sites on the net. Most of it is the same ole same ole but they have/ are going to cut in the switches shortly. I just wonder how long they'll leave the wye in place once they get the bridge rebuilt. Sounds like you can still regularly railfan there. As long as you stay on the public bikepath, you should have no problem except maybe an occasional ask to move so they can work.
Here's a new fire video by John Zarembski: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_11C3MGNJY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_11C3MGNJY[/ame] Crews are already clearing the burnt timers out and trucks have begun to bring in the new steel piles for the new bridge.
Just drove past the site. Huge construction lights are up and there are crews out and about. As I drove past, the local news was reporting UP statements of 2-3 weeks before operations over the line resume, and the cost estimate of $25 million. The other report is that the fireboats that were spraying water on the metal supports of the section that crosses the river saved that portion from potentially extensive damage. I'll try to get out there on the nearby levey and get some shots this week.
One of the local Coast Division NMRA members is also an Amtrak engineer, and he happened to be the engineer on Amtrak #5, the eastbound California Zephyr, the first train to hit the scene after the trestle fire in Sacramento started. He gave a rather complete account of how it unfolded from his perspective at the Meet this past Sunday. Very interesting.... I'll try to get some more details.
Currently they are building a new trestle from steel beams and eventually some concrete structure too. Also Binney Jct is now fully operational as of midnight night before last. Heard somewhere that up to 40 trains a day will use the detour. Gotta get up there this weekend and take some pics!!
