20170219 Joliet: Union Depot, 1-Barge Tow, Concrete Microwave Tower

The weather on a Sunday was soooo good that I simply had to get out of the house. Since Joliet is one of the places I go to only on weekends, I headed there to check on the construction and get pictures of the new cantilevered signal bridge.

Joliet Union Depot and Amtrak Platform

(Facebooked)
They have replaced the windows in the tower. The original plans were to tear it down. But there was enough backlash that Joliet decided to buy it and turn it into a visitor attraction. They are going to build the new depot north of it and east of it. It may have helped the decision that the tower is the embankment for the tracks here. Construction of the new depot had been on hold because of the budget crises in Illinois, but reasonable minds prevailed on at least this project.

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They have driven the pilings to hold the tracks the rest of the way to the Jefferson Street overpass and completed the excavation for the new depot.

3:31:22pm (Given that Amtrak was supposed to arrive, I checked the time on my camera. It is 1:08 fast. That is not a big deal except for the pictures of the Amtrak train arriving because I post times to get differences between pictures to get a feel for how fast a train was moving.) This pictures was taken from the south side of the Amtrak platform looking south.

I walked to the north side of the platform to get a "facing north" shot. Note that UP/MoPac/GM&O/Alton uses concrete ties.

Then I turned and got another "facing south shot" to include the new Amtrak platform. Notice the wide spacing between the UP tracks. They moved the inter-track platform spacing from the Union Depot side (between the BNSF/Sante Fe tracks) to the east side (between the UP/GM&O tracks). I don't know why they add that distance. Is it really supposed to be a safety zone so that passengers can wait in line at a car while a train comes by on the near track?

I had noticed back when I was approaching the station that someone was going to the platform with a suitcase and pillow. That means an Amtrack train is going to be arriving.

Every time I looked south, I saw the headlights of a BNSF train setting on the tracks. When the train started moving, I would be on the dark side of the train. So I risked that I would have enough time to get to the Union Depot platform before it started. On my way, I took a picture facing south across Jefferson. You can see the tower on the right, the construction in the middle and the RI (Rock Island) Metra platform on the left.

After crossing Jefferson, I grabbed a picture of the "Temporary Ticket Office" because I had noticed when looking at a pictures from a previous trip to Joliet that I had never taken a picture of it. I wanted to get a picture because, by definition, someday it will be gone. You can barely see the stairs on the left to the south end of the platform. You can see the long ramp behind the office to the north end of the platform.

I grabbed some pictures of the overpass support because the reconstruction of the UP side is now done.

In fact, the UP side (right) now looks better than the BNSF side (left).

This is basically "an electrons are cheap" shot. I'm looking east along Jefferson Street to show the ballpark that is just east of the tracks.

3:36:20 the trains is moving, but it never did pick up much speed. I thought all of the vertical black grills meant all three of these locomotives had  Tier 4 engines. But after looking up the numbers, I learned the second two were not Tier 4. It appears Tier 4 has wider vertical grills, a bigger radiator housing. and a higher "rectangular bump;" but you do have to look very closely to see the differences.

3979: ET44C4 (Tier 4), built 2015

6607 (I had to go back to the original wedge shot to catch the "0" that was skunked by the light pole): ES44C4, built 1-3/2009.

6892: ES44C4, built 1-2/2012, Tier III Compliant

Containers for as far as you can see.

When I took a picture to the north...

...it occurred to me that if I waited just a little bit I could catch the locomotives on the curve. And I zoomed in as far as my 28-55 lens would go.

Note that the containers fit snugly in the platforms above. The first two cars behind the engines are 5-packs. I don't see too many 5-packs. Normally just 3-packs and singletons. The fact the contians fit snuttly is significant because they are 40-foot international containers. Here we see 40' containers in a platform that can also hold 53' domestic containers. If there is a gap over 12' between containers, it affects the aerodynamic efficiency of the train.

Trying to get the train framed by the signalling bridge. This needs Gimp to rotate it vertically.

Since I'm bored watching a container train, I practice catching the tower and RI Metra platform between the moving gaps between containers. (If it is a mixed freight, I take pictures of blocks of cars so that all of the cars are covered. But BNSF generally runs just pigs, stacks and racks on this route.)

Then I noticed the diamond, which was installed less than two years ago, is pumping already so I took a short video to catch the motion. It is also another video that catches the "banging of the diamonds."

It is time to get ready for the end of the train by the tower shot.

3:41:02  Got it. I noticed that the train was actually slowing down rather than speeding up. Considering it was sitting on the mainline when I arrived, I made a comment to the other railfan on the platform that they are not treating this as a priority train. He pointed out that it was all international containers and that Willow Springs was just domestic traffic. BNSF terminates its international traffic south of Joliet at its rather new Logistics Park. We concluded that it was a run through to the east and NS or CSX was too crowded to accept it. My money is on CSX as the one that can't properly handle a propriety container train. One reason is because I've noticed that CSX tends to be screwed up. (E.g. I've seen trains parked on their mainline in Indiana.) The second reason is that trains headed to NS are diverted at Streator, IL, to use the Kankakee Belt to bypass Chicago.

I'm practicing getting a vertical shot while I lean over the rail looking down the Metra/Rock Island diamonds and platform. The last time I tried this, it was quite crooked. I almost got this one right. It is good enough that it can be fixed with Gimp.

A closeup of the west side of the UD Tower. Note that near the right side of the photo you can see some handrails around an opening between the Metra track and the overpass that used to have the old Rock Island yard leads. This will become significant later.

The ballpark framed by the bridge. And notice that the Amtrak waiting area is actually getting a little crowded.

So I hustled back to the Amtrak platform to be ready for the arriving train.

But first I spotted the headlight of a time-card west BNSF train.

And then I noticed that the BNSF container train was soon going to be skunked by the arriving Amtrak train.

Since meet shots are rather rare, I did not spare the electrons even though I was on the dark side.

3:48:42  Going for the wedge shot. Sometimes taking pictures during an overcast day is a good thing because to softens the backlighting.

6735: ES44C4, built 3-9/2011

4260: ES44C4 T4 Credit locos, built 1-?/2016

4030: C44-9W, built 9-6/2003 (S/Ns and B/Ds are descending order) Notice the older (pre-swish) livery.

7542: ES44DC, built 4-8/2007

J.B.Hunt containers means that this is domestic traffic. This train would start with a cut from Corwith Yard on which J.B.Hunt has built a facility.

But the containers are going to get skunked by the Amtrak train.

3:48:58  The Texas Eagle arrives. Remember, my camera is fast by 1:08, so the train was on time.

An Amtrak train that is scheduled to arrive at 2:40pm will always be backlit.

3:49:54  You can barely see the headlights of a timecard eastbound BNSF between the heads of the first two passengers.

Note the westbound BNSF train now has pigs. They even put a container on a piggyback flatcar. Back when railroads had more coal, oil, and grain trains than their tracks could handle, they ignored the carload customers. That is, their pulling up of track or pricing forced carload customers to use trucks. But now that they have laid more tracks and the oil and coal traffic has dropped, they are beginning to think again about carload traffic. I wonder if this container is on a flatcar because it is going to a smaller town that does not have the heavy equipment that is normally used to transfer the container to a trailer bed. Maybe they are just going to park it on a siding that has enough room beside it for the customer's truck. Having the container on a flatcar instead of in a deep well car would make it easier to open the doors and unload it. That is, maybe they are reinventing team track traffic but now they have a container and a truck instead of a boxcar and horse-and-wagon.

The conductor comes out to check the tickets and direct them to the correct platform. And the three headlights of the eastbound intermodal are more visible.

Taking another picture of the eastbound locomotives before it gets skunked by the Amtrak train. I can't read the numbers, but by counting the gas tanks, I can determine there are five locomotives on this train.

I'm trying to catch that the middle platform does not line up with the car door! The door is a couple of feet south of the edge of the platform. And the doors are right on the edge of the other two platforms. Since the train overshot its stop, I don't know why the conductor did not have it backup about six feet.

A UPS trailer near the end of the westbound confirms this is a cut that was added on at Willow Springs, which was built to service the UPS Chicago Area Consolidation Hub (CACH).

7149: ES44Cr, built 3-9/2013

All of 7149, but I can't see the number yet on the next locomotive.

7456: ES44DC, built "5-10/0)" I assume the ")" is a typo and it should be 5-10/2000.

6502: ES44C4 built 11-12/2014

7037: EC44C4, built 2-6/2012

6790: ES44C4, built 9-11/2011

Again, the JB Hunt containers indicate that at the beginning of the train is the cut that will go all the way to Corwith Yard.

Lots of JB Hunt containers. Actually, I took this picture when I noticed that double-stacks are higher than the Superliner cars. Note that Superliner cars have the same rounded edges that triple-deck autoracks have so that they can still fit through some tunnels.

The conductor has sent some passengers to their correct platform.

I'm basically bored waiting for people to board and just taking pictures. I notice the girl with the pink backpack is carrying a pillow. I wonder if that is the same one I saw when I first arrived, or if their are multiple pillows loading at this station.

Note that at the end of the line of passengers to talk to the conductor is someone in an electric wheelchair. And in the middle of the far platform is someone dressed in black. These people will become significant later.

This is a closeup of the fact that the passengers can't use the platform to load the middle car. And we see the man dressed in black on the left. Looking at the other two platforms, the engineer overshot his stop and barely caught the other two platforms. I would have thought the conductor would have ordered him to back up about five feet.

The eastbound has pigs as well as stacks.

Again, the man in the wheelchair is at the end of the line. I see he is holding a ticket. We will see shortly that the conductor should have noticed him and walked back to process him before doing the other people in the line.

The carman for the middle car evidently knows all of the passengers that he is expecting have checked in because he is putting his step back into the car.

So we are waiting. One advantage of the train over the airplane is that friends can come with you and stay "at the gate" to wave goodbye as you leave.

3:55:40 The end of the eastbound is more pigs.

3:55:50  The guy in the electric wheelchair is finally processed.

And catches the carman by surprise because it consumes more time as he gets out and installs the ramp...

3:57:04  ...so that he can finally board long after everybody else is on board. It is a good thing that they did not stop this car in the gravel like they did the other one.

3:57:42 But we are still waiting...

...so I step out on the platform to get a perspective on the UP concrete ties that I normally cannot legally get unless I'm at a road crossing.

"To Chicago" to the left made sense to me. "From Chicago" pointing to the boonies did not make sense to me. Later I realized this sign is correct in that this platform handles Heritage Corridor Metra trains in both directions. To Chicago trains on the close track and From Chicago trains on the next track over.

3:49:22  Then I realized why we were waiting. The conductor held the train for a late arrival! (If you are from out-of-town to catch the train and pull in the unloading ramp of the building that looks like the train station, there are very few clues as to where you are supposed to go.)

Switched to a wide-angle shot.

3:59:46  The train is slowly moving out of the station.

Remember the man in black? He motioned for me to get off the platform. If you look above, I was standing about a foot onto the platform as the train was (very slowly) moving. But the man was just doing his job, I should not have been on the platform while a train was in motion.

4:00:26  And as the friends wave bye-bye, they leave.

4:00:34  The tower, the bridge, a Superliner, and the Union Depot.

4:00:42

4:00:52  This train was accelerating rather slowly. I went back to the arrival pictures. There was just one engine on this Superliner train. It was in the station for just 10 minutes, but it sure seemed like more than that. Still, that is probably longer than usual, and the engineer will have to "pour some coal" to make up time.

A closer look at the construction of the new depot from the south end of the platform.

Notice I'm taking this picture at an angle. If you are walking down the sidewalk trying to figure out where to go for the new platform, you are out of luck if you are a Metra Rock Island customer because you won't see the second sign. At least they tried putting up some signs to give you a clue as to where to go. A year ago they just had signs at the old depot indicating "No Access To Trains" and double dogged dare you to find out where to go. I still have no clue where they expect you to park your car.

This is the current Metra Rock Island "shack."

Note you currently have to use a ladder to get into the tower.

Remember the handrails I pointed out earlier? Here is the hole they are guarding. More significantly, I noticed the Metra overpass on the right is being maintained --- it has a fresh looking coat of paint. The previous Rock Island overpass on the left is being allowed to rust until it is dangerous enough that they have to remove it.

1-Barge Tow

My plan for today was that, after I took a construction update of the Union Depot, I would get back on I-80 and head to Matteson to watch CN (IC and EJ&E) trains. But first I planned to go west across the river on Lincoln Highway and then come back east on Jefferson's bridge to check if any tows were on the river. I didn't even need to go across the river to tell that there was a tow. The bridge was already up!

You can see the front of an empty barge with all of the covers shoved to the front. I turned right on Joliet Street to try to catch the action at the next bridge.

 One advantage of going on Sunday is that the "Valid Permit Only" River Wall Parking lot was empty. (Looking back at the bridge we just saw going back down. Now I understand why there are "Do Not Feed the Birds" signs posted.)

A video of the Bridge Street Bridge cycling open and closed for the 1-barge tow.

Some towns have a flood wall. Joliet has a river wall because some parts of the downtown are always below water level! Because of the curve in the Des Plaines River, you can see the CSX+IAIS/Rock Island Bridge that is generally in the up position in the background.

Back at my van looking back north, you can see the little hill I was on when I took the video of the bridge. Also, you can see the eastern blue leaf of the Ruby Street Bridge just to the right of the green bridge. It was going back down, and I barely caught it in time.

I took this picture while waiting for the light on Richards Street to turn onto the eastbound I-80 ramp. It shows why there were quarries in Joliet. In some places the rock was at or near the surface. In fact, it is easy to find buildings in Joliet that are made with cut stone. (I was surprised that some of the courses of stones in the steeple are on an angle. The next time I go to Joliet, I need to get pictures of this building also.)

I was working on the next phase of my plan for the day to go east on I-80 to watch CN (IC+EJ&E) trains. But on the way I saw an old AT&T concrete microwave tower, so getting pictures of that took precedence. It was easy to park so I got out of the van to take this picture from 198th Street.

When I parked at the north end of Central Park Ave, there was a horse to the east.

I walked along the grass to the west trying to find a gap in the tree line.

You can tell this property used to belong to Ma Bell because they had an old cable spool dumped by the fence.

I then drove to Governors Highway and back west on 194th Street to park at the gate because I knew the gate would create a gap in the treeline. The original horn antennas that would have been on this tower have been replaced by cellular antennas.

I walked south along the fence line and this is the best gap I found in the trees. Unfortunately, it is also a demonstration of the object being underexposed because of backlighting.

Fortunately, my last shot, on the sidewalk along Culloden Street near Dunfries Street is a "money shot." I put "money shot" in quotes because all of my photos in all of my blogs are free to copy as long as you acknowledge "Dennis DeBruler".