MoW: Prebuilt Replacement Diamonds

While researching other topics, I noticed in some satellite images that some railroad crossings have new diamonds setting next to them. Since satellite images change, I needed to capture them in a post.

In the Chicago area, many diamonds are heavily used by both routes, so the use of an OWLS diamond to reduce wear is not an option. I have read that some diamonds need to be replaced every couple of years. They are now prebuilt to minimize the downtime needed to replace a diamond because no trains are traveling on either railroad while the diamond is being replaced. Cranes are used to lift the new diamond into place.

Satellite

I noticed a prebuilt diamond at the Blue Island Crossing. The more vertical route through the crossing is CN/Grand Trunk Western whereas the more NW/SE route is the joint IHB/B&OCT. The diamond is unusually large because of the very acute angle of the crossing.

Satellite

I had first noticed a prebuilt replacement at the McCook Crossing of the BNSF/SanteFe (SW/NE) and the IHB (NW/SE). It looks like they also need to clean the ballast on the northeast side of this crossing.

They will probably rent enough cranes, etc. so that they can replace both diamonds at the same time to reduce the outage on the IHB. Since it looks like IHB is driving this maintenance effort, I looked at the other crossings involving track operated by the IHB. (In Indiana, IHB operates track that is owned by others.) I could not find any more examples of prebuilt diamonds ready to be inserted as replacements.

Satellite

I spent some time analyzing CP 447 where the IHB crosses the 3-track mainline of the Norfolk Southern. The NS tracks are heavily used. Some Amtrak trains have taken 5 hours to get from Elkhart, IN, to Union Station because of NS congestion. I noticed that there appears to be a "blob" wherever an IHB rail crosses a NS rail. Since every IHB train I have seen is slow and Amtrak would like to be fast, I wonder if these are OWLS diamonds.


Update: until I get my act together and write a post about installing prebuilt crossovers, I'm going to park this photo of installing a turnout here.

Joe Dockrill shared
Joe Dockrill never seen a concrete switch, we transition to wood.
Gary Felters posted
Number 20 concrete in Nebraska
Gary Felters Actually 11 excavators picking up right around 285000#s.