Was 1904 CSX+CP+Amtrak/PM Bridge over St. Joseph River in Benton Harbor, MI

The content of these notes were moved to notes that I wrote while Google's search function for authors was broken.

CB&Q Union Avenue Tower and Wash Rack

(Satellite)

Marty Bernard posted seven photos with extensive documentation. And he posted a photo looking East out of the tower.

Steven J. Brown posted
Burlington Northern E9m 9904 at Union Avenue Tower in Chicago - March 29, 1988.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Mark Hinsdale posted
Before "MH" Tower...
Nearly forty years ago, Burlington Northern's Union Avenue Tower in Chicago, controlled the busy interlocking plant blending traffic from the "Racetrack," the St. Charles Air Line, and the wyes to/from the ex Pennsylvania Railroad main line leading toward either Union Station or 21st Street. Today, this area is controlled from the BNSF Dispatching Center in Fort Worth TX, and the tower is long gone. July, 1977 photo by Mark Hinsdale.

Timothy Leppert With this E and train size westbound, the engine is wide open here just off the canal street 25 mph and will stay wide open to 70. We named the Dispatcher now controlling this "Union Avenue Dispatcher".
David Viglielmo Timothy Leppert This is the tower my grandfather always hid us from in the engine while heading to the car wash.

Joel J. Sieracki What are the small lights above the windshields?
Timothy Leppert These were a test. I'll dig out the paperwork. There were a lot of tests during the time the E's were in service. We tried many HEP designs after removing the steam generator. The loco's started with 24rl Straight Air and ended up with New York AB PS68 - probably the best Air for commuter service. Their On Time performance at retirement is hard to duplicate with today's operation.
Keith Wagner They were red EOT lights for when pushing
Tom Skowronski No, they were white strobes for visibility purposes. They did not last long. I did see them in use. The only "protection" in push mode was red class lights and later the red marker they put under the headlight.

Mark Hinsdale shared

Marty Bernard shared
Bill Edrington Great shot. What were the odds of getting not only the BN dinky but also a Campbell’s 66 Express “Humpin’ to Please” trailer, with “Snortin’ Norton” the camel on the side, heading south on the Dan Ryan?
Ron Hull In the late 60’s/early 70’s Penn-Central had trains symboled NYQ/QNY that ran between Selkirk NY and Cicero IL. Back then, work rules mandated that a road crew could only bring a train to it’s “home rails” destination yard, so with NYQ the Elkhart road crew would bring the train as far as the main line at Englewood yard, then they’d get off of the head end and an Englewood yard crew would then take the train down the main to the wye at 16th St., then over the St. Charles Air Line to access the Burlington (to us it was “The Q”). As NYQ typically got into Englewood sometime after 9:00pm an effort was made to get it past the pictured tower, Union Avenue by 11:59pm in order to “save the per diem’, the charges the PC paid to the Burlington for having their cars on PC rails. I often wondered if management appreciated our efforts or was even aware that we tried to save our pathetic employer a few bucks.

Satellite

I believe you can still see a couple of corners of the foundation. Especially the southeast corner. I highlighted the remnants with red rectangles.

Update: Lou Gerard posted a 1990 photo of the tower and an Amtrak train on the south leg of the wye to reverse its direction into Union station.
A comment from that posting:
Harold J. Krewer Pretty sure the tower was closed about the time when they moved the Galesburg dispatching office to Fort Worth, which was early 1994.

Steven Holding posted two photos with the comment: "Union Ave Tower on CB&Q/BN 1973 posted there."

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Gary Hosek posted
Westbound passenger train - Halsted Street Station - Chicago - May 1948 - Russell Lee photograph.
Marty Bernard You can see the Union Avenue home signals at the end of the platforms and rectangular Union Avenue Tower just to the right of the signals. The Dan Ryan would be elevated just beyond Union Ave, Tower if it were there. The St. Charles Air Line can be seen taking off across all the tracks from Union Ave. Tower.

Gary Hosek posted
Harold J. Krewer A Phase I E5, possibly even the 9911A. Later units (9912A-B to 9915A-B) had a different style of anticlimber and coupler doors.
Timothy Leppert Near Halsted Street, Union Ave Tower.
Dennis DeBruler It appears the building on the left has been converted to an office building with a story added on top.https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
And, as usual, the fire protection water tower has been removed.
Dennis DeBruler The car wash facility is now between the coach yard and Union Station:
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Bob Lalich The branch to the lumber district is seen diverging to the right.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob Lalich's comment on Gary's post
So the photographer was facing East. I put a red rectangle around Union Avenue Tower.

Terrence Donahue posted four photos with the comment:

I took this photo in October 1985 of EMD E9 Unit #9904 (ex CB&Q 9977) getting a wash down at the rack near 16th and Morgan. Fifty years earlier, Zephyrs would go through the same apparatus to wash down after a long journey. This locomotive would be one of the few surviving E-Units, becoming Illinois Central #100.

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John W. Barriger III Flickr
Bob Lalich:  Looks to have been taken from Union Ave Tower.

Marc Mainekoff posted six photos with the comment: (also posted)

Back in the early 90's I got a phone call from a friend that worked for the BN about a business train on the racetrack on it's way into the city. Well after a quick trip down Lakeshore Drive to downtown and over to Union Ave. I got lucky as the train was waiting for a signal. BN 9920 leads the train into Union Station.

[You can see the shadow of the tower in his first three photos.]

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Marty Bernard commented on Marc's post
I played with one of your photos, I hope you don't mind. It still could use a little more work.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marc's post
Union Tower was just West of Union Avenue.
https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/.../0bwq08048.jpg

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marc's post
I saved a satellite image because who knows how long the overpass of the branch that used to go down next to Sangamon Street will remain.
https://www.google.com/.../@41.8595816,-87.../data=!3m1!1e3

Marty Bernard posted two images with the comment: "CB&Q Union Avenue Tower, Chicago, 1963."

Marty Bernard shared

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Union Avenue Tower was near the west corner of the wye south of Union Station. It had a pistol grip machine. The top center (north) of the Model Board (track diagram) are the connections to the CNW and St. Charles Air Line. At the close end (east) of the Board shown are the north and south legs of the wye. The north leg (turning up) goes to Union Station. The south leg was used mainly by intracity freight transfers to and from the Q's Clyde Yard in Cicero. The full wye was used to turn the Q's intercity trains. At the moment the picture was taken there were no trains in the plant (no lights on the board), a rare happening allowing me time to grab a shot. Also rare that all but one or two of the pistol grips are in the normal (as opposed to reverse) position. The picture was taken August 1, 1963 while I was a student towerman there. 

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Ignore point "C". It's the home of a railfan.

Marty Bernard posted views of B&O trains from this tower with the comment:

The Route Out of Grand Central Station, Chicago

Trains leaving Chicago's Grand Central Station ran south for a short distance then turned west just short of the St. Charles Air Line and crossed the South Branch of the Chicago River on a double-track lift bridge which has been in the up position, I assume, since soon after Grand Central Station closed in 1969. Then the tracks continued west crossing over the south end of the PRR Coach Yard (now Amtrak), the south leads from Union Station, and the south end of the CB&Q Coach Yard (now Metra/BNSF). The tracks dropped to ground level and continued west under the Dan Ryan Expressway, and past CB&Q's Union Avenue Tower.

The pictures below were taken from the Union Avenue Tower when I was a student leverman there and should be considered grab shots.

The tower was on the south side of the east/west CB&Q tracks at the beginning of the race track to the west. There also was a freight transfer track that went all the way to Clyde Yard. The track just north of the tower went east to the south leg of the wye and to the tracks coming south out of Union Station. The next two tracks to the north went east to the double-north leg of the wye and eventually to Union Station. The next tracks went east to the BNSF/Metra Coach Yard. The next tracks went east up the St. Charles Airline ramp. All these tracks and the track to the train washer were controlled by Union Avenue Tower. Then the were a few local tracks switched by the CNW connected to tracks to the west. Lastly the farthest north tracks were those from Grand Central Station. The trains in the photos are on these tracks. Union Avenue Tower is long gone.

Captions with photos.

Marty Bernard shared

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1. A B&O train from Grand Central heading west. The first car is under the Dan Ryan Expressway.

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2. A B&O light engine move.
John Clark: Thinking 1963 or early 1964, before the C&O put the "kabash" on the sunrise paint on the noses.
Marty Bernard: John Clark August 1963.
John Clark: Might add that E6A is looking pretty spiffy as well.

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3. A C&O Geep with a local freight move. Those are Empire Builder cars on the CB&Q tracks close to the tower.

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4. I have included this map to assist in understanding the the location of these pictures. The yellow line represents the tracks out of Grand Central Station. Union Avenue Tower is in the lower left.
Anthony Caci: A single track remained and it was in very occasional use into the early 1990s, as I recall. A string of flats or other cars would be parked there, and months later they'd be gone, and after some time another set of cars would be moved into place. CSX was no doubt exercising its right of ownership on the land that had sat unused since the station came down.

 

Marty Bernard posted

SOO Line SW12100 and Caboose on B&OCT
SOO 2126 was taken from CB&Q's Union Avenue Tower, Chicago on August 1, 1963.  The view is looking north and a little east. The bridges are the Dan Ryan Expressway. Union Avenue Tower was at the end of west legs of the wye south of Union Station.  The closer tracks belonged to the CB&Q and lead to the St. Charles Airline and Union Station. The tracks with weeds belonged to the CNW and the tracks further north belonged to the B&OCT and went to Grand Central Station. The CNW tracks dead ended there not going further east. The B&OCT and the CNW tracks no longer exist.
Marty Bernard shared

Jan Zweerts commented on a post
Photo taken from Union Tower looking west circa 1981.

Marty Bernard posted

Looking Out Union Avenue Tower's East Windows

Union Avenue Tower was at the west end of the wye south of Chicago Union Station. It was a CB&Q tower. This photo from August 1, 1963 is looking through the east windows of the Tower. We see the Dan Ryan Expressway above the tracks and Union Avenue below, going under the tracks. The rolling stock left to right is Train 123's Motor under the Dan Ryan, Train 133 heading west, Train 23's Motors (the Afternoon Zephyr) and GM&O Train 2 (the Abe Lincoln). "Motor" is what a diesel was called by the tower man and the dispatcher. Trains 123 and 133 were Dinkys. The Abe Lincoln is being turned on the Wye. Above Train 133 you can see the St. Charles Air Line taking off.

My guess "motor" was to distinguish diesels from steam. Union Avenue Tower is long gone. It was the start of the Q's Racetrack.

[Mark Hinsdale pointed out the freight house on the right side of this photo.]

Marty Bernard shared

Comments on Marty's share
Flickr link

ALE SK350 can lift at least 4000 tons, SGC-250 does 5000 tonnes

It can lift 4000t with a winch and 5000t with strand jacks. A comment pointed out that the mobile crane helping to place the counterweights would normally be considered a big crane. Each counterweight is a specially reinforced 40' container that is filled with locally available material such as sand or gravel. A filled container is 100t and 4000t of ballast material is needed. [brochure, p 21] The crane was designed as pieces that will fit in shipping containers. It can be assembled in four weeks using a 400t crawler crane. [brochure, p 17] The counterweight assembly is supported on tracks so that the ring can be replaced with a straight track and the whole crane moved on site in just a few days. [brochure, p 25]

Arthur Overdijk shared
AL.SH[SK] 350 (Collin Jones )
[A test lift]

ALE posted, cropped
ALE has used its innovative heavy duty jib for the first time with the AL.SK350 crane whilst performing the inaugural lift, weighing 1,276t, of an FPSO module integration project in Nigeria https://goo.gl/BZ3eKk.

Inaugural Lift
"The world’s largest capacity land based crane, the AL.SK350, has been rigged in its current biggest configuration with a 124m a-frame main boom, 49m ballast radius and the 38m jib for additional outreach, along with a heavy winch system and 4,000t ballast for the project in Lagos."

Inaugural Lift
Another of the six modules they are lifting into place during March and April, 2018.

The ALE SK350 crane was launched in 2013 with a lifting capacity of 5,000t and a load moment of 354,000tm. The AL.SK cranes are also available in AL.SK190 and AL.SK700 configurations, achieving capacities up to 4,300t and 8,000t respectively. Furthermore, the cranes can be equipped with a 3,400t capacity heavy duty jib. The jib is being used on an FPSO module integration project in Nigeria. [ale-heavylift]

More photos and videos of ALE and other big-lift cranes

CraneNetworkNews

SARENS LAUNCHES THE LARGEST CRANE IN THE WORLD: THE SGC-250

Cumberland Narrows Mountain Scene in 1970

(Satellite)

There is so much track in bridges in this scene it looks like something a model railroader would build.

Steve Larrick posted
Eckhart Junction in the Cumberland Narrows, 1970. The masonry arch bridge over Wills Creek was built by the Maryland Mining Company in 1860 as part of the Eckhart Branch Railroad. Beyond the masonry bridge is a viaduct for the State Line Branch
Dennis DeBruler I assume this is now the CSX/B&O on the left and the Great Allegheny Passage Trail/Western Maryland on the right. We are facing generally East. The WM truss bridge still exists:

Street View

Goethals Bridges over Arthur Kill at Staten Island NY, NY

The satellite image still has just the old bridge. So I have captured a "before" image. I'll have to check back in a couple of years to get an "after" image.
We seem to have lost another truss bridge to two cable stay bridges.
1928: (Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, HAER; Dave Frieder Photos)
2017+2018: (no Bridge Hunter)

(Update: RoadTraffic-Technology article   The 1,983' main span of the new bridge has a clearance of 138'.)

3D Satellite

Photo from HAER NY,43-___,2--1 from ny1806
[Note the long approaches to get the needed 140' shipping clearance are significant bridge structures in themselves. Actually, the clearance mid-span is 138.5' minimum @ MHW. [panynj-facts] I assume MHW is Mean High Water.]

I can't believe it, the Port Authority of NY & NJ has restricted access to their rendered image. This is the first time I have seen an organization that is trying to sell a bridge project not allow their renderings of that project to be copied. Fortunately, very few people read these notes. So I doubt if anyone who cares will see this copy. Note that the cables help hold up part of the long approaches that such a high-clearance bridge needs.

Port Authority of NY & NJ from panynj-gallery

Construction began in 2014. A gallery of 18 images of the building of the new bridge.

Aug 2017 Street View

Alexjandro Cruz, Feb 2020

Webcam Mar 13, 2018

Traffic was switched from the old truss to the first cable stay bridge during the weekend of June 10, 2017. The first photo in New Goethals Bridge opens shows the second cable stay bridge is well underway. So they did not have to get rid of the old one to make room for the second cablestay bridge.

As one would expect with a cantilevered truss, the suspended span was lowered to a barge.

Webcam Jan 15, 2018
[You can see the installation of the hydraulic jacks at both ends of the suspended span.]

Webcam  Jan 16, 2018
[The span has been lowered.]

Photos from the perspective of crane workers and/or fans.

Ryan Spirito posted
12000 and mlc300 top view
Rob McGrady I would love to take an aerial shot from the helicopter just to show how many cranes we have in that small area lol
[A comment observed how the shot shows how long the tracks are on the 12000 that is straight down.]

Keith Eller posted three photos.
Tito Arevalo The Goethals Bridge

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Ben StalveyGroup Admin MLC 300 in series #?

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Ryan Spirito posted
Last two pieces of the gothels bridge of main span mlc 300

Jeff Boyce commented on Ryan's posting

RoadBridges
"Because the site is just a few miles from Newark Liberty International Airport, maximum tower height was 272 ft, which drove unusually shallow cable angles. A unique anchor box shaped like a saddle allowed the cables to be stacked more tightly than a traditional anchor box, increasing the stay angles. It also allowed for the anchor boxes to be placed on the outside facing the towers, which allowed Parsons to keep the profiles for the towers slender.
'None of the steel fabricators would even bid on it until we printed a 3-D model,' Seth Condell, design manager for Parsons, told Roads & Bridges."

Screenshot of timelapse @ 1:40
After a four-year construction process, the new Goethals Bridge linking New York and New Jersey is officially open. The new $1.5 billion twin-span cable-stayed bridge replaces the original bridge built in 1928. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and design-build team Kiewit-Weeks-Massman, AJV relied on EarthCam’s panoramic cameras and portable Mobile TrailerCam solution to document the complex process, which can been seen with EarthCam’s new 4K construction time-lapse movie.

safe_image for New Goethals Bridge Set to Open to Traffic on Monday [posted May 21, 2018]

Both spans of the new Goethals Bridge that connects Elizabeth, NJ, and Staten Island, NY, are now open. Late Sunday evening, the westbound bridge opened to traffic. The eastbound bridge has been in service since June 2017.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said: “The completion and opening of the second span of the Goethals Bridge project represents one of the most important infrastructure enhancements undertaken in the New Jersey-New York metro region in more than eight decades.”

Congratulations to our project team and joint venture partners for their hard work on this project.

[The towers were dirty before the bridge was done being built?]

safe_image for Goethals Bridge: ENR New York's Project of the Year [paycount]
Our Goethals Bridge Replacement project was named ENR New York's Project of the Year. Congratulations to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the entire project team.
[The article describes how they handled the tower height limit of 272' and the requirement that they slant outwards. The design anticipates adding a mass transit lane in the middle between the two spans.]

Massman's project web page contains five photos with the comment:

This project for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is part of a 40-year, $1.5 billion design-build-finance-operate-maintain contract. The joint venture will design and build the project and turn it over to the developers in early 2018 for them to operate and maintain the structures for the remaining 40 year term. The existing bridge, which was built in 1928, was the Port Authority’s first bi-state project and is named after Major General George Goethals; a builder of the Panama Canal and first consulting engineer for the Port. The new 1.4 mile long twin structures, with their 950-foot long main spans over the Arthur Kill tidal strait, will carry three lanes of traffic each way between Staten Island, New York and the City of Elizabeth, New Jersey. This project will provide pedestrian and bicycle access for a safe, scenic passageway as well as contain state-of-the-art smart bridge technology for improved incident response times. The twin structures are also designed to allow for future mass-transit lanes between the bridges when needed in the future.

Project Awards:

2018 Engineering News Record (ENR) New York's Best Project Award - Highway and Bridges & Excellence in Safety

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LC-DIG-highsm- 45371
Credit line: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Carol M. Highsmith's photographs are in the public domain.

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