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Post by bobdavis on Jun 1, 2012 17:13:37 GMT -8
If the Colorado Blvd. bridge abutments are anything like the structures that supported the PE bridge over Foothill Blvd. (Historic Rte. 66) east of Upland, they are about as hard as granite and will require a lot of effort to remove. Concrete that's had over half a century to "cure" can be a royal pain to break up. (and using explosives in a residential area like Arcadia is probably not an option)
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Post by bobdavis on Sept 20, 2012 22:50:40 GMT -8
A note from last weeks GLFE board meeting: Future board meetings will be held at the GLFE headquarters at 406 E. Huntington Dr. in Monrovia. They will still start at 7 pm on 2nd and/or 4th Wednesdays of the month, unless otherwise noted. With increasing interest in Phase 2B from Glendora to Montclair, they decided to move the site further east for easier access from that area.
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Post by bobdavis on Sept 28, 2012 20:47:37 GMT -8
GLFE update: More rails have been removed and stacked, nothing left but either open right of way or empty ties west of Mountain Ave. on the Monrovia-Duarte boundary. The segment of Duarte Rd. on the north side of the right-of-way between California and Shamrock has been closed, and as I recall, this will be a permanent closure to allow construction of the Operations and Maintenance facility. Some building demolition has begun and hazmat abatement is in progress. Note that the northside Duarte Rd. segment used to be my back way into Home Depot, but I don't mind losing it to a good cause. Also, the US Army Corps of Engineers has signed off on plans for the double-track bridge over the San Gabriel River.
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Post by bobdavis on Oct 19, 2012 20:56:21 GMT -8
Several buildings on the O&M site have been reduced to rubble and scrap metal. The blocked off south end of Shamrock will be transformed into the eastern access track into the yard.
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Post by bobdavis on Oct 24, 2012 23:59:54 GMT -8
Site clearance at the Monrovia O&M location continues. A parade of trucks was seen carrying the rubble away today. There's also been some work at Azusa, with the old Santa Fe siding being removed.
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Post by carter on Oct 25, 2012 11:17:30 GMT -8
Thanks for the updates, Bob!
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Post by bobdavis on Nov 2, 2012 14:43:05 GMT -8
Great news! The first new rail has been delivered, and is being stacked east of Highland Ave. Two carloads of concrete ties were waiting for unloading yesterday, and one of the trainwatchers east of Azusa reported more material coming in on the BNSF job that brings ingredients to the Miller-Coors brewery. This may be for the relocation and rebuilding of the BNSF line, but it's part of the job, and we can expect much more activity in the next few months.
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Post by bzcat on Nov 2, 2012 15:47:34 GMT -8
We should have a poll/contest to see which line will be completed first, start testing, and enter revenue service:
Expo 2 or Foothill extension
Both are supposed to be completed in early 2015
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outthere15
New Member
Take back the rails
Posts: 33
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Post by outthere15 on Nov 3, 2012 7:45:16 GMT -8
We should have a poll/contest to see which line will be completed first, start testing, and enter revenue service: Expo 2 or Foothill extension Both are supposed to be completed in early 2015 More NIMBYs on the West side to slow progress but EXPO2 is presently going very well so it will be a toss up. Mark
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Post by hooligan on Nov 5, 2012 9:54:15 GMT -8
Just got word that my company is closing their manufacturing facility in LA. I am being transferred to our logistics facility in Irwindale turns out ill be down the street from the irwindale station starting June 2013. So ill be taking pictures of the construction when i've relocated.
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Post by bobdavis on Nov 5, 2012 19:22:20 GMT -8
By mid-2013 there should be a lot of activity on the Gold Line Foothill project. Get your "sidewalk superintendent" hard hat and safety vest ready--we expect frequent dispatches from the field.
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Post by bobdavis on Nov 15, 2012 19:20:30 GMT -8
Clearing the land for the O&M facility is just about finished. Before the year is out, preliminary grading should be in progress. Not sure whether this is the final choice, but at the GLFE board meeting last night, they were referring to the O&M area as the "Gold Line Operations Center" or "GLOC". Perhaps a somewhat less aggressive acronym will be adopted later. (for those who are not into firearms, "Glock" is a well known maker of handguns)
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Post by bobdavis on Nov 19, 2012 18:35:54 GMT -8
Some of my colleagues on the Trainorders.com website posted photos of a test train (two BNSF GP-60M units) testing the signal system in Azusa. What they're presently working on will be for the freight line to Miller Coors, but some of the apparatus will probably be incorporated into the electric railway. The trucks in the photos appeared to be from Massachusetts Electric, which did a lot of the signal installations on the Metrolink San Bernardino Line.
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Post by Gokhan on Nov 19, 2012 20:47:54 GMT -8
Some of my colleagues on the Trainorders.com website posted photos of a test train (two BNSF GP-60M units) testing the signal system in Azusa. What they're presently working on will be for the freight line to Miller Coors, but some of the apparatus will probably be incorporated into the electric railway. The trucks in the photos appeared to be from Massachusetts Electric, which did a lot of the signal installations on the Metrolink San Bernardino Line. Will there be a third, freight track east of Miller? They did abandon the BNSF subdivision completely for the Crenshaw Line. Initially they wanted to keep the freight tracks, which could also have been used for future Metrolink.
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Post by bobdavis on Nov 20, 2012 21:46:05 GMT -8
Yes, a third track for freight service to the brewery will be maintained. It will be on the south side of the electric railway tracks in Phase I. When the Gold Line is extended beyond Azusa-Citrus, there will be a flyover at Lone Hill Ave. East of San Dimas there are still freight customers on the north side of the tracks. I pointed out to the GLFE staff that Miller-Coors could be served from the ex-Pacific Electric "Rivas Cutoff" line that goes to Azusa, but apparently BNSF didn't want to lose the beer-ingredients business.
Regarding using freight tracks for Metrolink--in some cases existing track can be upgraded, but, to use the ML San Bernardino Line as an example, the former PE track between Baldwin Park and Claremont was totally unusable for anything other than a daily local "road switcher" job. It was a case of build a brand new railroad from the subgrade up.
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Post by Elson on Nov 20, 2012 23:57:50 GMT -8
They did abandon the BNSF subdivision completely for the Crenshaw Line. Initially they wanted to keep the freight tracks, which could also have been used for future Metrolink. At the risk of veering slightly off-topic, the BNSF Harbor Sub was functionally obsolete once the Alameda Corridor opened, and there were hardly any mid-corridor industries on the Harbor Sub to justify service. As for the Crenshaw Line's usage, the ROW is wide enough in most places to accommodate both LRT and standard railroad tracks, so a Metrolink line isn't totally out of the question.
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Post by Philip on Nov 21, 2012 9:11:41 GMT -8
Some of my colleagues on the Trainorders.com website posted photos of a test train (two BNSF GP-60M units) testing the signal system in Azusa. What they're presently working on will be for the freight line to Miller Coors, but some of the apparatus will probably be incorporated into the electric railway. The trucks in the photos appeared to be from Massachusetts Electric, which did a lot of the signal installations on the Metrolink San Bernardino Line. Will there be a third, freight track east of Miller? They did abandon the BNSF subdivision completely for the Crenshaw Line. Initially they wanted to keep the freight tracks, which could also have been used for future Metrolink. Does this mean future Metrolink service along the Harbor Subdivision is no longer possible?
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Post by jdrcrasher on Nov 21, 2012 16:43:04 GMT -8
^ All we need is one damn track, with sidings in only a few places. Give us that, and Metrolink to LAX is still possible.
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Post by rubbertoe on Nov 29, 2012 7:16:30 GMT -8
I saw on the website that they plan on starting construction of the new bridge over the San Gabriel river on December 3rd. So over the Holiday weekend I took a hike up the bike trail to the old bridge since it isn't easily visible from the freeway, despite being right next to it. Heres a few pics I took, followed by the birds eye view: This has me wondering if they plan on reusing the same concrete piers, or whether they will build new ones. Anybody know? Looking more closely at the photos, I would hazard a guess that they need new ones. Each concrete pier has two large steel plates that support the metal bridge. The spacing of those is only wide enough to support a single track bridge. The pier structure immediately adjacent to the steel plate (upstream side) does extend further but slants upward. Also, there isn't a lot of room from the river bed to the bridge bottom, maybe 8-10 feet. My guess is that because the wash under the bridge there is about 700' or so wide, the worst case rain wouldn't create a flow that ever gets to the bottom of the bridge. I'll try and get back up there periodically during the construction. We should know pretty soon if they will be demolishing the piers or not. RT
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Post by bobdavis on Nov 29, 2012 19:29:07 GMT -8
I think the piers will be removed--as I recall, they aren't up to modern seismic codes. Right now the bridge is being used to move rails and ties to a "laydown yard" just east of Highland Ave. in Duarte. Loaded cars are brought to Irwindale by the BNSF "Pasadena Turn" and then taken across the river with a Pettibone Speed Swing (large yellow construction machine) providing the motive power.
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Post by bobdavis on Dec 4, 2012 19:17:25 GMT -8
There is now a huge stock of ties and rails in the Duarte laydown yard, I suspect the bridge will not be removed until all the materials are unloaded, although I think they are nearly done. In Monrovia, the land clearance for the Operations Center is nearly complete, and a crew was setting steel pilings in drilled holes on the north side of the property today. The last Edison overhead lines on the property are gone, and on the south side, an SCE crew is busy relocating a 16 kV line to the south side of the right of way. As Mr. Balian would say, "The journey continues" and it's picking up speed!
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Post by bobdavis on Dec 8, 2012 19:54:35 GMT -8
Spotted four or five carloads of concrete ties and a carload of rail near Miller-Coors today. I plan to ask at the GLFE Board meeting on Wednesday when the SG River bridge will finally go away.
And, Rubbertoe, thanks for the photos of the soon-to-be-history bridge. I've gone over it many times on both Amtrak and Santa Fe trains, but have never seen it from that angle.
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Post by bobdavis on Dec 13, 2012 18:20:18 GMT -8
There's now a huge stock of concrete ties and rails at the "laydown" area east of Highland in Duarte (between the tracks and the north side of Santa Fe Dam), along with some crates that may be full of track hardware. Apparently the plan has been to get all the rail materials on the west side of the San Gabriel River before the old Santa Fe bridge goes away next year.
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Post by bobdavis on Dec 13, 2012 18:24:03 GMT -8
1) The vast stockpile of ties in Duarte.
2) Installing "soldier piles" on the north side of the Operations Campus in Monrovia.
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Post by bobdavis on Dec 13, 2012 18:26:56 GMT -8
OK, here's the stockpile of ties, presumably for the section from Duarte to East Pasadena.
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 13, 2012 18:31:50 GMT -8
I believe they are for the freight line, from what Alan K. Weeks mentioned to me.
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 13, 2012 22:40:43 GMT -8
I believe they are for the freight line, from what Alan K. Weeks mentioned to me. I just verified from his e-mail that the rail and ties are for the relocation of the freight track to the south of the right-of-way. They are not for the light-rail line. Expo Phase 2 seems far ahead -- perhaps about a year -- of the Foothill Line, for which not much has happened so far, except for the iconic bridge. But then Expo's iconic bridge (over Venice Blvd) is far from starting anytime soon.
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Post by RMoses on Dec 14, 2012 12:21:56 GMT -8
I believe they are for the freight line, from what Alan K. Weeks mentioned to me. I just verified from his e-mail that the rail and ties are for the relocation of the freight track to the south of the right-of-way. They are not for the light-rail line. Expo Phase 2 seems far ahead -- perhaps about a year -- of the Foothill Line, for which not much has happened so far, except for the iconic bridge. But then Expo's iconic bridge (over Venice Blvd) is far from starting anytime soon. Is the Venice bridge going to have some special aesthetic design? I was not aware.
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 14, 2012 12:52:38 GMT -8
I just verified from his e-mail that the rail and ties are for the relocation of the freight track to the south of the right-of-way. They are not for the light-rail line. Expo Phase 2 seems far ahead -- perhaps about a year -- of the Foothill Line, for which not much has happened so far, except for the iconic bridge. But then Expo's iconic bridge (over Venice Blvd) is far from starting anytime soon. Is the Venice bridge going to have some special aesthetic design? I was not aware. Probably only an arch -- and blissfully no baskets. It's quite analogous to the I-210 bridge because that's where Phase 1 ends and Phase 2 starts in both projects (even though in the case of Foothill it ends a little before).
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Post by joshuanickel on Dec 14, 2012 12:52:57 GMT -8
I just verified from his e-mail that the rail and ties are for the relocation of the freight track to the south of the right-of-way. They are not for the light-rail line. Expo Phase 2 seems far ahead -- perhaps about a year -- of the Foothill Line, for which not much has happened so far, except for the iconic bridge. But then Expo's iconic bridge (over Venice Blvd) is far from starting anytime soon. Is the Venice bridge going to have some special aesthetic design? I was not aware. The Venice Bridge is not really iconic in that way. It is more the way the contract was bid out. The Expo Authority, in order to keep the project on schedule, decided to bid out the Venice Bridge ahead of the rest of the project to a different contractor similar to the way the gold line authority is doing. The problem is, like we saw with the gold line bridge and are now seeing along the expo 2 row, Skanska is a lot better at getting jobs done than Balfour Beauty who is doing the Venice Bridge. While other bridges along expo are moving along with foundations poured and false work ready to install, they are still stuck doing utility relocation at Venice due to late Caltrans approvals. You don't see any drills working at Venice.
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