Russ,
I can?t argue the merits of one capital improvement over another, I was
simply offering an idea ? just brainstorming.
With the trouble the BNSF is having with the City of Burlington after
closing the shops, plus the fact that the two sharpest curves on the Chi ?
Den mainline are in downtown Burlington it?s an interesting idea. Not a new
one ? the BN investigated relocating the mainline and bridge to the north of
Burlington a few years back.
>From the ex-CB&Q, take the Chi-Den mainline south, either along the west or
east edge of the IAAP property and then follow the Skunk river valley to
cross the Mississippi and connect with the ex-ATSF transcon at Lomax. This
would require approximately 35 miles of new mainline and the new bridge.
Another option, albeit more expensive, would be to take the mainline and
follow the Skunk river valley all the way from west of Mt. Pleasant.
>From the ex-AT&SF, take the transcon main up the K-line at Ft. Madison
through the Green Bay bottoms to meet up with the new bridge. If necessary,
add a third track from Cameron just west of the new bridge for the
additional traffic.
Doing any of these would completely bypass the bottlenecks at Burlington. It
would allow the abandonment of the two century-old bridges, 50+ miles of the
ex-Q between West Burlington and Cameron (is there that much traffic
generated along this line?) and about 20 miles of ex-AT&SF between Ft.
Madison & Lomax.
Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Russell
Strodtz
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 9:44 AM
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Burlington, Iowa, new bridge
Dave,
Certainly a surprising idea. How would any train get to this
new bridge? While it may be possible to envision a three
or four track CTC main from Cameron to the new bridge on
the Illinois side I can't really see any way to connect this thing
up on the Iowa side.
BNSF Management has been saying for years that the Railroad's
return on invested capital is not high enough to engage in major
capital improvements. Should considers ourselves lucky that we
are getting so much double track in South Central Kansas and
Oklahoma.
>From an operational standpoint these two bridges are a very minor
bump in the road.
Based on personal experience there would be much more "bang for
the buck" with double track between Vaughn and Carnero and
between Scholle and Sais. These projects are in the works. In the
case of bridges I would think that a double track bridge at Ft Sumner
would be a good place to start on in bridge replacement.
Russ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Lotz" <dave_lotz@charter.net>
To: <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 26 April, 2005 09:19
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Burlington, Iowa, new bridge
>
> Last I heard the project was on hold due to lack of government funding. I
> still think they should build a new bridge half-way between Burlington and
> Ft. Madison and eliminate both of the old bridges.
>
> Dave Lotz
> St. Louis
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