I didn't really have much going on today, so I spent a good chunk of the day in Oakland taking pictures of the track condition, and various other related stuff (plus the Madison Job and an eastbound). The fact that there aren't more derailments on the Madison Branch never fails to amaze me, considering the downright deplorable condition of the track and right of way (seriously, there are sections where the rails aren't even spiked to the ties at all).
Track between the Oak Street and Pleasant Street crossings, looking east. That's the mainline in the foreground, and the Madison Branch in the back. The Madison Branch at this point is literally embedded in a mud and gravel mixture, and when a train goes over it, the weight of the train forces the muck out from between the ties like play-doh.
The old turntable pit east of Pleasant Street, across from One Steel. There used to be a bunch of old bumping posts in the middle of it, but those disappeared about a year or so ago.
85 LB rail from 1906 on the Madison Branch. All of the rail appears to be 85 LBs, and from the early 20th century (1906-1918 were the dates I saw).
MEC #1163 behind the RSU 18 bus garage. It has been sitting there since at least 2005-2006, and
from the looks of it, it probably won't be moved any time soon (there's also a large pile of dirt just out of sight sitting on the tracks).
Barely legible reporting marks,
MEC Pine Tree logo, and
owner information.
Moving on,
here's another view of the Madison Branch, behind One Steel's junkyard. Note the arrow straight track, and stunning tie quality. Also, note the switch a little ways up the track.
Here are the tracks leading from that switch. Ironically, the rail on these stub tracks is
100 LB rail from 1923. On one of the stubs tracks is a
derail, with patent information, and model number on it.
Heading west now, I took a picture of the
date on the CWR of the mainline (112 LB, 1941). Note that this is only for the CWR east of Pleasant Street. A bit west is the
spur for One Steel, which doesn't appear to be served by Pan Am anymore.
Here's another view of the track between Oak Street and Pleasant Street, this time with Madison Branch in the foreground, looking west.
I don't believe anyone has posted any pictures of the rebuilt crossing on Oak Street, so
this should give everyone an idea of how it looks. During the rebuild, they removed the east switch at MP 119, as seen
here. This switch was notorious for being unreliable, and I had seen more than one occasion where a car picked the switch, and derailed.
Continuing west,
the run-around for the Madison Branch at Oakland. Again, I'm astounded there aren't more derailments here. While I'm on the topic of derailments at this switch,
you can tell where cars have been dragged over the ties here (apparently this switch isn't all that reliable either). The fact that the switchstand, and the points for the switch are sitting in a good three or four inches of water probably doesn't help.
This run-around also happens to be
composed of 85 LB rail from
1905. Note that the ties are in relatively decent condition, probably a testament to the number of cars that have destroyed the previous ties. The ties in the background appear to be a mix of replaced ties, and the old ties from the fourth track that used to be here.
In comparison, the mainline is in relatively decent condition,
with a decent bed of ballast, and more 112 LB CWR, albeit a bit older than other CWR (
circa 1934).
Now for some of "artifacts" around the area,
what appears to be a base for a signal (there's another one like it about a mile east at MP 118).
Here's one of many discarded brakeshoes in the area,
old tell-tales (and bridge abutments from the old bridge, with cut stone on one side, and concrete on the other),
with a date of 1918 on the concrete one). Astonishingly, they are completely graffiti-free, which is amazing, since they are both visible, and easily accessible. And finally,
one of the more unusual artifacts I stumbled upon (and completely by accident, too). I had to relieve myself, and after doing so, happened to look over, and saw it lying on the ground, and the base covered in leaves. So I cleared the base off, and set the pole back into the base to get a picture of it (I then removed it again, and set it back the way it was). Behind it you can see one of the few remaining telegraph poles in the area.
Finally, the trains themselves. At 11:00 sharp, the
Madison Job came through, with one of the few Phase 1 Guilford painted GP40s.
Here it is again, running around the train to lead it up to Madison (the boxcars are on the Madison Branch, and it's running around on the third track). I was half expecting it to derail as it went over spots in the track like
this, and amusing enough, the conducter was also keeping his distance, standing as far away from it as he could when it went by.
Anyway, they were just getting ready to leave Oakland about forty minutes later when I heard an eastbound blowing its horn for one of the camp roads to the west. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the BN green leasers in the
lashup (608/7014/3109/307), and with that, I called it a day.
