Busjack Posted March 9, 2017 Report Share Posted March 9, 2017 Somebody purporting to be ChicagosMayor just Tweeted on this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 10, 2017 Report Share Posted March 10, 2017 7 hours ago, Busjack said: Somebody purporting to be ChicagosMayor just Tweeted on this: Yeah I read about it on the DNAInfo site. CTA's project page states that the next phase will consist of demolition and reconstruction of Track 4, which we all new. But it looks like they tweaked the info to state that construction of the NB platform will indeed be done mainly during Phase 4 though BH's pics showed they a bit of a head start in the late parts of Phase 3. So from that it can be seen that the track assignments therefore will be SB Red and Purple Line trains continuing to share track 1 and stopping at the station (Purple during AM rush only), NB Red continuing to use Track 2 and stopping at the opposite side the west platform, and NB Purple being moved to track 3 but not stopping at the station since the permanent NB platform isn't due to be used until the end of Phase 4 at the latest based on updated construction details. Also continued construction of the main station house and the permanent main access points are to be done in this next phase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2017 I took a flyby on the 7th, but haven't had a chance to upload it yet, but they had taken down the walls north of the wilson station on track 3. I was trippin' as they continue to work on the small section of platform they have putting up the metal that will hold the station signs and carry the electrical infrastructure. I wonder if they intend to complete that first. I saw something while I was up there, track 4 if you look at it, it goes west towards the structure beyond this completed platform as it goes next to track 3 because the old station did not go that far south. I think the problem is they can't extend the platform without removing track 4 as it looks to make it unstable if they did build it. So that answers my question of why the two to four car section was built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2017 Here is the flyby of CTA Wilson red line on March 7th. https://youtu.be/p7NDdrY9Las Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2017 Here is a flyby I took yesterday of the new track 3 opening and track 4 closing. They have already began the demolition of track 4. Although I would have liked to take a closer flyby nb on track 3, it was snowing heavily at the time and I figured we wouldn't see it. They had whiteout conditions on the lakeshore when I was traveling nb, visibility was about 1/2 block at times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgNlgRsMwlY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted March 15, 2017 Report Share Posted March 15, 2017 8 minutes ago, BusHunter said: Here is a flyby I took yesterday of the new track 3 opening and track 4 closing. They have already began the demolition of track 4. Although I would have liked to take a closer flyby nb on track 3, it was snowing heavily at the time and I figured we wouldn't see it. They had whiteout conditions on the lakeshore when I was traveling nb, visibility was about 1/2 block at times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgNlgRsMwlY Looks like you were going SB, and it doesn't appear that your train stopped at Wilson. More substantively, I wonder how the crossover behind Target now works and how Purple Line train behind Target (at 1:50--obvious in full screen) proceeded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2017 6 minutes ago, Busjack said: Looks like you were going SB, and it doesn't appear that your train stopped at Wilson. More substantively, I wonder how the crossover behind Target now works and how Purple Line train behind Target (at 1:50--obvious in full screen) proceeded. If you look at the track configuration track 4 south of target has no crossover at the crossover connection. They ran a straight curved track right into track 3. The Purple line nb now uses track 3. I was on a Purple line sb in the PM rush so it doesn't stop at Wilson in the PM. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted March 15, 2017 Report Share Posted March 15, 2017 2 minutes ago, BusHunter said: If you look at the track configuration track 4 south of target has no crossover at the crossover connection. They ran a straight curved track right into track 3. The Purple line nb now uses track 3. I was on the a Purple line sb in the PM rush so it doesn't stop at Wilson in the PM. I can sort of see that in that Track 4 breaks off (at about 1:43) instead of connecting to where the Purple Line train is. However, the trackwork slightly north of there (at about 1:39) seems a mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2017 Track 2 or it might have been track 3 had a construction backhoe on it at Montrose so the question is, what are the Red lines doing? Cause either the south or north is detouring, but probably they are just crossing over at Waveland crossover to the outside track, but then again if it was track 3 how does the Red line get from track 4 to track 2? So that would seem to negate track 3 as having the backhoe on it. Track 2 they could close because Sheridan serves all four tracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 16, 2017 Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 6 hours ago, BusHunter said: Track 2 or it might have been track 3 had a construction backhoe on it at Montrose so the question is, what are the Red lines doing? Cause either the south or north is detouring, but probably they are just crossing over at Waveland crossover to the outside track, but then again if it was track 3 how does the Red line get from track 4 to track 2? So that would seem to negate track 3 as having the backhoe on it. Track 2 they could close because Sheridan serves all four tracks. Well from what I was able to see passing underneath the structure while on a NB #36 Broadway bus this morning, Red Line trains are still on Tracks 1 and 2. So you more likely saw the backhoe on Track 3 when you were passing Montrose as Montrose has been about where NB Red has been switching over from Track 3 to Track 2 on the approach to Wilson Station. And yes I saw how CTA has quickly already pull out the rails and a number of the ties from Track 4. It looked like the rails and ties were completely gone along at least the length of the station and nothing but the ties left on the sections above and between where Broadway and Leland pass underneath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted March 16, 2017 Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 2 hours ago, jajuan said: Red Line trains are still on Tracks 1 and 2 The video has a Howard train at the platform on Track 2 at 1:17, so that's where the Red Line still goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 16, 2017 Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 1 hour ago, Busjack said: The video has a Howard train at the platform on Track 2 at 1:17, so that's where the Red Line still goes. I know and I think that's what I said. I was speaking of the Red Line in both directions. SB is still on Track 1 and NB on Track 2. The big service change is what we expected to be the likely case, namely Purple Line Express NB trains being moved from Track 4 to Track 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2017 Ok i just uploaded this weeks Wilson update to Youtube. Now they have removed track 4 structure in places which shocked me considering this has only been minus the revenue trains for a week. Looks like they are trying to get the space to put in the rest of the platform but there is a gray shack (electrical substation??) they have to relocate that's on the old Wilson shops tracks. Looks like all the old Wilson station structure is gone now and they have just track 4 structure hanging out all by itself which looks weird. They probably will have to close Broadway when they remove that, probably this weekend. Interesting though to say the least. All these videos I'm shooting is making for an interesting timeline of construction, I'll have to go back one day and check them all out when I have more free time. Nice they'll be archived as long as youtube's around. https://youtu.be/nDh8IuPkMdg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted March 22, 2017 Report Share Posted March 22, 2017 10 hours ago, BusHunter said: Looks like all the old Wilson station structure is gone now and they have just track 4 structure hanging out all by itself which looks weird. They probably will have to close Broadway when they remove that, probably this weekend. It also looks like, starting at Broadway (2:05) they got new steel for Tracks 3 and 4 in with the old track 4 structure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 22, 2017 Report Share Posted March 22, 2017 16 hours ago, BusHunter said: Ok i just uploaded this weeks Wilson update to Youtube. Now they have removed track 4 structure in places which shocked me considering this has only been minus the revenue trains for a week. Looks like they are trying to get the space to put in the rest of the platform but there is a gray shack (electrical substation??) they have to relocate that's on the old Wilson shops tracks. Looks like all the old Wilson station structure is gone now and they have just track 4 structure hanging out all by itself which looks weird. They probably will have to close Broadway when they remove that, probably this weekend. Interesting though to say the least. All these videos I'm shooting is making for an interesting timeline of construction, I'll have to go back one day and check them all out when I have more free time. Nice they'll be archived as long as youtube's around. https://youtu.be/nDh8IuPkMdg Yeah when I rode the train from there on Saturday, I was able to see that as of that day the old track 4 was stripped of ties and rails from the station at about where the 7th or 8th car of a NB Red would be when stopped at the station all the way up to just south of the Lawrence station. And from your video along with my own observations on Saturday evening, it appears you were right about there being no actual interlocking connections this time moving NB trains from their regular tracks to their temporary tracks passing the station. It does indeed look to be all one connection for the relevant tracks assigned for NB Red and those for NB Purple from Montrose to just south of Lawrence with Track 4 as noted completely gone except for the old supports while passing Wilson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 I can report and confirm from my observations last night and this morning that full sections of the support structure from Track 4, including that over Wilson and a piece crossing Broadway, have been totally removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 I uploaded what I shot 3/29/17 on youtube. (another flyby of construction action at Wilson/Red line) They have removed all ties and are actively taking down the structure. They were cutting down the structure wirth welding torches while I was there. i took some street level photos that I still have yet to upload as i find all this interesting to say the least. I'll try to upload those in a few minutes. Pretty cool they had cranes holding up the structure as a welder would cut it away. We'll here's the flyby so far.... https://youtu.be/4So1fJ63Lxo Ok here's a bunch of shots from street level. Interesting from a construction perspective. Here's the gerber facade as well as the Wilson overhead structure removed, (street was closed) A look up broadway A shot of the Wilson overpass Cool construction shots behind Aldi and Target at sunnyside, where they are actively removing structure. Pretty cool one crew demolishes, the other builds the caisson to hold the future structure Here you see just how old looking that steel is they are removing. That's probably the oldest steel at the authority that has not been rehabbed as it looks like it's the original painted color of the structure. I believe originally it was just plain unpainted iron, so maybe this dates to the 60's. A few shots at station level and a few shots of completed track 3 structure and tracks I guess that about covers it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted March 31, 2017 Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 3 hours ago, BusHunter said: so maybe this dates to the 60's. It undoubtedly goes to when the connection was made between the main line and the embankment, which definitely was not the 60s. Probably the 30s. On your video, it is kind of hard to see how much old structure is left, but it looks like not too much of it. Cleared out by the platform and near the embankment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 31, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 9 hours ago, Busjack said: It undoubtedly goes to when the connection was made between the main line and the embankment, which definitely was not the 60s. Probably the 30s. On your video, it is kind of hard to see how much old structure is left, but it looks like not too much of it. Cleared out by the platform and near the embankment. As I said before, I believe in the 30s the structure was unpainted. It seems to have been painted in the 60s that gray color. I was moreless referring its condition versus the steels age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted April 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 Just uploaded to youtube this week's Wilson/Red line update on the reconstruction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGe9wpTHJlk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted April 5, 2017 Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 27 minutes ago, BusHunter said: Just uploaded to youtube this week's Wilson/Red line update on the reconstruction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGe9wpTHJlk I was wondering why your videos don't embed. If you do what I just did, they will. On YouTube, copy the link under Share and paste it here. There will be a message if you want to embed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted April 11, 2017 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 4 minutes ago, BusHunter said: Nothing would really change north of Clark junction. Except that 2 out of 4 tracks will be out of service during construction (but maybe that will improve speed as the stations will be closed). Also, they better do something about Sheridan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted April 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 51 minutes ago, Busjack said: Except that 2 out of 4 tracks will be out of service during construction (but maybe that will improve speed as the stations will be closed). Also, they better do something about Sheridan. They can't do anything about Sheridan as it's too expensive to relocate, best they could do is turn it into an Irving Pk station. Either that or buy up some land on either side of the structure and do a Wilson type reconstruction. The two track construction still wouldn't alter anything that wasn't altered already. The Purple line will run there today and it will run there tomorrow. They'll just have to deal the construction on a case by case basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted April 11, 2017 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 26 minutes ago, BusHunter said: They can't do anything about Sheridan as it's too expensive to relocate, best they could do is turn it into an Irving Pk station. Either that or buy up some land on either side of the structure and do a Wilson type reconstruction. At a minimum, they would have to deal with the urine smelling condition described the other day in the Tribune and make it accessible, even if they can't do anything about the curve. IMO, they should build a new station on the north side of Irving Park. That wouldn't require more land. Also, there doesn't seem to be a need for dual platforms there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted April 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 That's what i was suggesting with the irving pk reference. But they would have to still make structural changes to get a station for tracks 2 and 3. Sheridan looks to be one of the last unaccessible stations on the red line just due to this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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