all traffic via Topeka, alternating east- bound and westbound fleets until the double track line was reopened on July 2. A major derailment on the Emporia Sub near Neosho Rapids in late June 2008 caused dispatchers to use the reroute. In 2012, main line track con- struction and realignment connected with the new BNSF Intermodal Center near Edgerton, Kan., led to frequent detours via Topeka. Finally, if there is an especially large number of trains on both tracks, with slower manifests and
unit trains (coal, ethanol, grain, or oil) delaying fast Z and Q-trains, then the DS will send a fleet in one direction over the Topeka Sub, allowing the faster ones remaining on the Emporia Sub to pass the slower ones. Topeka Sub detour trains run on Track Warrant Control, which is sim- plified because of the line’s ABS sig- nals. If it were dark territory, by con- trast,
each train would have to
surrender part of its track warrant as it proceeds in order to allow a following
train to get a track warrant, since there would be no signal protection. Reroutes almost always occur during daylight hours. According to one re- cently retired trainman, this situation happens “because Amtrak has [the Topeka Sub] pretty much tied up be- tween midnight and 6:00 a.m., give or take” [an hour or two]. (Today Amtrak is limited to 79, not 90, m.p.h.) The 2012 schedule shows that Amtrak No. 3, the westbound Southwest Chief, enters the sub around midnight, stopping at Topeka at 1:09 a.m., while eastbound No. 4 halts at Lawrence at 5:47 a.m. and clears Holliday by about 6:30 a.m. Sometimes westbound reroutes are waiting at Hol- liday for a late No. 4, while less often, eastbounds will enter the Topeka Sub at Emporia’s NR Junction some time after the passenger train has cleared most or all of the 111 mile line.
LEFT: A very late eastbound Southwest Chief pulls into the depot at Lawrence on the morn- ing of May 27, 2012. On mornings like this, westbound reroutes may be waiting east of here at Holliday, the junction with the double- track Emporia Sub, until Amtrak passes through. BELOW: Eastbound California- Chicago stacker Q-RICCHI passes by the old Santa Fe-era cantilever signal at MP 19 in Eu- dora on June 19, 2007. It was one of several Topeka Sub reroutes that day. The old signal hardware is slated for replacement, so catch them while you can.
33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64