Crossings of the UP Beloit Branch

[AndyWS]

This is unique as being one of if not the only UP lines in the Midwest that is ex-Milwaukee Road instead of ex-Chicago and North Western. The roots of this date back to the 1980s when C&NW purchased the Milwaukee Road line from Clinton, WI to Beloit to preserve access to some customers in Beloit and South Beloit, IL along a stub of a line that they had otherwise abandoned.

Today it has a pretty wide variety of crossing protection equipment. It actually has probably the highest percentage of incandescent lights (including 8" Griswolds) and mechanical bells (unfortunately some of them are dead, as you'll see in the video) left on any line in southern Wisconsin, but also a lot of more modern (c. 2000s) UP installs.

This local train also uses the UP Harvard Sub main from Clinton back to Janesville yard, a lot of the crossings have been modernized in the last couple years but County J still has gateless signals with a mechanical bell, and Read Rd. at the yard entrance still has 8" lights with LEDs.

[SirKrunch]

Aren't those CP rail DOT tags on the first couple crossings?

[AndyWS]

Aren't those CP rail DOT tags on the first couple crossings?

Good eye. CP actually owns that section (kept by MILW with the original sale) with UP having trackage rights. The ownership changes near where I-39/90 goes over the tracks. CP uses it to serve the Frito-Lay plant and also to access their line to Janesville which splits off in this area (there's a second crossing on Colley Road, west of the one in the video).

[SirKrunch]

I had wondered about that. There's an isolated stretch in South Beloit where the DOT Tags are UP's on a switch South of Shirland Ave that crosses Highway 2 twice. Funny thing is, while the Southern diagonal stub that goes SE has all UP tags, the Northern stretch has a UP tag over Hwy 2, but if you go further East to the cantilever crossing near the end of that stub, the tags are CP's again.
Then the line you doccumented had CP tags all the way out to Cranston Rd., but at Gateway Blvd. all the crossing equipment is UP's again.
IDK... reminds me a bit of the Valley Junction area of West Des Moines, where there's an isolated UP lead that they have to use trackage rights over the IAIS to reach.
Definitely something I like about CP... they seem to keep older equipment in place longer than UP. Heck, I'm happy to see these 45-degree crossbucks still in use too.

[freebrickproductions]

I always like to believe that most states have at least one line like this that is still chock full of classic crossing equipment, especially when compared to the rest of the state. Another example of that would probably be the CSX Dothan Subdivision for Alabama.
Always do like finding these lines, IMHO they make for fun trips.

Of course, there are also some states like South Carolina that just have a lot of great equipment across the state in general, even on the busier lines.

[AndyWS]

I had wondered about that. There's an isolated stretch in South Beloit where the DOT Tags are UP's on a switch South of Shirland Ave that crosses Highway 2 twice. Funny thing is, while the Southern diagonal stub that goes SE has all UP tags, the Northern stretch has a UP tag over Hwy 2, but if you go further East to the cantilever crossing near the end of that stub, the tags are CP's again.
Then the line you doccumented had CP tags all the way out to Cranston Rd., but at Gateway Blvd. all the crossing equipment is UP's again.
IDK... reminds me a bit of the Valley Junction area of West Des Moines, where there's an isolated UP lead that they have to use trackage rights over the IAIS to reach.
Definitely something I like about CP... they seem to keep older equipment in place longer than UP. Heck, I'm happy to see these 45-degree crossbucks still in use too.

There's another Milwaukee Road-style 45-degree crossbuck in Afton, further north on the line. Some of the very few left standing along active lines.

ICE 4209 South Afton 2/4/2010 by Andy, on Flickr

I really ought to get a shot of a train at the pair in Beloit, but unfortunately information on the recent operating patterns of CP's local is scant and when I do hear about it it usually seems to run at night.

The switch south of Shirland Ave. (and the state line) is where the former MILW line (running roughly northeast-southwest) once crossed over the C&NW Harvard-Beloit-Madison line which ran just east of where ABC Supply Stadium (home of the Sky Carp) is now. This is where UP's local returns to their "native" ex-C&NW rails on a tiny remaining stub to reach the three customers in South Beloit (DeLong Company-formerly Demeter-grain elevator, a sand pit, and Alter Recycling). As for the weirdness on the Alter Spur with CP owning the isolated end of it, it must stem from another arrangement dating back to the CNW/MILW days. The DOT number on the UP crossing of Highway 2 starts with 178, while the one for the CP crossing of Park Ave. starts with 388. One thing I quickly picked up on back when I first started submitting pictures to the site back in 2006 is that DOT numbers on ex-C&NW lines (at least in Wisconsin) almost always start with numbers in the 177-181 range, while ex-MILW crossings start with 386-392. I asked about this in a Facebook group, and was told that there once was a spur coming off the Milwaukee Road line that crossed over the state line and Turtle Creek, and connected to the east end of what is now the Alter spur.

[AndyWS]

I always like to believe that most states have at least one line like this that is still chock full of classic crossing equipment, especially when compared to the rest of the state. Another example of that would probably be the CSX Dothan Subdivision for Alabama.
Always do like finding these lines, IMHO they make for fun trips.

Of course, there are also some states like South Carolina that just have a lot of great equipment across the state in general, even on the busier lines.

I honestly think CP has practically forgotten about their Rock County branch lines, or else the maintainer in charge of them is fond of old stuff and only upgrades when forced to. Or, they are low-density enough that they're far down the priority list of our state "commish." How else to explain how the three 45-degree crossbucks continue to survive? I also can't think of any other of their lines, even other branch lines like the M&P Sub, that still have multiple sets of incandescent lights (including 8" Griswolds.)

Kind of a shame because when I first started railfanning about 15 years ago, there were still numerous sets of 8" lights (some with LED inserts, some incandescent) and even some WRRS mini bells left on their Chicago-Twin Cities main (C&M/Watertown/Tomah Subs), while the M&P Sub had tons of gateless crossings with 8" lights. All of those now have 12"x 24" LED lights, and many have entirely new signals with gates and e-bells.

[SirKrunch]

There's another Milwaukee Road-style 45-degree crossbuck in Afton, further north on the line. Some of the very few left standing along active lines.

I really ought to get a shot of a train at the pair in Beloit, but unfortunately information on the recent operating patterns of CP's local is scant and when I do hear about it it usually seems to run at night.

The switch south of Shirland Ave. (and the state line) is where the former MILW line (running roughly northeast-southwest) once crossed over the C&NW Harvard-Beloit-Madison line which ran just east of where ABC Supply Stadium (home of the Sky Carp) is now. This is where UP's local returns to their "native" ex-C&NW rails on a tiny remaining stub to reach the three customers in South Beloit (DeLong Company-formerly Demeter-grain elevator, a sand pit, and Alter Recycling). As for the weirdness on the Alter Spur with CP owning the isolated end of it, it must stem from another arrangement dating back to the CNW/MILW days. The DOT number on the UP crossing of Highway 2 starts with 178, while the one for the CP crossing of Park Ave. starts with 388. One thing I quickly picked up on back when I first started submitting pictures to the site back in 2006 is that DOT numbers on ex-C&NW lines (at least in Wisconsin) almost always start with numbers in the 177-181 range, while ex-MILW crossings start with 386-392. I asked about this in a Facebook group, and was told that there once was a spur coming off the Milwaukee Road line that crossed over the state line and Turtle Creek, and connected to the east end of what is now the Alter spur.

Well, I can see that mess now, looking at some historical maps from 1917. The railroads were certaily spaghettiing all over. There is absolutely no trace of how the remaining Alter Spur was accessed from the North over the river. (At least visible on Google Maps.) And the end of it has been cut back a couple thousand feet too...

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/ ... unty+1917/

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US ... Wisconsin/

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US ... Wisconsin/

[AndyWS]

Well, I can see that mess now, looking at some historical maps from 1917. The railroads were certaily spaghettiing all over. There is absolutely no trace of how the remaining Alter Spur was accessed from the North over the river. (At least visible on Google Maps.) And the end of it has been cut back a couple thousand feet too...

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/ ... unty+1917/

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US ... Wisconsin/

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US ... Wisconsin/

Yep, there were surely more industries served along there at one time. Hard to be sure, but might this be traces of a long-since paved over crossing?

https://goo.gl/maps/6tmftcitrQqskcc88

[freebrickproductions]

I always like to believe that most states have at least one line like this that is still chock full of classic crossing equipment, especially when compared to the rest of the state. Another example of that would probably be the CSX Dothan Subdivision for Alabama.
Always do like finding these lines, IMHO they make for fun trips.

Of course, there are also some states like South Carolina that just have a lot of great equipment across the state in general, even on the busier lines.

I honestly think CP has practically forgotten about their Rock County branch lines, or else the maintainer in charge of them is fond of old stuff and only upgrades when forced to. Or, they are low-density enough that they're far down the priority list of our state "commish." How else to explain how the three 45-degree crossbucks continue to survive? I also can't think of any other of their lines, even other branch lines like the M&P Sub, that still have multiple sets of incandescent lights (including 8" Griswolds.)

Kind of a shame because when I first started railfanning about 15 years ago, there were still numerous sets of 8" lights (some with LED inserts, some incandescent) and even some WRRS mini bells left on their Chicago-Twin Cities main (C&M/Watertown/Tomah Subs), while the M&P Sub had tons of gateless crossings with 8" lights. All of those now have 12"x 24" LED lights, and many have entirely new signals with gates and e-bells.

Yea, same. Still remember when my local Class I line, the NS Memphis District East End, retained a good few crossings with 8 inch lights, many of which were still fully 8 inch.

Kinda started railfanning a bit too late to get some of the really cool equipment that used to be around here (such as the GRS gate mechs dotting the area, the GRS Lex-C lights on the NS lines around here, and the US&S Teardrop bell at Governors Drive), but I'm glad I've been able to record a bunch of older stuff before it's been replaced as well.

Well, I can see that mess now, looking at some historical maps from 1917. The railroads were certaily spaghettiing all over. There is absolutely no trace of how the remaining Alter Spur was accessed from the North over the river. (At least visible on Google Maps.) And the end of it has been cut back a couple thousand feet too...

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/ ... unty+1917/

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US ... Wisconsin/

https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US ... Wisconsin/

Yep, there were surely more industries served along there at one time. Hard to be sure, but might this be traces of a long-since paved over crossing?

https://goo.gl/maps/6tmftcitrQqskcc88

Looks like it might've once been, the curb there seems to be a bit newer looking at older street view imagery.