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Ties has been set out north of Milwaukee Jct on the Holly Sub. Perhaps the jointed rail will be replaced? There is also rail set out on the Shoreline Sub just west of Beaubien.


CN 515 & Tie Train by tcamp7837, on Flickr

CN Tie Train - Holbrook St, Detroit by tcamp7837, on Flickr

CN TIe Train - Sugarhouse Wye by tcamp7837, on Flickr

CN Tie Train - D&M, Detroit by tcamp7837, on Flickr

CN has installed these two red markers at the 5th Street sidewalk crossing in Royal Oak. What do these mean?

IMG_1431 by tcamp7837, on Flickr

Bottom photo of red stop boards more than likely means beginning of work limits for M&W.
Always try to put new rail down before the ties. Otherwise your spiking the new ties twice. This causes ties to have a shorter life.

And old project map for the West Detroit Connection Track project had a point around the Beaubien Interlocking labeled as "Proposed Siding (Pocket Track)." I don't know what this is, though, or if this is related to that.

There's also been a lot of work around the Troy Transit Center. Crew has been working on main 2 welding the rail together through the turn.

As to the hope that the Holly Sub gets welded rail on the Holly through Detroit, my guess is that it won't any time soon. The reason I give is that from 8 Mile Road down through the city there is a City of Detroit speed restriction of something line 30 mph (maybe only on sections where there are road crossings) and why incur the cost to have welded rail when the speed is so slow? Take Amtrak through here and see how rough a ride it is even at 30 mph on the jointed rail. North of 8 Mile is another story where Main 1 is welded all the way (I think) to Pontiac but Main 2 remains largely jointed as it serves largely as a long siding now with traffic on the Holly at historically low levels with little chance of increasing with the de-industrialization of Pontiac and Detroit. Main 2 would make a good commuter train line here: Many of the old SEMTA commuter train station sites still exist in the weeds.

Where are those old stations at?

In Ferndale, just north of 9 Mile on the west side of the tracks the stairs to the platform still exist.

The station at Northwood Blvd in Royal Oak may still exist as a platform. Same for Charing Cross in Bloomfield Hills.

The property for the commuter train parking lot at Charing Cross station was just sold this year or last for private development but it is still empty.

The platforms for the Bloomfield Hills Station at Long Lake Road (18 Mile Road) station are still there though the parking lot was bought by the City of Bloomfield Hills years ago and a storage/maintenance facility and building are there now.

Where is Charring Cross at?

In a neighborhood in Bloomfield Hills. Charing Cross is a road off of Woodward between 16 Mile (Big Beaver) and Lone Pine (roughly 17 Mile, Wattles further east). The station was on the west side of the tracks on the south side of Charing Cross. The big fenced in lot there was the parking lot with a small shelter at track level (gone now).

If you are interested in SEMTA commuter train stuff, see my book Chronicles of a Detroit Railfan Vol 8, SEMTA. available from my website (ByronBabbish.com) or Amazon.

As I looked at the first image along the drivers side of the tractor trailer it apppears there is a bridge over the tracks, what is it? Thanks for the help. Is the background north of the truck?

Stinger4me wrote:As I looked at the first image along the drivers side of the tractor trailer it apppears there is a bridge over the tracks, what is it? Thanks for the help. Is the background north of the truck?

I'm guessing the photo is looking north from the Holbrook crossing. The big billboards look like those near where the Holly Sub crosses over I-75. If so, the bridge that can be seen over the tracks, though distant, would be the ramps from the eastbound Davison Freeway (M-8) to NB and SB I-75 at the I-75/M-8 interchange. The signal on the right-hand side of the picture might be the one at Caniff.