New signals east and west of Roselle

While out on a bike ride today that took me through the Roselle (Milwaukee West) station and vicinity, I noticed new but not yet in service signals both east and west of the station. Currently, Roselle East interlocking sits right at the west end of the station (a crossover from the right track to the left track) while Roselle West interlocking is about a mile further west and is a crossover from the left track to the right track. One set of new signals is east of the station (between Roselle and Medinah) while the other appears to be just east of Roselle West.

My guess is they're relocating the interlockings. Considering that a number of rush hour trains originate/terminate at Roselle, I would think moving Roselle East east of the station would allow those trains to reverse in the station rather than having to relay west of the station. But if so, why move Roselle West (and just a little) as well?

Can anyone confirm what they're doing there?

I hope this means they're finally consolidating the east and west plants into one location. I'm sure the Milwaukee Road had their reasons for laying it out like this way back when, but having both sets of crossovers at one plant is the norm nowadays, and it's so much more efficient...

That's an interesting thought and makes some sense. The new signals I can see just east of Roselle West might be automatics replacing the interlocking signals. Moving the full plant east of Roselle makes sense as I have always suspected but just verified today via historicaerials.com that the Roselle station used to be between the crossovers about 1/2 mile west of its current location. When it was, a train turning back at Roselle (and I suspect that just like today, some trains turned back at Roselle (I believe both Schaumburg and Hanover Park are recent stations - within the last 25 years - meaning prior to their opening, there was only Bartlett and the Elgin stations west of Roselle - corrections welcome) could cross over to the eastbound track at Roselle East and then reverse in the station.

As for why the split interlocking, how about to get the varnish around the commuter trains? According to a 1970 Official Guide I have, the City of Everywhere went out of CUS at 6:00pm. Seems like he would have been stuck behind commuter trains without a way around.

lstone19 wrote:(I believe both Schaumburg and Hanover Park are recent stations - within the last 25 years - meaning prior to their opening, there was only Bartlett and the Elgin stations west of Roselle - corrections welcome)

Hanover Park has been around "forever," but it was called Ontarioville until sometime in the '70s or '80s (don't have my timetables handy to confirm the date). There also was a station at Spaulding, which was removed sometime in the '70s, I think.

Thanks. Going to the 1961 historicaerials.com view of the area, the Hanover Park/Ontarioville station can be seen a little west of its current locaton where at the time Ontarioville Road crossed the tracks and and reintersected Lake Street (that Ontarioville Road lines up with Lake Street at both ends suggests that Ontarioville Road was the original alignment of Lake Street although even the 1938 aerial shows the big Lake Street curve at that location - perhaps a very early grade separation project.

I'm sure you're correct about present-day Ontarioville Road being the original alignment of Lake Street. Given that it was a busy highway that crossed the tracks on a long, angled crossing, it was an obvious target for realignment. At first I was going to suggest that the grade separation was possibly a Depression-era work project, but thinking back to the old timber bridge that was in place until a few years ago, I would bet it was completed even earlier.

By the way, that Historic Aerials site is fascinating. Easy way to waste a few hours!

Well, I could see today (driving along parallel Irving Park Road) that the new signals east of Roselle are automatics (single heads for eastbound trains; two-unit signals for westbounds). So now I'll speculate that Roselle East is going away and the new signals I see at Roselle West are to accommodate a longer interlocking with both crossovers. And the new two-unit signals for westbounds east of the station are the new approach signals for the plant.

And MikeF, I agree - much time can be wasted at HistoricAerials!

lstone19 wrote:And the new two-unit signals for westbounds east of the station are the new approach signals for the plant.

Drove by there today, and noticed these signals are now active, officially replacing the two-headed signals that stood not quite 20 feet west of the depot. In fact, the old signal masts have already been removed, leaving just the severed cables still protruding up from where they once stood. Another vestige of the old Milwaukee Road fades into history...

doepack wrote: Drove by there today, and noticed these signals are now active, officially replacing the two-headed signals that stood not quite 20 feet west of the depot. In fact, the old signal masts have already been removed, leaving just the severed cables still protruding up from where they once stood. Another vestige of the old Milwaukee Road fades into history...

Must have happened over the weekend. The new signals east of the station were still bagged late last week.

So I guess that must mean the Roselle East crossover is either out of service or removed and what appeared to be its replacement at Roselle West in service. Must go by there in daylight and see what's there.

I drove over the Roselle Rd. crossing on Saturday night, and FWIW, the same old signal masts were still in place at Roselle West. Of course they could still retain the same physical signals for a modified plant.

Tomorrow, I'll see if there's a new general order out pertaining to this.


edit 11/4/09: Haven't seen any new g/o's out so far; they must be issuing the pertinent information on the Elgin trains' track bulletins in the meantime

On a visit to Roselle today, saw that they were doing testing on what appeared to be the new signals at the Roselle west plant, just west of the Roselle Road crossing, about a 1/2 mile west of the depot. Spoke with a signal maintainer there, who was confirming the indications with the dispatcher (at tower B-17, I believe, looked like they were in the process of cutting it over). He also said that effective with last week's signal removal, Roselle east is no more, and that the crossover just west of the depot is OOS, and slated for removal. Unless it's there already, I'm guessing that Roselle west will have a second crossover added, perhaps relocated from the now obsolete Roselle east plant, but I didn't confirm that during my brief chat today with the signal maintainer, who was quite friendly, btw...

Last night, we were eating dinner at Pilot Pete's at the Schaumburg Airport which overlooks the airport and the tracks south of the airport. I observed a Metra train go through westbound at what looked like Restricted Speed which would certainly fit with the plant being out of service for the cutover.

To make it all "official"... pertinent passages from recent CP General Order:

Roselle East control point, crossovers and absolute signals are permanently removed and retired from service. (2009-11-12)

New intermediate signals installed on NO 1 and NO 2 MT at MP 23.6:
Intermediate signals number plated 1-237 on NO 1 MT and 2-237 on NO 2 MT for westward movements [...]
Intermediate signals number plated 1-236 on NO 1 MT and 2-236 on NO 2 MT for eastward movements [...]

Roselle West: New dual controlled facing point crossover installed and placed in service between NO 1 and NO 2 MT.
Old absolute signals for Roselle West retired and replaced with new absolute signals [...] (2009-11-12)