Railroad Forums 

Discussion related to commuter rail and rapid transit operations in the Chicago area including the South Shore Line, Metra Rail, and Chicago Transit Authority.

Moderators: metraRI, JamesT4

 #1330584  by doepack
 
ryanch wrote:From the new track being in use you can surmise that the new Ravenswood Station is now open, since you had to cross this track on a low footbridge to get to the old temporary platform. I've been on trains that skipped it, so I haven't noticed anything in particular about it. I haven't paid attention - what is the longest routine consist on UP-N, 8 passenger cars plus locomotive?


Yes. And as you've surmised, the new station will berth consists up to this length, with all cars on the platform...
 #1330927  by ryanch
 
doepack wrote:Yes. And as you've surmised, the new station will berth consists up to this length, with all cars on the platform...
Thanks.

I was surprised to realize today that the station crosses Leland. During planning, it was suggested that a footbridge over Lawrence be maintained, but the answer came back too expensive. But the cost can't be much different to bring the station across one bridge or another. Why would you have an exit on the opposite side of the relatively untraveled Leland, rather than giving north-of-Lawrence folks the chance to go over this main thoroughfare rather than cross it? When people asked this question, was Metra answering as if it needed to be a second pedestrian bridge, rather than considering that they could shift the platform area north? Ooof!
 #1331561  by Tadman
 
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the platforms do go north of Lawrence and there is a stairway on the north side of Lawrence. I usually ride a bike to the adjacent grocery and use the Divvy dock on the other side of the station.
 #1331668  by ryanch
 
Tadman wrote:Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the platforms do go north of Lawrence and there is a stairway on the north side of Lawrence. I usually ride a bike to the adjacent grocery and use the Divvy dock on the other side of the station.
It's also possible I'm missing something.

But my understanding is that the existing temporary platforms are both north of Lawrence. But that the new station on the Northbound side only has entrances south of Lawrence. And that when the new southbound station is built, it too will only have entrances south of Lawrence.

There's a photo here predating opening of the new station:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/02/27/ ... t-it-open/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It seems to show the bridge bulkhead blocking the end of the platform, so it doesn't seem like there is a way to cross to the north here. The photo seems to be taken from north of Lawrence.

The photo at this site helps me understand the perspective of the previous photo a little better. But I still don't see any sign of the platform or any walkway extending north of Lawrence:
http://abc7chicago.com/news/metra-shows ... on/701034/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1332220  by Tadman
 
You may be right about that - I'm over at the grocery next door 1/week so I'll try to take a closer look if I have a minute and perhaps take some pics. It's a nice new station. Also, that giant brick building to the east was once CNW's accounting offices from what I understand.
 #1332749  by ryanch
 
One thing I noticed in the last week of commuting is that all of the new bridges seem to have outer catwalks. So there IS a railed walkway across Lawrence on the west side outside the right of way, but I'm 99% sure it doesn't connect to the station (without a leg up or leaping ability beyond the average commuter) nor to the wooden north-of-Lawrence stairway built for the now-closed temp platform.
 #1336723  by ryanch
 
While riding today, I noticed that the ties on what is now the "middle track" (which I believe is no longer connected at either end to the through tracks) has had the ties removed from under it at several bridges. Not quite sure, because the conductor came through, but I'm pretty sure it was several bridges between Irving Park and Leland where I noticed this.

Were there never ties under the track? Other bridges seem to have ties underneath. If they were removed, how was it done without pulling the track up?

I'll have to look at this again.