Saint Paul Union Depot

[commissioner]

Thanks for the pics Mulad! I'm seriously considering taking a peek myself at the activity.

[mulad]

Wandering by this evening, some workers were digging trenches for cables, going right between railroad ties. A CP train was sitting waiting for them to finish with that phase. Another crew appeared to be preparing a second switch to be installed -- it was still sitting in the same spot as when I'd photographed it before, but it looked like they were attaching some extra hardware to it.

Meanwhile today, an open house event was posted to the Union Depot Facebook feed for next Tuesday. I suppose it's just meant to show off the building to people who may want to rent spaces for events, but it kind of sounds like it'll tie into the start of Amtrak service. Or maybe it's just marketing fluff...

Imagine a one-of-a-kind place that once served as a true gathering place for people. A place where trains once met, greetings echoed and farewells lingered. That place is Union Depot and it’s been revitalized for the modern day. You're invited to experience Union Depot as it comes to life on October 15 from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. Experience Union Depot as a new, unique gathering place once again and see why it makes the perfect setting for public events, private functions, art and cultural events, concerts and more.

[at40man]

"experience Union Depot as it comes to life "

I don't think that is alluding to Amtrak starting soon. There would probably be some sort of press release about the start of Amtrak service and a celebration.

[at40man]

http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_2 ... -6-million

Buried in this article, but worth noting...

They also include $10 million for an engineering study to alleviate bottlenecks in the east metro's freight railway network, mostly in St. Paul's Hoffman Yard, and to improve rail access between Hastings and the Union Depot in downtown St. Paul.

[Silophant]

From another post mainly about the St. Paul office market, but a Ramsey county commissioner said that Amtrak should start using SPUD by Thanksgiving, which is the first thing I'd seen that's more specific than "Q4 2013". Exciting!

[mulad]

The two remaining switches had been mostly set into place by the time I left work yesterday evening. The one at the bottom of this frame will lead to the depot.


img_7261 by Mulad, on Flickr

I stayed long enough to see a ballast train come through and dump rock on the mainline track. The northernmost of the two tracks has been shifted slightly so it is no longer perfectly parallel with the one adjacent to Shepard Road. I think the new switches have a shallower curve to them, to support higher speeds when turning.


img_7273 by Mulad, on Flickr


img_7285 by Mulad, on Flickr

[at40man]

Union Depot has also been posting pics of the track alignment. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 455&type=1

[mulad]

When I wandered by this evening, there was still one segment of track waiting to be placed between the depot platform tracks and the mainline.

[mulad]

I guess it is barely possible to see activity going on at the far (east) end of the Union Depot site, beyond the US-52 bridge -- here's a crew working on the mainline switch over on that end.


img_7376 by Mulad, on Flickr

Here's a shot that helps to show how one set of tracks was shifted slightly, apparently to help with switch alignment. Also note the old "searchlight"-style signals. I believe this type of signal historically worked with a single bulb in back and a set of color filters which would rotate in front of the bulb, but I'm not sure if that's how these particular ones operate. Nonetheless, they'll be replaced by signals more similar to what cars use, with individual green/amber/red bulbs.


img_7409 by Mulad, on Flickr

Here's a shot of old and new signals next to each other on the east side of Robert Street.


img_7369 by Mulad, on Flickr

They're busy stringing signal cables through trenches. This photo also shows a built-in derail device, so any equipment stored at the depot which started rolling away would get caught and not cause trouble on the mainline. Also, not all of the track was yet in place to truly connect the depot as of this evening.


img_7366 by Mulad, on Flickr

[FISHMANPET]

In non-transportation related news, it sounds like the Union Depot is doing a really good job of keeping the space used:
http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_242 ... shion-show

[mulad]

Yeah, it has more or less turned into a mini convention center. I haven't tried digging into the details, but I believe the ability of the depot to be used as an event space became the real driving reason why the project was able to get funding, with the transit/rail hub role really being secondary -- at least for the intercity/commuter rail side of things, where we only have the one daily train per direction for the Empire Builder and additional service continues to be years down the line. I wasn't really sure what types of things they were going to do, so it's been interesting to see the mix of events they've put on.

[MNdible]

Because if there's one thing we lack in this town, it's publicly subsidized convention centers.

[Ottergoose]

Here's a shot that helps to show how one set of tracks was shifted slightly, apparently to help with switch alignment. Also note the old "searchlight"-style signals. I believe this type of signal historically worked with a single bulb in back and a set of color filters which would rotate in front of the bulb, but I'm not sure if that's how these particular ones operate. Nonetheless, they'll be replaced by signals more similar to what cars use, with individual green/amber/red bulbs.

Have really been enjoying seeing your updates on this, thank you for sharing them.

Those old signals are indeed searchlight signals, built by US&S. They operate on two circuits, one turns on the lamp, the other controls the color (off is red, green / amber when on, depending on the polarity). I've got a "dwarf" example, which sits low to the ground, that I hope to setup in the basement someday.

[mulad]

Looks like we have connected track! Though it still needs ballast, alignment, signals, and other fiddling, I'm sure. The segment of track sitting on top appears to be a leftover.


img_7493 by Mulad, on Flickr


img_7503 by Mulad, on Flickr

I can't quite tell what the situation is on the east end -- the mainline switch seems to peter off into nothing, but there could just be a pile of dirt/sand in the way. But they were actively working over there too.


img_7488 by Mulad, on Flickr

[MNdible]

The segment of track sitting on top appears to be a leftover.

Measure twice, cut once.

[at40man]

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_243 ... nion-depot

No date announced yet, but at least we are close to having Amtrak finally roll in there!

[at40man]

MPR offers some more details about the ongoing work. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/displa ... nion-depot

Sounds like it will happen after Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to trains rolling in there, and would like to be aboard one of the first ones to leave SPUD. I am planning on taking a Chicago trip to burn through PTO that won't roll into next year, and this will be a fun way to kick it off!

[THERAT]

Some of the chatter on AMTRAK UNLIMITED has a potential DEC 7th as the start of service out of SPUD. The EB eastbound #8 has been running late all summer and fall do to rail upgrades and heavy freight. Noticed a significant amount of consists of oil cars this past year on the BN tracks. There's only so much track to handle traffic and rail freight is profitable. A separate daily between Chicago would make sense but can't see it happening for years with all the red tape(Gov't, track right of way, equipment..etc).

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.p ... pot/page-5

[FISHMANPET]

I was at Union Depot for a thing last night. The waiting room is of course beautiful. However the first class waiting area seems pretty small. I'd say it's about 2/3 to 1/2 the size of the first class area currently at Midway, and when I travelled through last December it was pretty packed. With as much space as there is in that waiting hall I'm surprised they couldn't make the first class lounge much bigger.

[NickP]

Are there rules preventing freight companies from adding passenger cars to their trains, or vice versa amtrak adding more freight cars? Airlines often add cargo to passenger flights, so why don't railroads?