New Track Extension Project

This page contains information about the expansion and will document its progress from the redesigning of the Wye to the new Turntable that will be installed at the end of the expansion.

The first step in the extension of the East end of our track was to redesign the Wye. What is a Wye? Wye A track shaped like the letter "Y", but with a connector between the two arms of the "Y". A wye is used to reverse the direction of locomotives, trains or cars. The WF&P locomotives cut off the train in one leg of the wye, then the locomotive pulls completely through that leg of wye, the switch is thrown and reverses the direction, allowing the movement across the semi-loop track of the wye. The locomotive then comes through the other leg of the wye and connects to the rear of the train. The train is then headed in the opposite direction for its return to Glencoe Station.
November 6, 2004, Saturday - Our current wye is only large enough to handle a nine car train. With the expansion, it was decided to enlarge the wye and relocate the North and East (connecting) legs of the wye for the expansion up the valley. The 2004-2005 winter work began in November at the close of the regular public operating season.
November 7, Sunday - The group headed off to the wye where the rest of the North leg switch was removed and the small bridge near the south leg switch was also removed. Wednesday, Nov. 10, brought out a crew to the wye with a tractor. They completed grading the new ROW (Right-of-Way) for the East leg and filled in the spot where the small bridge was removed. The bridge will not be replaced as it is not needed for drainage.
November 14, Sunday - Work continued on the wye where they staked out the new curve on the East leg. November 21, Sunday - Weather was cloudy and cool with the temp in the 50s. Welch, Miller, DeBellis, Mosbacher, Greenway and Strain headed to the wye to finish the sub-roadbed for the East leg. The roadbed was leveled using Welch's laser level and with the help of John Rush's Bobcat. It's now ready for the track to be replaced.	November 28, Sunday was a sunny dry day. Welch, Lorance, Neubauer, Mosbacher, Greenway and Marx worked at the wye and got the track sections barred over to their new positions. Welch will have some rail bending to do but with the ties already in place the first 90ft of the new East leg will be somewhat easier than the rest which will be built from scratch.
December 1, Wednesday - Welch & Lorance were out at the wye bending rail for the East leg relocation. December 4, Saturday - Welch and Strain headed to the wye and continued with the rail bending for the East leg curve. Next more rail will be brought out to continue the Main and East leg.
December 8, Wednesday - Geenway and Welch headed out to the wye to put splice plates on the East leg track sections. December 11, Saturday - Welch was out choosing rail to be taken to the wye for installation.	December 15, Wednesday - Less than a week until Christmas and the weather is beginning to show it's winter side. There's even some talk of snow this week. Lorance, Greenway & Welch were at the wye.
December 18, Saturday - Welch & Strain headed to the wye where they worked on splicing rail and laid out the new switch that leads to the siding off of the North leg. The photo attached shows the basic layout of the switch with the siding to the left and the Main going up the center of the photo. The track on the right is the East leg which will parallel the Main and then join with a switch further up on the ROW.
December 20, Monday - Welch had 100 tons of rock delivered to the WF&P for the track rebuild at the wye. Most of this was dumped by the trucks at the wye so it's near where it's needed. This is one load we don't want to shovel by hand so thanks to Welch for planning ahead. December 22, Wednesday - Weather was very cold so all work for the day was done indoors. A safe and Happy New Year to everyone !! Jim Strain
January 9, 2005, Sunday - The Sunday crew consisted of Welch, Mosbacher, Greenway, Marx and Fritschle. They installed 41 ties on the new Main at the wye and added 4 more rail lengths. Next they moved 22 lengths of 20ft long 12lb rail near the ballast track for the move to the wye.	January 26, Wednesday - The Lorance, Greenway & Welch at Yeatman Wye. 44 ties were spiked.
January 30, Sunday - Welch, Marx, Greenway, Lorance and Strain at Yeatman. 66 ties were spiked on Sunday, some on the North leg and some on the East leg of the wye. Photo is of the rail yet to be spiked looking from the North back toward Yeatman Wye.	Photo of the steel bridge which was moved from Park property about 400ft to our own property at Yeatman
February 5, Saturday - Another busy week ended with 150 ties installed at Yeatman. Saturday's nice weather brought out 20 members for the work day. Photo shows the tie work at the wye over the last week. Not sure if 150 ties is a record for a seven day period but the work is progressing well
February 12, Saturday - Mosbacher, Greenway, Ernst, Welch, Lawson and Strain headed to the wye where the day was spent finishing tie installation on the new siding. Fritschle also arrived after lunch to man the second shift. The track is now ready for Hank to install the final two turnouts at the North end of the wye.	February 16, Wednesday & February 19, Saturday Track construction continues at the wye with the last two turnouts being assembled. February 20, Sunday - Welch, Marx, Greenway, Bell & Mosbacher dumping 18 car loads of ballast on the new track. The track is now ready for leveling and then will receive the finished ballast.
March 9, Wednesday - Final pieces of rail cut for Yeatman siding. March 12, Saturday - Bell, Ernst, Greenway, Welch and myself at Yeatman installing more ties. March 13, Sunday Work continues at the Wye
March 20, Sunday - The wye is nearing completion with ballast work on Sunday and more to follow this coming Saturday. The ballast crew was Marx, Welch, Greenway, Lorance, Robertson & Mosbacher. March 26-27, Saturday - Sunday - Saturday was very busy while Sunday wasn't due to the Easter Holiday. Wye work consisted of dropping ballast at the wye.	We closed the Month of March out with a total of 560 work days since November 1st. This is an average of 112 per month for all the departments. Thanks to all who have participated, your labor really shows in the progress made at Glencoe this winter in all of the departments. There's still plenty of projects to accomplish if you need to complete your six work days. So take advantage of the spring weather and we'll see you at Glencoe. Jim Strain
April 2, Saturday - End of track at the wye now extends all the way to the edge of the old Lawler Ford Rd.
May 1, 2005 The 2005 season is now underway. All the current work at the Wye has paid off with beautiful results. The track has been realigned and all new ballast. And the new waist high switch stands are in place that were donated by Koppers Industrials Railroad Supplies. Many thanks to all the members who worked this past winter and to all our passengers who donated to the extension project.

	October 2006 The east side of the old road has been cut and broken up.
Hank is now using the bobcat to remove the debris and leaving a roadbed for our track
	Nov 25, 2007 - Hank, Neubie and Lorance headed to the wye to begin raising the current end of track to match the new roadbed.

January 16, 2008 At 11 AM we gathered some rail and WELCH, LORANCE & NEUBAUER motored to the wye and a lot of adjusting string lines, measuring and trying to figure out the curvature in the track several hundred feet north of the wye. Later LORANCE AND NEUBAUER had to come back and bring up a carload of ties and the generator. We then installed 12 ties. djn

	Straight sections go pretty quick but here we see Hank using a rail bender to adjust for the curve. You can click here or on the picture to enlarge this one for a better view.
Saturday, February 16, 2008 More Ballast (rock) has been placed for a road crossing and to hold the track in place.

	Left: more track waiting to be connected then ties spiked.
November 2008 Time once again to work on the extension. We hope to have some pictures posted soon of the progress. Sunday, February 8, 2009 Welch, Neubauer, Christen, Mosbacher, Marx, Lorance, Ernst went down to Yeatman and installed four sections of rail and 30 ties on the extension. Sunday, February 15, 2009 Welch, Neubauer, Mosbacher, Marx, Lorance, Ernst loaded extra ties and 5 pieces of rail then motored with 704 out to the wye. A later than usual started means only 23 ties got spiked down.	Work on the extension came to a halt in March 2008 due to flooding on the river. We had six feet of water in the yard and buildings. Most of our time was spent cleaning up the railroad before the season opened in May.
April 2009 Progress has continued on and off all winter/spring as weather and time permitted. Several hundred feel of new rail and ties have been finished. Most of the extension does not have ballast yet so it is not open as of this posting. We hope to be able to open this part of the line soon to give the public a first hand view of the progress. There is about 60 more feet of rail to be installed and spiked this spring. Depending on summer activities, some work may continue but most will wait until then of season.
	April 29, 2009 We are at the end of the work season. Opening day is just 4 days away. This is the last official day to work on the extension for this season. The work train is on the main waiting for the crew to arrive. Hank Welch, Mike Lorance, David Neubauer, Paul Smith, George Loux, Harold Wind, Tom White, and Jim Greathouse headed down to install 57 ties. This brings us to the end of the rail that has been put in place.
With the nice weather and extra track crew help, Hank has prepared to install about 80 more feet of track.
	We expect to have about 900 feet of the new extension complete by mid May. The section still needs to be rocked and leveled. This may not happen until later in the year since the passenger season has opened and all efforts are now on keeping the main line in service.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Hank Welch, Mike Lorance, David Neubauer, and Tom White loaded, via the Bobcat, 15 hopper cars of rock and put it down on the balance of the Extension track that was unballasted. That section was then cross-leveled and tamped.We now have rock (ballast) down on all the track we have put on the Extension. (hopefully we can open this section to the public soon)	Keep sending those post cards and letters. Especially those letters because those post cards don't hold much money. Thanks for your support.
	Help us expand so we can move this sign. Track Extension Donations can be sent to: Track Extension c/o Jim Greathouse 11 Manas Drive Belleville, IL 62226

Stay tuned for more details of the next 3,500 feet of expansion work up Lawler Ford Road.