Prototype Corner - Coming Soon to a Level Crossing Near You (Part One)

This is an artist's concept of what the new underpass will look like.  The view looks south along Adelaide St towards the current level crossing.  Nov 29, 2020.

By Peter Mumby.

Adelaide St is a major north/south traffic artery in London, Ontario.  It also has a level crossing at the west end of the CP London yard.  This creates lots of traffic tie-ups as trains slowly enter the yard or double over prior to leaving.  After years of discussion, the decision has finally been taken to construct an underpass to do away with this bottleneck.  During November, CP was working at rationalizing its trackwork over the level crossing, as this will soon become the top of the upcoming bridge.  Preparatory construction was performed on either side of Adelaide St, and then work at the crossing was done on two consecutive weekends when road traffic was diverted for 48 hours. 

This view looks to the east from the level crossing.  This was taken on Nov 06/20 and illustrates the work that was completed prior to the first weekend shut down.

The job site was well populated on Nov 06.

All trains had to use the south track on Nov 07.

This little trailer could make for a nice modelling project.  Nov 07.

Nov 07 was the day when the "snap track" was installed on the north side of the road crossing.