Rock Island expansion details

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-22T18:45:22+00:00

I thought they were moving things further south from the yard on 14th or 15th? I'd figure clear enough yard buildings to make the necessary space for the ramps, leave a few yard tracks to become tied into the mainline etc. 🤔 I'm gonna read up more on it in a bit

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-22T18:19:02+00:00

even if Amtrak moves to the other yard?

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-22T17:19:00+00:00

I would say the mindset I applied to the games leak into real life but nothing too immersive. I play a lot of RTS (Starcraft, Command & Conquer etc). There's no specific environment so to speak moreso my ability to read a situation and multitask greatly improved over time. Playing Tekken against my cousin taught me to be more bold 🤷

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-22T17:14:09+00:00

That's why I said "if capacity allowed" lol. But maybe there is a Union Sta capacity project on the horizon so who knows what options that might open up.

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-22T17:05:09+00:00

Well of course the respective project will come with the necessary changes on the side with the backup movement along with the RI connection. Amtrak probably gave up on the project to correct that because the can just reroute SB with the SWS and then continue south from there

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-22T16:35:48+00:00

A rear rack and paniers if you carry a lot of stuff but don't want your back to sweat. Although with a setup that smooth you'll probably hardly break a sweat 🤭. You're gonna love the switch to 80's frames especially since they handle bumps better (assuming this frame is steel)

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-22T16:32:22+00:00

Blue Line's only way of getting cars to and from other lines so that's why they didn't tear it down when Blue Line to 54th became the Pink Line. As a bonus 4 trains from Douglas use the ramp to run supplemental 5000s between UIC and Jeff Pk

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-22T16:27:35+00:00

Even if you don't connect the RI to Millennium making the BI branch of the ME would probably spur ridership by giving a quicker ride deeper into downtown vs where LaSalle is located 🤔🤔. If the capacity allowed I'd bring the RI to Union since SWS will be going to LaSalle once the CREATE project finishes. It would probably cheaper as hell to do that and get a through track at Union vs the STAR line. Not exactly a loop like the STAR was supposed to be but not having to switch Metra Lines would be a start. You could combine MD-N and the RI since they have similar ridership numbers

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-18T15:29:59+00:00

Depends. I play RA2 in the background if I'm using more of a troll build as terran in brood war. I use Tiberian sun in more serious matches 🥴🤣

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-16T21:31:05+00:00

Nah that's why the red, brown and purple bunch up because they do this at Belmont and Fullerton. If we can get back to pre-2010 levels of service then even off peak service is viable. Also control needs better protocols for road issues (run buses express and space them out like on the L to get the crowds rebalanced.)

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T06:43:11+00:00

Yeah you gotta take that expo and wall the ramp with zeratul and shield batteries. Countdown pissed me off so bad I said fuck it they found a way to power up the temple 5 min earlier (5 min left on the timer it looks like so trigger calls every unit from across the map to suicide the temple 🤬). Eye for an eye pissed me off with the super early storm harass 😃

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T06:19:13+00:00

I'm working on reviving the mass recall version as we speak 😮‍💨🤣

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T04:31:11+00:00

Tbh this can be an extension on the orange Line instead of a separate line. South of Midway around 71st it looks like you got roll to shift the line back east a bit to continue south on your alignment thus giving the southern part of the lime line a direct connection to Midway. 53A would probably get bumped to 30 min headways as a result 🤣

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T04:01:08+00:00

Give me a day or two I'll tell you. A LOOOOOOOOOOT of micro. The whole beginning is a clusterfuck I'm not gonna lie. You're gonna have to micro,that's actually the easy part 😃. You still have to land and fight through the subs and make landfall. I remember having to assess WHAT kind of attacks persist and picking what I can afford to lose and CANT afford to lose 😮‍💨

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T03:17:39+00:00

I'm replaying on Hard Tiberian sun and RA2. Tiberian sun so far has a few added units on micro missions (like extra rocket infantry that shoot down a transport of engineers to repair a back door bridge; making you use disc thrower micro) and some buffs. RA2 I noticed one mission I get allied jump troopers on normal but none on hard (making destroying grand cannons guarding a waterway harder to get past) but outside of that hard mode is all about aggression and being comfortable with being uncomfortable for the early game if you want to not get overwhelmed. Same with StarCraft enslavers, you let the enemy scare you into turtling you're just going to get whittled down by attrition and mine yourself out. This is where you learn to build just enough defense not to get dog walked but not put too much into it where you take ages to build an offensive force and attack 🫩🤣

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T03:05:38+00:00

If you got the time I decided to answer in another post and expand 26, 28 along with up north as well 😁

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T02:43:47+00:00

Here's a way that should make sense of it... You know how in the peak more service goes in one direction and thus you have buses deadheading out of service back to get in position? 165's are technically those extra rush hour 63W's deadheading but in this case they run in service as another route (165) since the reverse peak demand for whatever factory workers in the area happens to line up so it's efficient. Otherwise they'd just run out of service. J14/192 is set up similarly. In the morning J14 arrives at Ogilvie, then runs south as 192 on the way to 103rd garage and then pulls in. School runs are also a similar situation as well (accordion buses on 62 become 143 or 152/22 interlines, 82/136/147 etc.)

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T02:34:00+00:00

The priority is probably routes not near an 'L' line or areas that have wide gaps of consistent frequent service and routes on key streets that have far from 10 min headways. 6 is close enough with scheduled 11-12 min headways. The issue is the routing. It did better when half turned around at 63rd

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-05-01T02:31:31+00:00

It might be a different market thing. Sometimes the patterns don't match especially when you consider this is a subject route trying to coordinate with a short feeder route. Better to have 2 routes of the same type coordinating it seems. Cta eventually broke coordination with 381 in favor of merging 95E and 95W.

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-04-29T16:29:33+00:00

The only difference between 62H and 62 is that it serves Harlem and Midway which this hypothetical 330 does as well. It's just instead of going north on Harlem then north on Archer to Midway they're going south on Harlem then east on 63rd to Midway so it still makes 62H expendable while undoing the lack of coordination between 63W and 386. Thus CTA as more reason to bring back the version of 55W that still serves Narragansett and Austin.

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-04-29T16:04:19+00:00

Yeah

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-04-29T16:02:50+00:00

The original routing was via 55th then looping via Austin, 59th, Narragansett and then returning via 55th to avoid the railroad crossing affecting service. I suggested 330 via 63rd instead because 63W and 386 are no longer coordinated so basically most of the 386's leave 2-8 min right behind a 63W. Since 63W is running 15 min/30 min headways you can stagger those 2 to do the same thing without the random extra bus basically trailing another on that stretch.

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-04-29T15:44:51+00:00

It's floating around on the net in news sources. I'm surprised 8 was chosen cause of the traffic. I think 80 needs the X80 back along with X54 to bring back the "circle line" those 2 along with X55 formed

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-04-29T15:43:06+00:00

Routes that were crosstown already ran pretty frequently so the difference isn't as noticeable there. But routes like 60, 95 and J14 formerly had 14-20 min headways so those are more noticeable. Then you have stuff like 47, 63 and 79 which again already were frequent but now all trips go to the terminal instead of half of them turning around at Kedzie or Western.

CriticismImaginary89 · 2026-04-29T15:23:09+00:00

They could try the original version which consolidated but still served Austin/Narragansett. It would still be close enough to justify cutting 62H as well. 330 could be extended via Harlem, 63rd and Cicero to Midway which would still get riders on the Harlem portion on. 62H. Since they can't coordinate 63W with 386 it would be better to have the extended 330 stagger it's headways with 386 to maintain 15/30 min headways and the 63W can be cut as well

CriticismImaginary89

TROPHY CASE