Western Railroad Discussion > Damage from the Colorado Floods

Was able to get a few pictures with my phone today.

1)Siding at Milliken on the Great Western Railway that was full of Frac sand cars from the BNSF. At least 10 cars on their sides.

2)Washout on Union Pacific's Greeley Main just North of La Salle. The washout is between a small bridge that was over a Irrigation Canal (seen here) and the bridge over the South Platte River.

3)The South Platte River bridge with water flowing at the bottom of the bridge for the full length of the bridge! In heavy runoff during normal conditions, the River MAYBE takes up about 1/4 of this bridge and is at least 10 feet under the bridge. To see this much water flowing through here, Indescribable!

Three More posted below......................

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4)Another view of the Washout at La Salle

Not Railroad related, but these 2 were shot looking the other way.

One More of a Moffat Washout Posted Below......................

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Got this from a friend. It was shot from a Jefferson County Sheriff's helicopter surveying the damage. This is between Tunnel #2 (seen on the left) and Tunnel #3

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Incredible photos...you could expect something like this to happen in the spring when a heavy rain combined with snowmelt would create these amounts of water but to have this happen in mid-September is simply amazing!

Thanks for all these views. An aerial view showed the UP line across the field behind the turned-over frac sand cars (at a different angle) completely overrun with water for a good half-mile and the bridge back there washed out on both sides. According to a picture, the D&RGW fill in that last photo I believe was a trestle when first built by D&SL, then filled in and replaced with a culvert at some later date. A tricky place to do anything, not much under the tracks there! === === = === JLH

Great coverage, John. It will be at least a week before they get everything put back. We were watching the TV yesterday. A lot of damage just around La Salle and Evans. The river today (Sat) was not up that high near Merino. It will probably hit that area sometime Sunday morning. I have a feeling that the BNSF will lose the old UP mainline around Merino to Atwood.

Great images. Just show you how much force Mother Nature has. We haven't heard much about today. We had rain coming back to Aurora, this evening.

Gary A. Rich
Aurora, CO

I was thinking of heading up to Greeley but have been too busy running reroutes. Great pics! Its crazy what water can do. I'm really curious to see what the morning brings and if the Hillrose bridge can survive. If UP's bridge can't, I doubt BNSF's can. The Moffat pic presents an interesting challenge. That's a lot of fill to get the track back to normal.

Wow.
JB

Often wondered if Bull Gulch still had a trestle under the fill. Guess not.

Wow, that Moffat damage will take a while. Rough area to get too

SD45X Wrote:
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> Often wondered if Bull Gulch still had a trestle
> under the fill. Guess not.


Its just got washed away. ;-)

DTrainshooter Wrote:
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> Incredible photos...you could expect something
> like this to happen in the spring when a heavy
> rain combined with snowmelt would create these
> amounts of water but to have this happen in
> mid-September is simply amazing!


Snowmelt in Colorado brings the stream flows up, but not as much as these rainstorms produced.
And, fortunately, the Colorado foothills do not have a history of heavy spring rains during April and May at the times of maximum snowmelt.

Wow, I sure hope the rain ends.
John

All amazing images.

Question about the last one. With the tracks the highest point on the fill and the stream, or run-off stream, passing thru a culvert, how does a washout occur without the water appearing to have risen to track level? Pressure behind fill? Leak in culvert? "Soft" dirt in the fill around the culvert where the water found the weak spot? Or something I have not thought about?

Jay

Fill failed with water unmining the subsurface and if the culvert is blocked from a rock slide, then water just backs up and does the same and the fill fails

WOOOOOOW..... Interesting pics!!!! Thanks for sharing.

I think it's time for UP too reopen the Tennessee Pass line because it's going too be a-long time for UP too fix the Moffet Tunnel line and too put it back into service.

Alex Schmollinger
Dallas Tx

An civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers once told me that earthen structures (levees, etc.)sometimes fail because of animal tunneling inside the structure. When the water pressure reaches its peak, the structure has become a "sponge" and simply collapses under its own watered-down weight. Then the water being held back washes through and makes the opening much wider.

bmarti7 Wrote:
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> An civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers
> once told me that earthen structures (levees,
> etc.)sometimes fail because of animal tunneling
> inside the structure. When the water pressure
> reaches its peak, the structure has become a
> "sponge" and simply collapses under its own
> watered-down weight. Then the water being held
> back washes through and makes the opening much
> wider.

Have not thought of that, but it makes sense. I amazed at the number of ground hogs we have around the embankments along the highways here in Acworth, GA.

Jay