Western Railroad Discussion > Tacoma Sounder Trestle Update 2/20/2017

I’ve been a little busy the past few days with a milestone in the Sounder trestle project.   On Friday 2/17 at 10:32 am, Sound Transit train 1518 with SDRX 901 on the point, left the Tacoma Dome Station northbound, and crossed the historic 80 year old Milwaukee Road S curve trestle.   The marked the end of service for the trestle and it will be in short order “gone”.   I’m going to do this update in two parts.  The second part  will likely be in a day or two.1) Stepping back a couple of days, on Thursday 2/16 at 2:05 am, the last freight train crossed the trestle.   In a frequently heavy rain, I waited on the “L” Street bridge for the train to arrive after leaving Frederickson.  Earlier in the day we had arranged the spot where the train would stop, for this photo op. 2) The “other side” shot came out a little soft,  the rain made it difficult to focus.
A few days earlier I rode the second to last freight over the trestle and made this time-lapse video, which includes two segments (fast) over the wooden trestle.   https://vimeo.com/2032291733) As noted above the last train to cross is the mid-day Sounder.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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4) Within a few minutes work began to dismantle the steel girder bridge that crosses G street at the west end of the project.  Spikes were pulled and a Swingmaster is dragging the north rail off the bridge.  The bridge did not want to give up it’s rail and there were a couple of tries before the rail started to move.  When it did, it sounded a bit like the anguished cries of a dying animal.

5) Rails are all gone.  In the background  is the new steel bridge that will be slide into place after the old bridge is dismantled.

6) Jaws of death begins to tear into the structure.  It was off to a fast start, as quite a bit of time was spent working on the walkway fencing. Perhaps it was too small for the “teeth”.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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7) After the fencing, Jaws got to work.

8) A preview of what’s to come in the next week or so.

9) The bents didn’t slow Jaws down much

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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10) Next up was the welder to begin torching off pieces to allow the removal of the beams (4) one at a time.

11) This shot was taken just before the heavy torching began, a prelude to lifting the beams out, and illustrates nicely the difference between the old and new.

I’ll have more in a day or two.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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Thanks for posting.

Great pics of a bittersweet event. One Tacoma landmark is removed to make way for another.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Thoroughly interesting post.

Just curious but I see that they did not pull the spikes and or tie plates?
Are they just going to bury them in landfill with everything else?

Nice pics!!

Think that time was the deciding factor here as was much quicker than pulling them.  The street had to be reopened before Monday i would say and they would have to remove them before going to probably a biofuel plant where they are burned.
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> Just curious but I see that they did not pull the
> spikes and or tie plates?
> Are they just going to bury them in landfill with
> everything else?

Fantastic night photography. Sad event in some ways, but progress has it's pluses and minuses.
JB

Thanks for posting this series and the others.  I've enjoyed seeing the progress of this sad event but time arches on.  We appreciate the photos and commentary to record this historic event  

Hey Steve was that you on the L street bridge on 2/13 when train 1509
​came into Tacoma Dome Station ? Somebody was taking some pictures
​while we came through. I was in the Cab Car looking back !

​I did manage a cab car ride on 1522 back to Sumner and took pictures as we
traveled over the old bridge

Good  coverage Steve

Jay
​Sound Transit Afternoon Station Agent @ Sumner
 

Steve, this has been a great series of photos/essays.  Thanks so much for following this step by step and showing not only the engineering progress but the rail evolution.  Much appreciated!

Bruce

I appreciate your efforts, especially in the Tacoma rain.  Thanks for posting.

Looks like this was your train, but I can't really see anyone in the cab car window due to the reflections.


lamta_jay Wrote:
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> Hey Steve was that you on the L street bridge on
> 2/13 when train 1509
> ​came into Tacoma Dome Station ? Somebody was
> taking some pictures
> ​while we came through. I was in the Cab Car
> looking back !
>
> ​I did manage a cab car ride on 1522 back to
> Sumner and took pictures as we
> traveled over the old bridge
>
> Good  coverage Steve
>
> Jay
> ​Sound Transit Afternoon Station Agent @ Sumner
>  

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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Nice work!
Gonut

3rdswitch Wrote, in part:
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> ... Sad event in some
> ways, but progress has it's pluses and minuses.

I think ir's a happy event.  A rickety old wooden trestle that must date back to the 1940s (probably earlier) being replaced by a modern structure able to handle higher speeds and axle loading.  It shows appreciation and interest by someone or some agency that rail infrastructure needs to be updated, and here it's actually being done.

billio Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 3rdswitch Wrote, in part:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ... Sad event in some
> > ways, but progress has it's pluses and minuses.
>
> I think ir's a happy event.  A rickety old wooden
> trestle that must date back to the 1940s (probably
> earlier) being replaced by a modern structure able
> to handle higher speeds and axle loading.  It
> shows appreciation and interest by someone or some
> agency that rail infrastructure needs to be
> updated, and here it's actually being done.

It's a really happy day for me. I am certainly interested in history, but I have spent the past 26 years trying to make this and other simlar things in Washington happen, fighting all the way with relatively little progress. It is really nice to see some of the drawings of a kook turn into concrete and steel.

TAW

TAW