Steam & Excursion > Articulateds Shadow On The Cliff -Crooked River Bridge!

One of the most impressive railroad structures in the West is the SP&S crossing of the Crooked River on the Oregon Trunk just north of Terrebone, Oregon. This huge structure was designed by the famed engineer Ralph Modjeski in 1911. Despite the fact that materials for the south side along with workers had to be carried across the river and hoisted up so the building could proceed from both sides to the the middle, the structure only took 3 months to complete.

The strength of the bridge is shown here as one of SP&S's big 4-6-6-4 articulated locomotives make a quick trip southboud across the structure one morning in the 1940's. The big Z-6 and her train is no match for the superior strength of the huge arched supports designed by Modjeski.

The bridge today is over 100 years old and, except for some occasional painting, has had no significant repairs despite her daily use by over a dozen heavy freight trains.


Martin



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/14 05:01 by LoggerHogger.

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Three months to build? Today it would take years of consulting, committees, hearings and what not before construction would begin and that would probably take a year or two. Is that progress or what?

Alan,

As a comparison, the new highway bridge built just a few years ago parallel to the OT bridge at the same spot took over 3 YEARS to build!

Martin

masterphots Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Three months to build? Today it would take years
> of consulting, committees, hearings and what not
> before construction would begin and that would
> probably take a year or two. Is that progress or
> what?

Not to mention EIRs...

As a comparison, Santa Fe started surveying for the current bridge across the Colorado River at Topock, AZ in 1940, construction began in September 1942, and the bridge finally opened to traffic in March 1945. I'm going to guess that The Greatest Generation(TM) moved things along as quickly as possible, what with The Axis breathing down their necks and the importance of the Santa Fe to moving war materiel. So even back when America was perfect, lead wasn't toxic, all children were above average, the sunshine was brighter, etc., it could still take five years to build a bridge...

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> Alan,
>
> As a comparison, the new highway bridge built just
> a few years ago parallel to the OT bridge at the
> same spot took over 3 YEARS to build!
>
> Martin


Oh yes that is true but the nice thing about the new bridge is being able to walk out onto the old one and see the canyon without getting run over by cars. And also look at the railroad bridge. I use the rest area almost every time I go on highway 97. One thing I cannot do is go to the edge of the canyon at the rest area just one of those things.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a comparison, Santa Fe started surveying for
> the current bridge across the Colorado River at
> Topock, AZ in 1940, construction began in
> September 1942, and the bridge finally opened to
> traffic in March 1945. I'm going to guess that
> The Greatest Generation(TM) moved things along as
> quickly as possible, what with The Axis breathing
> down their necks and the importance of the Santa
> Fe to moving war materiel. So even back when
> America was perfect, lead wasn't toxic, all
> children were above average, the sunshine was
> brighter, etc., it could still take five years to
> build a bridge...


I suspect a steel and a labor shortage may have played a roll.

Martin's 3 months does not include design and planning, just construction.

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/14 09:43 by BCHellman.

I have a friend here, now retired, who used to be on a traveling BN bridge crew in the 80s. They once got word that there was a large ball hanging from that bridge. As I remember, they went out there and found some 'artists' creation hanging from the middle of it and cut it down. Maybe someone else has a better recollection of the details.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/14 09:43 by roustabout.

masterphots Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Three months to build? Today it would take years
> of consulting, committees, hearings and what not
> before construction would begin and that would
> probably take a year or two. Is that progress or
> what?

They didn't have to worry about work place safety nor about proper disposal of materials.

Posted from Android

LoggerHogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the most impressive railroad structures in
> the West is the SP&S crossing of the Crooked River
> on the Oregon Trunk just north of Terrebone,
> Oregon. This huge structure was designed by the
> famed engineer Ralph Modjeski in 1911. Despite
> the fact that materials for the south side along
> with workers had to be carried across the river
> and hoisted up so the building could proceed from
> both sides to the the middle, the structure only
> took 3 months to complete.
>

If I recall the bridge wasn't actually completed before the SP&S ran trains as they only installed half the rivets. They finished installing the rivets while the bridge was in service. Did the three months include finishing of the bridge?

Posted from Android

As I recall, without looking up the details, American Bridge Co. built the two famed arch bridges for Simpson Logging Co. in 1928 in a matter of months, not years.

Martin, thanks for the incredible photo; that is the largest power I've ever seen a photo of on that bridge.

The AAR has an excellent video of BNSF maintenance of that bridge. Go to : freightrailworks.org, then click on "innovation + safety" along the top, then below find "bridging America : maintaining our rail bridges" with a photo of a woman in a yellow hard hat. Click there to see the fascinating two minute video. Be sure to wear a safety belt while watching if you are afraid of heights. I did.

Rich

I thought this portion of the line was owned by the GREAT NORTHERN RY., not the SP&S.

coach Wrote:
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> I thought this portion of the line was owned by
> the GREAT NORTHERN RY., not the SP&S.

The Great Northern started at Bend and ran south (including on trackage rights over the Southern Pacific between Chemult and Klamath Falls) to meet the Western Pacific.

Very good Evan. B

Also remember that steel bridges in that era came partly assembled in gondolas. Prefabed at the American Bridge or Chicago Bridge etc factories in the midwest.  All you usually see is statements like the three months to "build"..plus the onsite work, the plans for footings and factory work..plus shipping time.. However I love to rub these numbers on the nose of my county street engineers for how long it takes to get a simple street bridge replaced.
Roger Beckett