Canadian Railroads > More on the CN trestle fire in Alberta

The National Post has some good photos of the fire today ...

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/rcmp-investigating-after-suspicious-and-dramatic-fire-engulfs-alberta-trestle-bridge

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

Good photos.  I like this sentence at the end   "CN spokeswoman said there were no injuries and train traffic was not affected."  Don't understand how train traffic was not affected

No where in that article did it say if this line was actually used...a fact someone in the comment question also mentioned...

Lots of traffic - forest products, pet prooduct, etc

Mike Root
Madras, OR

Two "scheduled" freights a day plus extra unit trains. The line is CN's Sangudo sub.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/66869919@N04/albums/72157657858805598

-Trevor

rev66vette Wrote:
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> No where in that article did it say if this line
> was actually used...a fact someone in the comment
> question also mentioned...

Of all the photos of this fire as I've seen, none show the deck girder portion
after the fire!

I wonder what that deck girder section looks like now!

Mike

The deck girder is probably sitting on the ground since the wood trestle bents that were holding it up are now ashes.

2720 Wrote:
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> Of all the photos of this fire as I've seen, none
> show the deck girder portion
> after the fire!
>
> I wonder what that deck girder section looks like
> now!
>
> Mike

Here's some video of it from an Edmonton tv station.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2666358/trestle-bridge-fire-in-mayerthorpe-marks-areas-17th-blaze-in-6-days/

Brian

Posted from iPhone

greasemonkey Wrote:
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> Here's some video of it from an Edmonton tv
> station.

Looks like they're wasting no time making preparations for rebuilding.

Ray

greasemonkey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 2720 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Of all the photos of this fire as I've seen,
> none
> > show the deck girder portion
> > after the fire!
> >
> > I wonder what that deck girder section looks
> like
> > now!
> >
> > Mike
>
> Here's some video of it from an Edmonton tv
> station.
>
> http://globalnews.ca/news/2666358/trestle-bridge-f
> ire-in-mayerthorpe-marks-areas-17th-blaze-in-6-day
> s/
>
> Brian
>
> Posted from iPhone

Thank You for this link! I wonder if they will salvage and reuse the girder
portion or if its too far gone.

Mike

I would think that the intense heat probably warped that girder bridge and most likely weakened it too.

I would suspect that the new bridge will be a prestressed modular concrete style---I can't see them rebuilding a wood trestle, even though that one was in good shape.  And yes, heating the steel bridge section means it's too unpredictable to trust anymore, and will likely be cut for scrap on site.
 

You can see in the video that parts of the girder beam are bent from a combination of heat and the fall--it will be totally useless.  I'm betting they'll put in a lot more fill to shorten up the trestle portion which, like DRLOCO suggests, will likely be made of concrete.  There's a good chance, however, that the main span of the crossing will still be made of steel.  It'll be interesting to see what they do but I'll bet they've already got a plan in place...

Keith Robertson
Langley, BC

They may even have a couple "previously owned" deck girder spans in the B&B Materials Yard that could be quickly dropped in to place.

Mayerthorpe Junior Firefighter charged with arson


EDMONTON –  Mayerthorpe, Alta. RCMP have arrested and charged one person in relation to a recent rash of fires in the area, including the blaze which destroyed a CN trestle bridge.

  http://globalnews.ca/news/2672776/mayerthorpe-rcmp-lay-arson-charges-in-relation-to-recent-rash-of-fires/?utm_source=Article&utm_medium=MostPopular&utm_campaign=2014



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/16 05:43 by choodude.

choodude Wrote:
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> Mayerthorpe Junior Firefighter charged with arson

Son of the former mayor, too. Isn't that an interesting development.

On another site, I read that the CN engineering staff was at work on the replacement of this bridge 6 hours after the fire started.

Ray

Thankfully CN can temporarilly re-route it's trains on it's line from Edson to Grande Prairie, AB.

This is how I thought this would end - it was the first thing that came to mind when I heard that there were multiple fires in the area.

​BTW, why do the newscasters continue to use the phrase 'trestle bridge'?  It sounds ridiculous.  It's like saying the 'automobile car' was in a crash. 

P Wrote:
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> ​BTW, why do the newscasters continue to use the
> phrase 'trestle bridge'?

I have the same criticism, but after looking into it, the etymology is far from clear. Some say "trestle" is short for "trestle bridge."

Now this particular structure was a combination of a wood trestle with a steel deck girder span over the river itself, so maybe "trestle bridge" isn't all that wrong!

Ray   

mpaul101 Wrote:
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> Thankfully CN can temporarilly re-route it's
> trains on it's line from Edson to Grande Prairie,
> AB.

My understanding is, that there is no connection with other lines to be able to reroute any trains over.

Brian



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/16 14:28 by greasemonkey.