Western Railroad Discussion > Colorado Flood 2013

After heavy rains delivered records amount of rain fall in the Denver Area, I ventured out to see what kind damage has been done on BNSF and the surrounding area. When I arrived to the center of town, it was certainly something that I thought I would never see. Parts of the BNSF tracks in town were submerged in water while some areas stayed dry for the most part. After exploring and grabbing shots of the area by the East Yard and Depot in Longmont, I headed north towards Berthoud where the Little Thompson Creek turned into a raging river and washed away part of the trestle at MP 53 outside of town. Contractors arrived on the scene to start the clean up work on the county road that parallels the BNSF track into Berthoud. The road bridge was also taken out by the raging waters. I spoke to a BNSF employee at the depot that arrived to assist the damage and he told me that BNSF plans on working over the weekend doing repairs, etc and have trains rolling again either on Monday or Tuesday.

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1) BNSF's East Yard.

2) BNSF's Buck Local power on the house track. I heard the C&S Depot was submerged with two feet of water which means the traction motors on the three units park are pretty much useless.

3) Looking west from the depot at the Main St. Crossing.

There's more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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4) A bicyclist crosses the BNSF track on Main St. and 1st Ave in Longmont, CO.

5) A BNSF Maintenance of Way employees at the BNSF depot.

6) Bridge out at MP 53 near Berthoud, CO.

A couple more...

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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7 & 8) Some more of the wash out.

Thanks for looking!

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

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This is why we need steam back. In the old days a steamer could run down the track with out the fire going out

Posted from iPhone

CPRR Wrote:
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> This is why we need steam back. In the old days a
> steamer could run down the track with out the fire
> going out
>
> Posted from iPhone


Yes! Bring back the steamers!

Steam is really pointless in these cases. Sure, a steam engine can run over submerged track, but if you come across a washout that you can't see under the water, you're toast!

John thanks for the coverage. Have been wondering how bad it was since all we know from here is they got lots of rain.

Great Photos! I wonder how much of this water will end up in lake Powell and Lake Mead or does it run off to the east?

The flooding is on the eastern side of the Divide. Water going to the Mississippi eventually.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO

Been over that bridge many times. Sad to see it down. Hope it don't get concreted....

Seems like almost every bridge along the C&S from Boulder to Loveland is in trouble. Great coverage of Longmont!

Nice set John!

John, thank you for the coverage. SAd to hear about the loss of life and hope the flooding does not worsen.
John

Thanks everyone for the comments. Fortunately, where I live in Longmont, I am on a hill and away from flood waters. Such a sad sight to see all around. I found aerial coverage of Longmont and Lyons and it's unbelievable. Unfortunately, officials are worried about tonight and tomorrow as forecast shows for more rain.

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

FrontRangeTrains Wrote:
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> Thanks everyone for the comments. Fortunately,
> where I live in Longmont, I am on a hill and away
> from flood waters. Such a sad sight to see all
> around. I found aerial coverage of Longmont and
> Lyons and it's unbelievable. Unfortunately,
> officials are worried about tonight and tomorrow
> as forecast shows for more rain.

Glad to hear your home is unaffected, John. Hope you and the rest of the Colorado contingent on here remain safe and dry.

Though we haven't had the heavy rains as long in duration up here, we have had some heavy storms and been under flood watches also. If I get a chance tomorrow I may head over to the BN and check north of here. We do not have the bridges on the old C&S like there are in Colorado so I believe we may be ok here in WY. There were bad storms again last night with lots of rain.

I wonder if the DP is open. BNSF could reroute to Denver over the UP if they are open.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Bob3985 Wrote:
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> Though we haven't had the heavy rains as long in
> duration up here, we have had some heavy storms
> and been under flood watches also. If I get a
> chance tomorrow I may head over to the BN and
> check north of here. We do not have the bridges on
> the old C&S like there are in Colorado so I
> believe we may be ok here in WY. There were bad
> storms again last night with lots of rain.
>
> I wonder if the DP is open. BNSF could reroute to
> Denver over the UP if they are open.

Unfortunately, the UP has suffered a wash out in La Salle yesterday on the DP so the UP is shut down from Denver to Speer for the time being.

John Crisanti
Longmont, CO

In pic #7, what is the purpose of the square with the X nailed to the ties between the rails??

UP is starting to reroute trains over the Julesburg sub to sterling, then BNSF to Denver. Also shows a UP train out of Denver. If the bridge over the S Platte at Hillrose can hold up, it will save a lot of traffic.

Posted from iPhone

I have a question about the drainage of all that water. Does the floodwater head east north of Denver, or does it go south through Denver? In other words, does the river past downtown Denver flow north or south?