Western Railroad Discussion > Major Track Damage at East Minturn on Tennessee Pass

My friend and I saw this on the south/east side of Minturn yesterday. It apparently happened within the last five weeks, since I was last there. There were two boulders, one laying on the tracks, and another one that had hit the tracks and tumbled into the ditch on the west side. I believe the boulder laying in the ditch cut both tracks in half. One of the boulders was roughly 10 feet tall and 12 feet wide, and that was the smallest one! Oh, and apparently a prankster had been there before us.

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More pics below.
 

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More pics.
 

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One more.
 

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Guess they won't run any trains today ;-}

Besides the rock, could a trip by speeder be done on this route?

Posted from iPhone

So did your heart stop for a moment?  Or not.
Interesting to see the damage it wrought!

That is massive.  I suppose this is the kind of stuff UP has to deal with on the Moffat Route on a regular basis.

Nice coverage.

Back east abit more on the same line, along the Pueblo Reservoir, they had a large boulder come down on the tracks just east of Hobson. At the time, a 5mph slow order was in place to get over this one.  Parts of the boulder were still there when we went past, half on the north side, the other on the south or Res/River side. Made quite a "dent" in the track from what I was told.  Lot's of places along this line for this to happen.  Ben 

CPRR Wrote:
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> Besides the rock, could a trip by speeder be done
> on this route?
>
> Posted from iPhone

It could possibly be done, but UP wouldn't allow it.

Todd
Dodge City, KS

snap

Those boulders look in the 200+ton range!

I wonder how far they rolled, to get to and obliterate
the 2 tracks!

We encountered lots of boulders while clearing the Carriso Gorge
on the SD&AE, but none this large!

Mike



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/15 19:38 by 2720.

Nice touch.

Just when did the coyote start wearing jeans, anyway?  Was the road runner still in the area?

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

I've seen track damage like this repaired in a few hours.  "Pop" the rock with explosives, mover the debris out of the way with a Pettibone, re-align the track with the Pettibone or off-track equipment, re-spike the rail, put in temporary joints, tamp it a bit, and run some trains.  In that sense, I would not call it "major" track damage.  A local section gang would usually handle something like this.  By the way, most  D&RGW section foremen 20 or 30 years ago were "powder monkeys"--qualified to use explosives in situations just like this.  "Just another day at the office" for them.  Common comment from them in a situation like this, "Well, I guess that we'll have to go make a little noise here in a little bit."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/15 13:17 by WW.

as they used to say in Britain..



."well, that's torn it""


refering to ...an unexpected event or circumstance has upset one's plans  

rock n roll   did you look for its path

Interesting pics!! Thanks for posting.

That happened in the spring of 2014.

T