Western Railroad Discussion > Sims Bridge Update

Attached are two pictures of the damage to the truss span and the derailed wood chip car that got tangled up in the truss. It appears this car may have struck the Truss End Post as the train moved north through the bridge.
The good news is the truss span did not collapse and it would appear that the wood-chip car was the only car that struck the truss members.

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poor timimg

Lots going on there! Looks like the impact ripped the floor from the center sill and jerked the bulkhead 90* to the side of car.

Notable scribbles:
Witch Hat '07.
TUNKS '11.

Posted from Android

Wow. That's the down side of any through truss.

Any signs of derailment leading into the bridge? I guess that 40 something year old chip gon was minding it's own business when the bridge jumped out and caught it.

This is the bridge north side of the tunnel...southbound train?

Sphogger

sphogger Wrote:
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> This is the bridge north side of the
> tunnel...southbound train?
>
> Sphogger

Northbound train.

Thank you very much for those two fantastic
pictures! How on earth did you get them?
That is what I and others wanted to see --
exactly what happened to that beautiful
bridge. Thanbk you!

Man -- just look as how one part of the wood-chip
car was bent into a "U"! The force involved
to do that was huge!

I HOPE the UP just repairs it so the bridge's
beautiful and classic appearance is not changed,
but they will do what they need to do. 30 days
to get the whole thing done sounds reasonable.

Here are some excellent aerial photos of the train
and the bridge and the river -- which puts this
derailment into context -- from a link in a post
on AltamontPress,com:

http://imgur.com/gallery/5vW49

"These things happen," as a co-worker liked to say.

They would need a 'donor' bridge for those parts. They built them in small interchangeable pieces back in the day, but you still need the pieces.

Concrete bridge in the near future?

Posted from Android

sphogger Wrote:
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> This is the bridge north side of the
> tunnel...southbound train?
>
> Sphogger

It is the south bridge and the train was northbound.

NB on the South bridge makes more sense. Tunnel must be behind photographer. No cars on the ground in the tunnel I assume.

Sphogger

sphogger Wrote:
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> NB on the South bridge makes more sense. Tunnel
> must be behind photographer. No cars on the
> ground in the tunnel I assume.
>
> Sphogger


In the second picture you can see the signal for North Sims. I don't believe anything derailed in the tunnel.

My guess is Union Pacific will replace this bridge with a reinforced concrete deck bridge. Anyone know the span?

SantaFeRuss

Posted from Android

Drone images...

http://www.mtshastanews.com/article/20170426/NEWS/170429677 (may be same as in another thread post)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/17 17:29 by Graybeard1942.

The bridge that was damaged is at milepost 310.34. The train that derailed was on the ground starting at milepost 309.61 and working up to milepost 311.05. Three different points in the train are derailed, a total of 19 cars.

Also today, the carrier has abolished the entire Roseville-Dunsmuir pools for the crews. This ain't going to be a quick fix...

Any word on the Klamath Falls crew pool? How many are Gateway certified?

All it needs is a good welder with a come-along and a few pounds of 7016 rod.

Graybeard1942 Wrote:
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> Any word on the Klamath Falls crew pool? How many
> are Gateway certified?

Dunsmuir-Klamath Falls pool hasn't been touched, yet. Unknown what their plans are for it at this point. Nobody on the UP side is qualified on the BNSF Gateway Sub. BNSF crews would have to man the UP Z trains between Klamath Falls and Keddie.

Someone on the Passenger Board mentioned it will be 30 days before the line is open. Took them less time to get bridge fixed last year in Texas!

Valleyman

That'll leave a mark. Will the bridge be replaced? Glad no one got hurt.

Posted from iPhone