Western Railroad Discussion > Better days at Sims, CA

I guess you can file this in the "you can't predict the future" department. At the time I took these 3 shots, my focus was on the soon to fall searchlights, particularly the cool little dwarf seen in two of the three images below. While the bridge indeed added to the interest factor for me, at the time I am sure I figured it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Time will tell if that was a faulty assumption on my part... (I'll decline to speculate on what UP will or won't do to fix the bridge).

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Nice Shots of the Searchlights.

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

You are right James, you never know when something we see today becomes a historic treasure tomorrow! Great shots as usual. Thanks for your energy and dedication in documenting these old searchlights while recognizing how quickly the landscape can change!

Posted from iPhone

VERY nice shots, sir!! Lots of neat things in those
great photos -- the beautiful green trees, the classic
old through=truss bridge, searchlights, a tunnel portal,
a control box for the switch, and even a dwarf signal.
But what is that large yellow thing right in the middle
of two of the three photos? Wonder why that is there?
Aren't all those large things always scarlet and grey? <G!>



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/17 16:13 by Margaret_SP_fan.

Touche! Of course, you could argue that I wrote "better" days at Sims, not "best" days. For the latter, I defer to generations prior to me...

Margaret_SP_fan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> VERY nice shots, sir!! Lots of neat things in
> those
> great photos -- the beautiful green trees, the
> classic
> old through=truss bridge, searchlights, a tunnel
> portal,
> and even a dwarf signal. But what is that large
> yellow
> thing right in the middle of each photo? Wonder
> why that
> is there? Aren't all those large things supposed
> to be
> scarlet and grey?

I'm attaching 2 pictures of the progress on the damaged Truss Span
1) the temporary Steel bent is installed so the wood-chip car can be removed.
2) The damaged End post has been removed along with the hangar and the damaged "I" bars. It would appear that the bottom chord that is bent will be jacked up and straightened to restore it to its original position.
Note the position on the remaining piece of the end post ( the diagonal member on the right side of the picture ) this is rotated 90 degrees out and should be parallel with the other end post in the back ground , also the bottom chord has been separated from the bottom of that end post.
Many repairs remain to be addressed but now that the car has been removed and the steel crews can access the bridge and those damaged members, progress should really start to ramp up. It will be interesting to see this truss restored to operation but that work is not impossible. Given this location and lack of access and permitting required to replace the structure. The plan sounds like to most timely option.
More Later

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Bridge3guy --
Thank you very much or the fascinating photos
and information! I wish the crews well in their
repair on this classic old bridge.

I second Margaret's comments!

OK boys...Looks like we got some fabbin to do!

Dick Samuels

Great documentation on those target signals, I sure neglected those beauties on the Coastline and the Tehachapis in the 90s.

Magaret,

The yellow thing is the date that the bridge was built.
The center photo you can read 1929 nicely. A lot the SP bridges have the date in the same place. Do not know why this bridge pained in yellow?

Rex

Where is the wood chip car now?

Great photos.

Ronda Thomas

Graybeard1942 Wrote:
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> Where is the wood chip car now?


Wood chip car heaven.

ACL3012 Wrote:
> Magaret,
>
> The yellow thing is the date that the bridge was
> built.

LOLOL!

> The center photo you can read 1929 nicely. A lot
> the SP bridges have the date in the same place. Do
> not know why this bridge pained in yellow?
>
> Rex

It does not look yellow to me -- :) Looks like the usual
rust color. I was having fun -- poking fun at Uncle Pete
running things now, instead of my beloved Southern Pacific. :)

James --
Ahhhh...... So you DO know how to take pictures in the
daytime, after all! LOLOL! GREAT photos, sir, as usual!

Should mention that Dobbas loaded up two sidebooms yesterday and moved them back south, probably to their yard. Surprising how large those things are when you try to pass one on the freeway.

Thanks for all the info on this and the prior thread, especially the pix. A couple of the fans in our group of mostly retired SPers are civil engineers and we have been busy second guessing the guys actually doing the work. From an engineering standpoint it is a fascinating challenge. I'm not an engineer myself, but I wonder how much all the twisting and bending might have compromised the strength of the structural members still in place. An interesting project, keep the info coming. And thanks to James for the great "before" pix.

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/17 18:30 by jbwest.