Western Railroad Discussion > The Progress on "Progress" 4

Continued...

Today's work was fairly simple.

Photo 1.  They were up early and completed the barrier that will allow them to work on the tracks separately.  I didn't wander up until I was fully caffeinated.  By that time they'd cleared a trench that exposed the bridge deck below.
Photo 2.   It's a little difficult to make out but, as I'd said earlier, there are actually 2 bridges side by side.  You can just make out the separation under the toe of the man on the right.
Photo 3.   With a chainsaw two openings were cut in the decking.

Photo 4.   A close up of one of the two holes.  Cables will fed through these holes and form a sling under the track.  The rail will be cut, and the section lifted clear.  This will happen on Monday- should be interesting!
Photos 5&6.  Everybody clear.  Two trains come through- #5 and then an EB freight.

Photo 7.   Back to work- the holes are covered, and the trench back filled (For safety).  They'll dig it back out on Monday.
Photos 8-10.  More trains go by...

The rest of the day will be spent rearranging everything for Monday.  I'll take a look later, and if there's anything interesting about that I'll add some photos- but I kinda doubt it'll be all that photogenic.
Otherwise-  I'll pick this up on Monday.
SR

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Somebody will be sharpening chainsaw blades tonight LOL

Dave

Nice photojournalism and documenting of an important but overlooked section of the railroads -- the B&B stuff. I really enjoy this. Someday maybe I can visit some to the sites and vistas that SR shows us!

Bruce
Columbia MO

Super job, Boiling Man. I'm looking forward to the next post.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO

Excellent commentary and superb images!@

GBW309 Wrote:
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> Somebody will be sharpening chainsaw blades
> tonight LOL
>
> Dave

I was thinking the same! ...or more likely just buying a new chain

Actually he cut through with surprising ease. I had asked them to leave in a few rocks, as it would make for better photos (they, of course, think I’m f’n hilarious). The most amazing thing was how strong the smell of creosote was- those timbers were buried nearly 100yrs!
SR

Coach: so far it’s creosoted oak. No redwood (yet).

Old growth redwood would have a real challenge to impregnate with creosote. The extractive content of the redwood heartwood was much higher than that of today's 2nd and 3rd growth redwood. And pressure treating is really only effective on sapwood. So I would not be surprised to find out that the timber were oak-- probably red oak which treats better than white oaks. Then the fact that the timber have been buried has functionally sealed them off from normal evaporation processes. I am also willing to bet that when those timbers were treated, environmental regulations and such were not even a twinkle in Al Gore's eye so the philosophy was closer to pumping as much preservative into them as possible -- and then pump some more!

Bruce ( a retired wood technologist)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/18 08:26 by BCutter.

But did they use redwood for this type of construction?  I've heard redwood was used in the snowsheds and for piles on the Lucin Trestle. 
SR

They're doing both sides under traffic???? I would think they'd shut down one track and work on it
until finished. Can they do this? Is this project in the beginning phase? It seems it's going to
be very complicated to do this.

I've enjoyed seeing the photos on this. Thanks for posting.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

They may have used redwood since it would have been locally available. There are folks at at either UC Berkeley Forest Products Lab or Humboldt State that can identify the wood for sure is you can get a sample. A small piece about 1" x 1" would be plenty. Or you may know folks around your area that are good with wood ID. Old growth redwood would have had a high enough extractive content to minimize the need for treating in most cases.

Bruce

Yes- both tracks are open, and trains are passing at track speed (about 35).  A section of Track 1 will be cut out on Monday.  I think they have a 12hr window.  They'll go until 2AM, they say- and snow is called for that day too!  I plan to see the whole thing through, should make for some cool photos.
SR

BoilingMan, I'm really enjoying this thread and your photos. It's amazing how much thought, preparation, and work goes into something that appears to be a simple little bridge or culvert. I own a piece of property along the UP / SI up in northern Idaho, and share a property corner with the UP and a 30 foot wide drainage ditch called Hoodoo Creek. It's been a while now, but I think I remember it being in the 1990s, the railroad replaced a wooden trestle across the creek with an all new, concrete one. Like you, I photographed as much of the process as I could while still working thirty miles away. I watched as they pounded in the concrete octagonal pilings that are two feet across the flats and eighty feet long. Our valley is a huge wetlands and the first piles went down without much resistance. They capped them with heavy steel caps, and stacked on another pile. Most of the second one also disappeared in the muck. We've got about 3-5 feet of black peat soil on top of white/gray volcanic ash that supposedly came from Mount Mazama ( Crater Lake), many moons ago. Ancient floods in our area flushed the volcanic ash into the low lands, and nobody knows how deep it is. The pilings never seated on anything solid down there, and the crew said that surface friction on their sides was what was holding up the bridge. After many weeks of casting concrete across the pilings and casting abutments, they finally were ready to cap the bridge. Two UP rail cranes carried the pieces of the new bridge straddling the creek, and held them in the air while the old bridge was cut away and the rail unbolted in the space. The new concrete bridge was lowered in place and trains were soon moving again. Was very interesting. I'll have to dig out my photos.

Thanks for sharing your story,

Craig Hanson
Vay, Idaho