Western Railroad Discussion > More Logan, NM better times more recent

On September 25, 2009, a UP westbound with 3 special units crosses the ex-Rock Island steel trestle over the Canadian River at Logan, NM. This involved some luck as my son and I drove from Ft. Collins, CO all night long to get to this bridge for this consist. When we showed up, the sun angle was right over the tracks, making for a bad picture. I knew the train was getting close and remarked "I sure wish he was 2 hours later", so that the sun would have had time to swing around. To our amazement, the train was stopped at the very next siding for Maintenance of Way - - For two hours! It was one time I did not mind kicking rocks and waiting. Thank you, UP!  
Hope the old bridge was not damaged too much. We were brainstorming about how to prevent this, and came up with attaching a windblock of braces and substantial sheet metal of sufficient height above the rails onto the girders vertically at the side clearance point to the upwind side of the bridge, if it could be determined that the bridge could take the lateral wind stresses. It would look like hell for photos, but might be practical and " U  N  I  O  N    P  A  C  I  F  I  C " could be painted across it for advertising. Good or bad idea? If this bridge were ever to need replacing, I would bet it would be of concrete box-beam construction very similar to UP's new Kate Shelley bridge in Iowa, then it could be engineered to accept the lateral stresses of a wind blocker. === === = === JLH



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 09:41 by highgreengraphics.

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Great shot! You can't get many more colors of equipment and scenery than that!

Great shot!!

Larry

Beautiful shot!

Hat trick! Excellent photo. Dare I say IOTD?

Not much water kayaking and no rapids.

       Doubt a 'wall' could be built that is strong enough and light enough to attach to the bridge ( if the bridge was strong enough to with stand the force of the windwall ) that would be economical enough to do anything.

Great picture and well-worth the travel and wait.  Gerry

Great shot. Getting the wind breaker would be a tough sell to the UP Board at this time in corporate life; i.e. OP Ratio only consideration.

Don Allender

IOTD for sure!

-John

Pretty sure I shot that train as it went through Topeka. Will have to dig through the files to double check. 

NIICE..!!