Western Railroad Discussion > Dry Canyon Trestle girders?

I was returning to Dunsmuir from Medford this morning and passed two trucks hauling long girder sections. They had the appearance from the sides as regular railroad trestle girders that would sit upon the towers and carry the track. They were already assembled and were about four or five feet wide and ready to put on top of a pier. I couldn't get photos.

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

Where do you get girders on short notice? Home Depot?

TJY

icancmp193 Wrote:
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> Where do you get girders on short notice? Home
> Depot?
>
> TJY

Some remote lightly used rail line with poor security...

Ken
 

Bob:
Were they concrete or steel?

Union Pacific is reusing most of the Dry Canyon viaduct material.  After removing the 19 girder spans and placing them on the ground, interior bracing has been replaced and the girders have been straightened as necessary.  As of yesterday 10 of the 19 spans have been reinstalled and seven spans have been redecked with ballast trough in place.  Forty-foot spans brought in from Laramie to replace shorter spans on the towers were on hand and being prepped a week ago.  Repairs to bracing on one tower remained to be done Sunday evening.  Assuming the girders you saw on the highway were for this project they might be more 40 footers for the towers.   

icancmp193 Wrote:
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> Where do you get girders on short notice? Home
> Depot?
>
> TJY
There is a factory in Portland, OR that produces stuff like that.
Bill Pyper
Lacey, WA
 

Are you saying this trestle will be reborn??

CP8888 Wrote:
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> Are you saying this trestle will be reborn??

What would be the alternative?

HotWater Wrote:
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> CP8888 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Are you saying this trestle will be reborn??
>
> What would be the alternative?

I think we were all expecting a new bridge, but it sounds like it will be a repaired bridge.

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Not all of us. I never had doubt that the B&B crews on UP were going to salvage what ever they could and rebuild it fairly quickly. Funny how everyone has forgotten the UP derailment and bridge damage south of dunsmuir a year or two ago. UP is going to be closed for ever, it'll take years to build a new bridge,  the line will be abandoned because Amtrak doesn't serve Beef Wellington and so on. UP fabricated what they needed and had the line open in a week or two.
UP is going to cut off and weld in replacement pieces, referb what it can and Fab what they need. The B&B gangs have some really talented people.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/21 16:03 by TomG.

Yes, a repaired bridge, not a new one.  It appears UP will reuse all of the towers (they were not taken down) and all of the longer girder spans between towers.  Some of the shorter girder sections atop the towers are being replaced.  The bridge was disassembled and each girder span was assessed on the ground for what needed to be done.  Heat was applied for straightening girders that needed it and bracing between girder pairs comprising each span was replaced.

The bridge just East of Woodford had wooden ballast troughs from most likely in the fifties. The B&B guys replaced those across
the bridge in a matter of days with new steel troughs using only 8 hour work windows during the day. Very talented people.

Out 

All the UP bridge and building engineers have to do is send someone out to the bridge with a set of plans for it and mark off what is ruined beyond repair, what is fixable, and what is good.   Then have them pull the plans and material lists for those parts and see what they have in stock and what they need to call around to find in stock.  Lots of steel fabricators are just waiting for something like this and if they are reasonable in price and can get it done will bid on it, if UP doesn't just say we'll pay X amount you want it or not, with X being a bit of premium.

 

good info guys. we didn't know what they were going to do but we knew they were doing something. agree they have bridge parts stashed all over the system.

callum_out Wrote:
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> The bridge just East of Woodford had wooden
> ballast troughs from most likely in the fifties.
> The B&B guys replaced those across
> the bridge in a matter of days with new steel
> troughs using only 8 hour work windows during the
> day. Very talented people.
>
> Out 

Indeed. Their B&B group repaired damage from the Tempe derailment and fire in just two weeks:
https://www.azfamily.com/news/train-rolls-across-tempe-bridge-two-weeks-after-derailment-bridge-collapse-fire/article_48def99c-dd96-11ea-a621-3788cda6ea98.html

Nice article on U.P.'s webpage about the fire car fleet and Dry Canyon Bridge rebuilding.

jlcKS Wrote:
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> All the UP bridge and building engineers have to
> do is send someone out to the bridge with a set of
> plans for it and mark off what is ruined beyond
> repair, what is fixable, and what is good.  
> Then have them pull the plans and material lists
> for those parts and see what they have in stock
> and what they need to call around to find in
> stock.  Lots of steel fabricators are just
> waiting for something like this and if they are
> reasonable in price and can get it done will bid
> on it, if UP doesn't just say we'll pay X amount
> you want it or not, with X being a bit of
> premium.
>
Lots of preplanning goes into making this happen as fast as it does.
Does anyone on here have any comment on the relative impact of the fire heat on reuse of the plate girder spans?  Some of the short ones looked really wearped, others not. Is there any other standard field test applied to look at the steel other than visual asessment (by a skilled person...)?
Thanks.

One of the key assetts of railroads is the set of design drawings for all bridges.
Railroad Engineering Departments also keep an accurate inventory of bridge components on hand, those staged for future work (e.g. precast concrete box girders) and those removed from alignment changes, retirements, etc.
When the phone rings they can know quickly where they stand on replacement parts.

boxcar1954 Wrote:
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> Does anyone on here have any comment on the
> relative impact of the fire heat on reuse of the
> plate girder spans?  Some of the short ones
> looked really wearped, others not. Is there any
> other standard field test applied to look at the
> steel other than visual asessment (by a skilled
> person...)?

  It could be tempered or annealed from the heat and could change the strength, but it may not have much effect.  The engineers can figure this all out.  

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

That's a good example of resiliency. Having the people, design plans, and materials within reach.

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