Western Railroad Discussion > KCS 4795 @ Logan, NM; 10/30/2024

KCS 4795, along with UP 6237, cross the Canadian River on ex-Rock Island trackage, very early on the morning of October 30, 2024 (you can see my shadow in the foreground)

I wondered why the bridge had such a massive foundation relative to the ephemeral waterflow of the Canadian River.

In 1963 (well after the construction of the Rock Island bridge) the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission built the Ute Dam and Reservoir upriver

The train was also spotted just west of Tucumcari, New Mexico, and again crossing the Pecos River in downtown Santa Rosa, New Mexico

It's as flat as a waffle

Jonathan Fischer
West Seattle, WA



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/24 18:26 by JFArrFan.

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Excellent bridge shots!  Russ and I did well a couple years ago at Logan.  I was less enthusiastic about all the brush around the bridge in Santa Rosa, but your shot actually turned out pretty well.

I don't want to come off sounding like a know it all, but your comment about the bridge foundations reminds me of a story I read about early bridge engineers and how hard it was in the old days to build bridges over what are normally small streams out west.  When infrequent but massive thunderstorms would hit, those streams drained such a large area that they would turn into raging torrents and wash out most bridges.  So eventually they figured out that they had to build to withstand the largest possible thunderstorms, and bridges like the one at Logan are the result.

If you've ever been to the Santa Fe's Canadian River bridge at Canadian TX, it is a very long, like over a half mile, but low bridge for the same reason.  I was surprised when visiting the Santa Fe's Pecos River bridge at Ft. Sumner, the entire witdth of the valley floor (another half mile or so) is piled with driftwood from major flooding events.

I seem to recall normally dry areas of the southwest got some pretty good rains last year, but I think major thunderstorms of the variety I mentioned above, are a thing of the past now.

Andy

Back sometime in the 1970s Hewlett-Packard sent me to Phoenix on business.  Since I had never been there before, a local HP employee drove me aroud, showing me his town.  At one point we drove across the Salt River on a road that just went down into the river bed, across a small culvert and then up on the other side.  I commented that I didn't think that culvert would handle a flash flood, for which the Salt River was famous.  He told me they got tired of replacing the bridge and found that it was easier, and less expensive, to just repave the road after flash flood events.

Nice shots from the Land Of Enchantment!
Bryan

When it rains hard, and it DOES, locals will tell you to stay away from those dry river beds because in a matter of an hour or so it can flood. Not only water but also tree limbs and brush. Just recently they had major flooding .