Steam & Excursion > Some Steam Powered Work Trains Had Help From The Water!

When I first saw this photo of a Southern Pacific work train on the Carquenez Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area, I thought it was merely crossing the bridge when the shutter was snapped.  Now, on closer inspection, this work train appears to be actually working on the bridge along with the 3 barges that are anchored below it on the water.

We see at least one worker on the birdge deck towards the rear of the train.  Two  of the barges are lettered for U.S.Steel. The third barge has its own crane to assist in the bridge work that is going on.

I wish we know more about what kind of work they all were engaged in back in 1941 when this photo was taken.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/21 01:41 by LoggerHogger.

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The bridge is about a decade old in 1941 so a repair seems unlikely.
Maybe a ship hit it or they are adding navigation aid lights.
Thanks for sharing.

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> The bridge is about a decade old in 1941 so a
> repair seems unlikely.
> Maybe a ship hit it or they are adding navigation
> aid lights.
> Thanks for sharing.


Or after a decade in service they've found a few cracks or whatever that need some attention and maybe some repairs and/or reinforcement.

This was taken from the Martinez side. Very interesting scene.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

The area where they are working is far from the shipping channel, almost at the south shoreline.

Photo reference:  http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2017/12/upamraksp-benicia-martinez-1930-bridge.html

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It's amazing how fast this bridge was built--makes any bridge building today look lethargic--and it was and still is the largest RR bridge west of the Mississippi river!

I wonder why it has that one odd span.  Any ideas?  

Kimball Wrote:
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> I wonder why it has that one odd span.  Any
> ideas?  

First the terminology -- a span with the framework below the roadbed is called a deck truss and a span with the framework above the roadbed is called a through truss.  The through truss has the obvious advantage of much greater underneath clearance, but the deck truss is probably easier and cheaper to build (for a given length and load). 

The bridge has another deck truss span at the north end.  (See the first picture below.)  Clearance under the bridge was not a concern close to shore, but minimizing cost was.

Also, since clearance under the bridge was not a concern once off the through truss spans, the grade down to level terrain was begun immediately, as shown in the second photo.

 

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Below is an undated postcard photo of a passenger train crossing the bridge.  Note the barges beneath the bridge, at least one of which is the same (#109) as in Martin's photo.  This raises the possibility that the barges had nothing to do with any repair work on the bridge, and rather were simply moored there.

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