Nostalgia & History > MRL's unknown bridge upgrade

Recently while going through some older digital photos I had taken on the MRL 10-15-15 I came upon a bridge photo east of Elliston, MT .  Doing some research on this ex-NP bridge details did not match info from NP's 1968 bridge book that stated it had four RCT's  (reinforced concrete trestle) that were nowhere to be found in my photo..  Purely by accident I found an older photo I had taken 5 years previous in 2010 that helped me figure things out.  Apparently MRL rebuilt this bridge sometime between 2010 and 2015 but apparently no one knows when.  Seemed like a good subject for a Blog update.
Thanks for checking it out!!
http://np-perspectives.qstation.org/?p=1081

Brian Ambrose
Renton, WA.

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Brian,

On July 16, 2012 I saw and took some photos of MRL finishing the work on a replacment bridge at MP 27/28 area East of Elliston, MT.  The mainline had been out of service in this area for 14 hours to replace this bridge.  I have attached one of the photos I took of this new replacement bridge but this bridge doesn't like the one in your photo.  I do know that during this period, June - July 2012 that the MRL replaced a number of bridges in this area.  I my notes have comment dated July 16, 2012 about trains needing to be flagged through MP 26 because of bridge replacement.  I would think that the bridge replacement at MP 26 had been finished on either July 15 or 16.

Don

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Brian & Don -
You guys have two different bridges in these photos. Both at the opposite end of Curve 27.

Brian's bridge is BR 26 with Dog Creek and Lime Quarry Road, here... https://goo.gl/maps/QCgU4ARR2tpLq6Rq9

Don's bridge is BR 27, just east of MP 28 for the Little Blackfoot River, here... https://goo.gl/maps/xXenNhUK5A2DCWMm8   that includes the Jun 2012 street view during the bridge rebuild.
Dave in Polson



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/22 07:45 by monaddave.

Thanks for you addition information and the Google photos regarding these two bridges.

I understand that we are talking about different bridges.  I say as much in my post and because the MP 26 bridge had to be flagged it reasonable to assume that the two bridges were replaced in the same time period if not on the same day.  It would make sense that the bridges were replaced at the same time. It would have been hard to miss all the activity going on around the MP 27 bridge because the bridge is right next to the highway.  Any activity on the MP 26 bridge would have been easy to miss since this bridge is a mile further east where the tracks go into the "woods" and the paved highway 12 goes in another direction.

The photo I posted of the MP 27 bridge was taken right after, same day, the new bridge was opened to traffic.  If the date on the Google photo is correct the Google is a photograph of the MP 27 bridge before it was replaced.  I do have more photos of the MP 27 taken at the same time as the one I posted.

Don

Wow, great info Don and Dave.  I kind of joked to myself the replacement was done right in the middle of the 2010-2015 visits and turns out that was correct.  I see the NP era piers at Bridge 27 were replaced while they remained at Br 26.  Now I will have to see if I have any photos of Bridge 27 pre-2012..  Don, if you have more photos of the Br 27 replacement I'd like to see them.

And Dave, always makes my day to see your replies to my questions.  You have been doing that for quite a few years now!

Brian

Brian,

Just for the fun attached is a photograph of the bridge at MP 26 with a MRL work train on it.  The photo was taken on September 21, 2021 while I was on my way to 2021 Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association convention in Missoula .

Don

 

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