Eastern Railroad Discussion > Seminole Gulf hurricane damage

Starting a new thread since the old one is falling off the page.

News just showed video of Arcadia, FL, including the SGLR yard. Water appears about three feet over the rail. Two GE's visible.

It appears from multiple sources that several of their mainline bridges are completely gone. In addition, their locomotives have sustained damage. They have reached out to partners regarding help with the rebuild and also applying for state and federal funding available to get them back in service as quick as possible.

Forwarding info-The Seminole Gulf Railway, a Fort Myers-based short line railroad, has endured significant damage from Hurricane Ian, resulting in a pause in operations. The company reported losing three bridges near Fort Myers totaling 1,300 linear feet and three more bridges near Arcadia. Its rail yard in Arcadia is still underwater, executive VP Robert Fay told the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

It may take up to six months to restore service, according to VP of construction Bruce Fay.  The 100-mile track from just north of Arcadia to north of Naples carries plastic, propane and food along with a wide assortment of building materials, including lumber, rebar and aggregates. "[Those sectors] are booming," Robert said. "And now they're needed for the [hurricane] recovery. Think of the railroad as yet another highway. That's how goods get into the area. Obviously, a lot of goods come down 75.  Some goods come down 41, some down 27 or other routes. ... But a lot of goods come by rail."

SGLR status report with pix from railroad track & structures mag:

https://www.rtands.com/track-maintenance/hurricane-ian-shuts-down-short-line-railroad-service-may-not-restart-until-2023/

Although very dark, the NOAA satellite photos appear to show missing trestles on the south approach to the Caloosahatchee drawbridge:

https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/ian/index.html#16/26.6855/-81.8146



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/22 13:45 by CPR_4000.

Narrative and pictures from the local newspaper

https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2022/10/04/hurricane-ian-damages-train-tracks-over-caloosahatchee-river-southwest-florida/8171878001/

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Narrative and pictures from the local newspaper
>
> https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2022/10/04/h
> urricane-ian-damages-train-tracks-over-caloosahatc
> hee-river-southwest-florida/8171878001/

I loved the tentative language in that story and photo captions. The hurricane "appeared to have damaged" the railroad bridge... you don't say? I could make a case that the hurricane "appeared" to have -destroyed- the bridge, but unless someone can make a plausible claim that some other force injured it, there's nothing "apparent" about the damage.

Every hurricane deserves its day in court.

The photos in the News-Press article appear (heh, heh) to show a couple sets of extremely stubby trestle pilings with caps and sway braces. Were the originals cut off and just the top couple of feet replaced? How would they have been connected to the piles driven into the riverbed? Have never seen photos of the southern approaches (possibly only accessible through adjoining private property) but it sure looks odd.