Passenger Trains > Good Morning Nevada!

Number 5 flies by Painted Rock Road, just West of Fernley, NV.  This was Wednesday morning, a couple days ago.
SR

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Great shot. The bridge in the foreground is the original bridge for that location. If memory serves it was replaced along with one at Clark in the 50's after a flood. 

Corrections more than welcomed. 

I’m not sure what you mean about it (the highway bridge) being replaced. The 1902 date on the bridge makes it pretty darn original.
Do you mean the RR bridge was replaced? It’s center support looks suspiciously newer than the early 1900’s.
SR

I believe the highway bridge was originally the railroad bridge. When the new railroad bridge was built, the old truss was relocated and reused for the road.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 19:29 by GenePoon.

Yeah, I considered that, especially considering the markings on the bridge noting the 12th crossing of the Truckee River. (See my photos on yesterday’s Western forum). I was thinking I should measure the inside clearance next time I’m out there to see if it matches other RR bridges from the same era.
SR

Can anybody estimate the deck girder bridge length?

Bridgehunter states the older bridge is 150 ft long, it could be that the center pier allows using two shorter spans.

http://bridgehunter.com/nv/storey/B1690/

GenePoon Wrote:
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> I believe the highway bridge was originally the
> railroad bridge. When the new railroad bridge was
> built, the old truss was relocated and reused for
> the road.

That’s correct, Gene. I was there in 2013 and the original bridge was still on the RR. The newer RR one was a project after that. AFAIK, no highway bridges had the built-year like that, although there are several Lincoln Highway bridges over the tracks, most notably at Magra and Hirschdale, with “1928” on them.

Based on a quick check using the measurement tool on Google Earth, the through truss is 150' long, which is also the same distance between the concrete bank abutments on the rail bridge, which supports the theory it's the former rail bridge. It looks like JLY is no longer here, based on the last time he commented. If anyone could give the full skinny on the history of that river crossing, it would(ve) been him. Not to change the subject, but is Mr. Lynch still with us?
[EDIT] It looks like we got the answer to our bridge question as I was originally typing this post.

Desmond Praetzel, "4451 Puff"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 20:32 by 4451Puff.

If you look closely you can barely make out the original CPRR RoW beneath the train on the other side of the river. The original RoW did not cross the river at Painted Rock. Instead it went just below the east bound lane of I-80 then shortly after beneath what is now I-80. The original CPRR RoW from Sparks to Fernley stayed north of the Truckee river and made its first crossing in Nevada at Wadsworth. 

The first crossing of the Humboldt river in Nevada was at Kodak which present day is the west end of Colado. 

A very neat book on the line is "The Central Pacific Railroad Across Nevada 1868 & 1997" photographic comparatives By Lawrence K Hersh

Why does that bridge look lopsided?  Also strange to see the units on #5 back to back.  I thought elephant style was standard, but that makes it hard to go back to the second unit to check something on the fly since there is no door in the nose.   

Good info, surprised this book doesn't show up more often. Maybe BM needs a copy of this one.

YoungOldHead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you look closely you can barely make out the
> original CPRR RoW beneath the train on the other
> side of the river. The original RoW did not cross
> the river at Painted Rock. Instead it went just
> below the east bound lane of I-80 then shortly
> after beneath what is now I-80. The original CPRR
> RoW from Sparks to Fernley stayed north of the
> Truckee river and made its first crossing in
> Nevada at Wadsworth. 
>
> The first crossing of the Humboldt river in Nevada
> was at Kodak which present day is the west end of
> Colado. 
>
> A very neat book on the line is "The Central
> Pacific Railroad Across Nevada 1868 & 1997"
> photographic comparatives By Lawrence K Hersh

I used a 17mm lens. The benefit is that I was able to get both the highway and RR bridge in the frame. The downside is distortion. If you look closer at the trailing unit it’s distorted too.
I have software that can sometimes correct some of the distortion, and I tinkered with it, but it wasn’t very convincing. It really only distorted it in different ways that looked weird(er) to me.
So I went with honest.
SR

There really is no pattern to which way the trailing unit faces on 5&6- completely random. But there are valid arguments for either arrangement, so it’s kind of a wash as to benefits.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good info, surprised this book doesn't show up
> more often. Maybe BM needs a copy of this one.

Not to worry- I’ve had a copy for years.
SR

Great photo!

4451Puff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Based on a quick check using the measurement tool
> on Google Earth, the through truss is 150' long,
> which is also the same distance between the
> concrete bank abutments on the rail bridge, which
> supports the theory it's the former rail bridge.
> It looks like JLY is no longer here, based on the
> last time he commented. If anyone could give the
> full skinny on the history of that river crossing,
> it would(ve) been him. Not to change the subject,
> but is Mr. Lynch still with us?
> It looks like we got the answer to our bridge
> question as I was originally typing this post.
>
> Desmond Praetzel, "4451 Puff"

AS far as I know, yes, he is still with us