Passenger Trains > Trestle replaced, Sunset Route restored, open to freight traffic

Word is that Union Pacific and contractors have restored the burnt trestle west of Marathon TX and trains are running, but not Amtrak yet, until congested and backed-up freight traffic has cleared. 

Passenger/Amtrak priority does NOT apply under this circumstance and the likelihood of double-digit delay to Amtrak train is high.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/22 22:06 by GenePoon.

GenePoon Wrote:
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> Word is that Union Pacific and contractors have
> restored the burnt trestle west of Marathon TX and
> trains are running, but not Amtrak yet, until
> congested and backed-up freight traffic has
> cleared. 
>
> Passenger/Amtrak priority does NOT apply under
> this circumstance and the likelihood of
> double-digit delay to Amtrak train is high.

That was pretty darn fast!


Allen

bradleymckay Wrote:
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> That was pretty darn fast!

Practice !

bradleymckay Wrote:
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>
> That was pretty darn fast!
>
>
> Allen


Prefab concrete modular bridges are pretty quick to put up.

New member here so I haven't browsed many msgs or forums.  But I've been following the bridge fire on amtraktrains.com and no one there seems to have any details on just what the damage was or, more importantly, just what repairs have been made so fast!

I'm a retired engineer.  Not the train kind. I designed and built big things for many years.  So I'd really like to know some details about what happened and what has been done, beyond "it has been repaired", etc.  I'm still not sure I'd like to be riding on the first train to cross it after the fire and the repairs that were done this fast!  😆

Sunset Limited 2(8) has passed the location of the burned trestle, which was west of Marathon, TX.

 

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dadonatrain Wrote:
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> New member here so I haven't browsed many msgs or
> forums.  But I've been following the bridge fire
> on amtraktrains.com and no one there seems to have
> any details on just what the damage was or, more
> importantly, just what repairs have been made so
> fast!
>
> I'm a retired engineer.  Not the train kind. I
> designed and built big things for many years.  So
> I'd really like to know some details about what
> happened and what has been done, beyond "it has
> been repaired", etc.  I'm still not sure I'd like
> to be riding on the first train to cross it after
> the fire and the repairs that were done this fast!
>  😆


It's an entire new bridge. Wood trestles burn quickly and to the point there's nothing left. After they extinguish the fire, the ground are graded and a new concrete bridge with steel piers is built on site to replace the destroyed bridge.

dadonatrain Wrote:
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> I'm a retired engineer.  Not the train kind. I
> designed and built big things for many years.  So
> I'd really like to know some details about what
> happened and what has been done, beyond "it has
> been repaired", etc.  I'm still not sure I'd like
> to be riding on the first train to cross it after
> the fire and the repairs that were done this fast!
>  😆

Welcome aboard! 

Railroad Engineering Departments really rise to the occasion in times of emergency. They stockpile standard and non-standard materials for such cases of bridges being damaged and destroyed. Sometimes they are quite innovative in their approach.

In the Trainsorders archives, you can find quite a few examples. Just use the 'search' function when you have a chance and you will find quite many. About a year ago around Phoenix, UP had quite a big bridge repair job after a fire. That might be a good one to look-up..
 

Thx for info on the repairs.

I’m not criticizing anything in your reply or anyone else's when I continue this discussion. I’m merely saying that I have 40 years’ experience working on and successfully managing large, technically complex engineering and construction projects. I know about building and using prefabbed modules for things as large as power plants! I know about staging materials ahead of needing them for projects. And I still want to know more technically about just what was done to fix this bridge using anything made of concrete and steel in scarcely 4 24-hour time periods (aka “days”) since the fire.

After all, the bridge burned April 6 and it’s only April 10 today and traffic is apparently back in service! That’s incredible. The people involved deserve an enormous attaboy! I just want to know more in technical terms what they did and how they did it.

On amtraktrains.com I’ve gotten at least one msg expressing confusion about exactly which bridge burned. The videos posted there on the day of the fire, which I’ve seen in separate online posts by local newspapers and tv stations, show a vey long wooden timber bridge over dry land, almost completely on fire. What a fire department might call fully involved. I still find it very hard to square with my experience that all that concrete and steel and prefabbed sections of rails and ties, yada yada yada, could even just get moved this quickly from wherever all that was being staged awaiting a need for it to the site of the burned out bridge.

Please, ANYONE, send me technical details if you have any.

Posted from iPhone

dadonatrain Wrote:
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> Please, ANYONE, send me technical details if you
> have any.

I have not seen pictures of the replacement trestle, but typically the railroad would demolish and clear off what was left of the burnt trestle and start driving steel piles for the new bridge bents. When that was done, concrete caps and pre-stressed concrete spans would be installed. Finally ballast and panel track would be placed and the new track aligned and surfaced. First trains would be at a greatly reduced speed until stability was assured.

 

Thx. This makes sense. The steel piles, prefabbed sections of rails, ties, etc. I understand the tasks and skill sets it’d take for this job and what you explain matches my experience. I take it for granted UP would have yards along their entire right of way where necessary matls and eqpt would be staged, but still, all that would need to be brought to the job site and that alone takes some time!

I’m still not sure, though, exactly which bridge we’re talking about. I saw pics from a local tv station and a local newspaper the day of the RP fire. Both showed what I thought was quite a long wooden trestle. So it seems to me that a big area is under work, clearing, grading, pile driving, etc.

But other msgs I’ve seen, mostly on amtraktrains.com, seem to suggest the bridge isn’t that long. Maybe long is in the eyes of the beholder, but it still seems to me a whole lotta work had to get done to get any new bridge up and in service in just four days or so!

Posted from iPhone

dadonatrain Wrote:
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> I’m still not sure, though, exactly which bridge
> we’re talking about. I saw pics from a local tv
> station and a local newspaper the day of the RP
> fire. Both showed what I thought was quite a long
> wooden trestle. So it seems to me that a big area
> is under work, clearing, grading, pile driving,
> etc.

We had this bridge fire a few weeks before the current one:

UP Glidden Sub Bridge fire Sunset Route (trainorders.com)

I never found out how long the rebuilding was for that one (or the detour route).
 

Back in 1938, southern Calif. had a series of heavy rainstorms, among other damage caused by the heavy runoff, the west end of the Pacific Electric concrete bridge over the San Gabriel River was undermined and collapsed, cutting the line between Duarte and Azusa.  I don't know how long it took, but these girder sections were installed, and one would presume that PE or SP had a stash of bridge segments for just such emergencies.

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