Sunset Limited/Texas Eage bridge fires causing service disruptions

[jis]

jis, could you pls paste links to other rail related sites that have posted new news about the repairs? I’ve googled every phrase I can think of about the event and I can’t find anything newer than three local newspaper or tv station blurbs right at the time of the fire. The engineer in me (not the train kind; the kind that built things for a living for 40 years) is dying to know more!

thx.

Start with Trainorders.com

 

[BlackDiamond]

Start with Trainorders.com

Trestle replaced, Sunset Route restored, open to freight traffic

 

[alpha3]

Kudos, yes, but I’m curious. The video of the fire itself that appeared in the OP that starts this thread made it appear the entire trestle was on fire. I don’t believe for a moment anyone could replace all those timbers in a couple days. So what did they do? One thing that occurs to me is that the fire was mostly the creosote in the wood, and if they did extinguish it quickly enough (news articles said they did) perhaps they could be certain the structural integrity of the timbers, rails, ties, etc., was all still intact and safe to use. I’m still not sure I’d like to be on the first train to ride across it, though!

Yea, I'm with you, when I saw that photo I thought, 'oh hell no, it's a total loss.' Maybe as another poster suggested it's a photo of something else. I wouldn't want to be the first to cross it - but I doubt Amtrak would be 'trying their luck.' Someone has to have carefully checked that bridge.

 

[dadonatrain]

#2 is currently in NM heading toward El Paso. It is an hour or two behind schedule, but is scheduled to arrive in Alpine and the stops farther east without further delay, according to "Track Your Train" and transitdocs.com, gradually catching up and back on schedule by SAS.

Looking at Google Earth, east of Alpine (Brewster County is HUGE), I only see a few candidate bridges that might match the picture. Most of the bridges are either way to short or clearly NOT trestles. There are a pair about 19 and 20 miles east of Alpine (almost to Marathon) and another pair 65 and 70 miles east, almost in the next county, Pecos. The first one looks to be the best match for terrain, but doesn't really look like a trestle, more like a concrete bridge. It is hard to tell from above, but most trestles have no ballast; the ties are directly anchored to the bridge structure, so you can see through them, but other types of bridges have a pan that holds ballast with the ties embedded in it. The bridge in the picture is clearly a trestle and doesn't appear to have a pan. I'm wondering if the picture is actually a file photo of A burning railroad bridge in Brewster County, rather than a photo of THIS burning railroad bridge.

There are lots of much smaller bridges, many of them trestles. Smaller bridges are much easier to repair or replace. Also, there are a number of bridges on double-tracked sections. Some of them have separate bridges for the two tracks, or at least in one case, one track goes over a trestle and the other track, maybe 50' away has what appears to be a culvert. If the fire was on a double-track section, it would be easy (though perhaps time-consuming) to route around it.

I share your doubt that the fire of the huge wooden trestle was the fire we’re discussion but I could be completely wrong. Perhaps the video posted with the first msg on this thread was valid. I did see it in separate newspaper and local tv websites on the day of the event.

On trainorders.com I asked for detailed explanations of what repairs have been done. Someone said an entirely new steel and concrete bridge is already in place and back in service! I know enough about building anything with concrete and steel to find this very unusual to say the least. Even moving the parts, even if prefabricated, to the job site would take almost as much time as there’s been since April 6 when it occurred. It’s only April 10 today!

So I’m still not sure I completely understand what bridge, what burned, and what has been rebuilt. I continue to ask for any detailed engineering explanation from anyone who can send me a link to one.

 

[Rasputin]

I see that there is some mention of a disruption to the Texas Eagle due to a bridge fire at Walnut Ridge, Ark. but few details so far.

Amtrak Alerts is reporting the bridge fire and indicates that today's 421 will terminate in St. Louis.

 

[TinCan782]

I see that there is some mention of a disruption to the Texas Eagle due to a bridge fire at Walnut Ridge, Ark. but few details so far.

Amtrak Alerts is reporting the bridge fire and indicates that today's 421 will terminate in St. Louis.

And #22 being terminated in Walnut Ridge per Twitter.

 

[Cal]

Well UP got a pretty big trestle by Weed, CA completely rebuilt very fast after it had to be demolished due to fire damage. I didn’t find it too surprising that the bridge has already been repaired for this as it seems it was a much smaller bridge,

 

[frequentflyer]

Another bridge fire effect UP ops in Arkansas has annulled the Texas Eagles. I guess they will be using buses in between trains.

 

[caravanman]

Another bridge fire effect UP ops in Arkansas has annulled the Texas Eagles. I guess they will be using buses in between trains.

So will that be referred to as the "Bus Bridge Bridge Fire"?

 

[boxcar479]

I forgot that we're not talking about a government owned bridge used by the general public. It's a single purpose bridge on private property owned by a private company for their own private use in a state that prides itself on limited regulation. Building codes? We don't need no stinking codes...

As mentioned above NOTHING stops the freight trains.......for very long anyway. Almost ALL repairs are done amazingly quick. The work done is expected to last forever. imo The repair/construction work exceeds most if not all building codes.

 

[moosejunky99]

UPDATE: Texas Eagle Train 22 which departed San Antonio (SAS) on 4/9 terminated in Walnut Ridge (WNR) due to a now extinguished bridge fire that impacted the tracks. Crews from the host railroad are working to make necessary repairs to return the tracks to normal operations.

 

[George Harris]

I share your doubt that the fire of the huge wooden trestle was the fire we’re discussion but I could be completely wrong. Perhaps the video posted with the first msg on this thread was valid. I did see it in separate newspaper and local tv websites on the day of the event.

On trainorders.com I asked for detailed explanations of what repairs have been done. Someone said an entirely new steel and concrete bridge is already in place and back in service! I know enough about building anything with concrete and steel to find this very unusual to say the least. Even moving the parts, even if prefabricated, to the job site would take almost as much time as there’s been since April 6 when it occurred. It’s only April 10 today!

Agree completely. Picturing concrete columns and steel piers: 5 days does not even give you reasonable concrete cure time, not to mention the whole getting there, formwork, rebar, before pour, concrete pour, strip forms, etc.

If concrete was involved at all, it would likely be culvert, or larger prefab box sections, brought in and filled around. If the picture is at all the right bridge there would be the simple get the fill and move the dirt into place, compact, place track. 5 days says it was a much smaller structure, or possible grab a steel section that had been taken out somewhere else and drive steel H piles and weld a cap to support it.

And, no, I would not be afraid to be on the first train across it.

 

[dadonatrain]

Agree completely. Picturing concrete columns and steel piers: 5 days does not even give you reasonable concrete cure time, not to mention the whole getting there, formwork, rebar, before pour, concrete pour, strip forms, etc.

If concrete was involved at all, it would likely be culvert, or larger prefab box sections, brought in and filled around. If the picture is at all the right bridge there would be the simple get the fill and move the dirt into place, compact, place track. 5 days says it was a much smaller structure, or possible grab a steel section that had been taken out somewhere else and drive steel H piles and weld a cap to support it.

Spoken like an experienced engineer, sir! I agree with you. If the pics we’ve seen are the bridge in question, that’s a lot of work even with prefabbed modules, etc. As you say, just moving it all to the job site takes time! However they did whatever they did, they did a marvelous job to get any bridge back in service that fast.

For an interesting anecdote on another failed trestle replacement project, scroll up in this thread to my earlier post about one that CSX had to repair. If you haven’t seen it yet, I think you’ll enjoy it.