UP Palisade Canyon derailment update

Chad.....Sorry, I must have missed something here.....What is the construction happening here.....?

Good photos showing it though.....

Modelcar

Chad.....Sorry, I must have missed something here.....What is the construction happening here.....?

Good photos showing it though.....

Hi Q,

 About two weeks ago there was a derailment in Palisade Canyon, Nv that wiped out a bridge. I droped by saturday and got these shots.

Quentin, I thought the thread was in the General Discussion forum, and went back to try to find it, but I did not see it at all in this year's postings; I may have been looking too hard. Anyway, the SP's bridge east of the tunnel (tunnel 1) just west of Palisade (I hope I have lost you) was taken out. At the moment, I do not remember the particulars. Maybe chad can fill you in.

Johnny

Deggesty

Quentin, I thought the thread was in the General Discussion forum, and went back to try to find it, but I did not see it at all in this year's postings; I may have been looking too hard. Anyway, the SP's bridge east of the tunnel (tunnel 1) just west of Palisade (I hope I have lost you) was taken out. At the moment, I do not remember the particulars. Maybe chad can fill you in.

Johnny

Johnny, you must have missed it by only that much !  Last posting to that thread was by Chad on 01-06-2009 at 12:01 AM - presently, it's near the bottom of Page 7 of 36.

Here's the link to the start of the thread by "mike" ("MJChittick") -  "UP Derailment & Bridge Collapse on Overland Route" on 12-28-2008 at 4:20 PM - which has many details and some earlier photos - at:

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/144348.aspx?PageIndex=1

Chad, thanks for the photo update.  Site looks well-organized.  Did you talk to the crew at all ?

Notice that there are 2 big cranes - 1 red and 1 yellow, plus the rough-terrain crane/ cherrypicker.  My best guess is that soon UP will swing in about 3 pre-fab'd. "through"-type spans - either pre-cast concrete or steel plate girders (note the 2 new piers on the sides of the river channel) for the new bridge.

- Paul North.

...........Thanks fellows for the info and update.

 No, I didn't talk to anyone, I didn't have much time to stop. I have a few more photos that might answer your questions about the bridge Paul but I was having problems uploading them last night. I'll try again tonight after work.

Paul_D_North_Jr

Deggesty

Quentin, I thought the thread was in the General Discussion forum, and went back to try to find it, but I did not see it at all in this year's postings; I may have been looking too hard. Anyway, the SP's bridge east of the tunnel (tunnel 1) just west of Palisade (I hope I have lost you) was taken out. At the moment, I do not remember the particulars. Maybe chad can fill you in.

Johnny

Johnny, you must have missed it by only that much !  Last posting to that thread was by Chad on 01-06-2009 at 12:01 AM - presently, it's near the bottom of Page 7 of 36.

Here's the link to the start of the thread by "mike" ("MJChittick") -  "UP Derailment & Bridge Collapse on Overland Route" on 12-28-2008 at 4:20 PM - which has many details and some earlier photos - at:

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/144348.aspx?PageIndex=1

Chad, thanks for the photo update.  Site looks well-organized.  Did you talk to the crew at all ?

Notice that there are 2 big cranes - 1 red and 1 yellow, plus the rough-terrain crane/ cherrypicker.  My best guess is that soon UP will swing in about 3 pre-fab'd. "through"-type spans - either pre-cast concrete or steel plate girders (note the 2 new piers on the sides of the river channel) for the new bridge.

- Paul North.

Thanks, Paul. I really was looking too hard. Quentin should be able to get the full story now, especially since you posted the address.

Chad, those really are good pictures.

We are planning to start a trip at the end of March by going to Sacramento from here; it looks as though we will not have any detour at that point. I noticed that #5 was three hours late into Sacramento yesterday.

Johnny

 Here are a few more pix showing the bridge train.

chad thomas

 Here are a few more pix showing the bridge train.

Looks like one giant erector set, eh?

Chad -

WOW !  Talk about being in the right place at the right time !  A "bridge train" !  Betcha there's 0 of those over on RailPictures.net - yep, I just checked - thanks for sharing here !  What a unique addition to your portfolio - darn few of any other rail photographers would have one, either.  Fortune favors the prepared, and the ambitious and adventuresome, as always. 

And a "bridge train" - what a concept.  Who else or where else but on the big Lionel set !    And the UP, too.  Note 2 big modern locos, too - 1 at each end.  I'll leave it to someone else to identify them correctly, but needless to say that train would have been overpowered with only 1 of them . . .

The curiosity is killing me* about the rest of the story here.  I suppose that it'll eventually be in the UP employee magazine or the professional railroad and/ or engineering journals.  In the meantime, I'll just ask and/ or point out: 

- Wonder if the replacement bridge was just laying around as a spare or surplus; built in advance and stored and held in reserve for just such an event as this; fabricated in preparation for another project later this year but diverted to here to cover the emergency; or custom-designed and fabricated on an expedited basis in the about 2 weeks between when the wreck happened and you took these photos ?  I'm inclined to believe one of the former - there's enough rust on those pieces, and that just seems too short a time period to design and build from scratch.  But it could be done with current design software, and the slow / terrible construction business environment may have opened up enough of a slot somewhere in UP's far-flung territory at a fab shop that was hungry enough for the work  to set aside everything else and work the overtime, etc. that would have been necessary.

- The piers in the river wouldn't be needed, and their cost and aggravation (permits ?) could be preferably avoided if a custom-design was being prepared and fabricated.  Since the piers are there, though, that tells me that UP is probably using a bridge from off-the-shelf that needed those pier spacings, and so that's why they were put in. 

- UP must have good relations with the Nevada state environmental officials to get whatever "stream encroachment or obstruction" (or similar) permit is needed for those piers that quickly, as the previous bridge didn't have piers, so it isn't like they were "grandfathered" or anything, etc.

Thanks again.  Would be interested in photos of the completed structure next time you're back that way, if that's not too much to ask.

 - Paul North.

* The rest of that saying: "Curiosity killed the cat, but the satisfaction brought it back !"

UP and BNSF both have such large bridge programs going all the time, they have established some common standards for fabrication of various length spans and consquently have something on hand somewhere virtually all the time.

Piling for the bents and abutments are also readily avaialble by robbing from one job or another for an emergency.

The pre-cast caps are a standard item which the casting plants keep a supply on hand for both.

It is just (a rather big "just") a matter of locating the pieces you need to fit the hole and moving them there while the pile is being driven. That takes the longest, once the area is cleared out enough to work. Caps are a welded connection to the H-pile and the spans set right in place. Add ballast and track panels and presto!

Thanks, Steve !  Curiosity is now satisfied.

- Paul North.

Thanks Paul, not so much luck, just close to home. Actually for some reason I expected it to be compleated or close to so when i stopped by. Anyway I'll try and get pix when it's compleated too. Stay tunned....