Try This On For Size

[edblysard]

The train line would have burned through in several places, no way to pump the brakes off, and dragging that many loaded cars with the brakes set wouldn't work.
Remember, it was already in emergency, someone had to go back and close the rear anglecock on the last savable car for the engineer to pump up the brakes and move it.
The car that caused the fire and put the train in emergency would have already crossed the bridge, thats what set it on fire, so any cars back past that one car were not going anywhere to begin with.
I think this one falls into the catagory of "crap happens"

Ed

QUOTE: Originally posted by mvlandsw

Why didn't they pull the train off the trestle before it collapsed? Even if cars were derailed it would have been better than letting them burn and fall in the creek.

[mudchicken]

(1) This incident is now months old. Sharon Springs and Soldier Creek are on opposite sides of the state. I believe the soldier creek incident would be on th Marysville Sub. in NE Kansas (Marysville to Topeka cut-off)

(2) You do not put out bridge fires with one or two fire hoses. Once the creosoted timber burns, it is VERY hot and hard to put out. In these cases, slow down the fire with water then bury it in dirt if possible (starve the fire of air) or foam it heavilly. Rural volunteer fire departments rarely can make foam and with their response time, the fire had a good head start. Population in NW Kansas is pretty sparse.

(3) word has it that the UP crew couldn't release the air and move the train by the time they figured out where they had stopped. They cut away as close to the fire as they could get, pumped up the air and moved off.

[mvlandsw]

Why didn't they pull the train off the trestle before it collapsed? Even if cars were derailed it would have been better than letting them burn and fall in the creek.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know when this happened? I got a UP service bulletin about 2 weeks ago about a coal train taking down a bridge at Soldier Creek KS. Would this be the same one?

[tree68]

Mudchicken - email me.

[Anonymous]

hum... I wonder why the fire department there didn't spray water on the fire lines...
it would have saved thousands of dollars for UP...
unless, well............... forget it....

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Oh My!

Marshmellows?

Question - why would a railroad have a mainline over a wooden trestle in dry country like that? Isn't that just asking for trouble?

Sharon Springs, Ks ....such a wunnerful place on the UPRR KP line between LImon CO and Salina, KS ...16 miles east of the Colorado line.....We laid out a siding at McAllaster, KS for UP 20 miles east of there in 2000. This line went from abandonment candidate to relief valve for the UP transcon following the SP merger. This line is handling a lot of Moffat Tunnel thru trains now and is being heavilly upgraded.

I'll take a picture of the replacement bridge the next time east that way if somebody will post it. Been to a few wienie roasts and the resulting panel parties myself....They probably got 50-60 years out of that old wooden structure, so it just got replaced a few years ahead of schedule. Most large bridges out here are wood.


Mud Phoenix[angel][angel][angel]
back in Denver

[pmsteamman]

GANGWAY, FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!! I wonder how many steamers cought trestles on fire when they shook the grates.

[Anonymous]

A steel bridge can still burn. Some years back, a double track plate girder bridge over a river here burned...that is, the ties burned. A good wind helped it to cross the bridge and burned every tie on it. A freight train flying up on it would be in pretty serious trouble, but as it was near a yard, we knew about it quickly. Things were totally fouled up for several days until it was re-tied. [The big delay was shipping in the needed ties, as bridge ties aren't normally stockpiled nearby...]

[UPTRAIN]

Hope that dosn't happen to me...of course all the bridges here are steel...whew. There was nothing that the fire department could do at that point!!!

[moelarrycurly4]

It looks tome like they had already set the bridge on fire before they stopped.

[UPTRAIN]

1 word...........wow.

[Willy2]

Okay, that is totally amzing! I guess that just goes to show how important it is to have an alert crew. It's too bad because if the train had stopped just 7 or 8 cars farther down the tracks, the train would have been off of the bridge.

Willy

[CShaveRR]

Since the Mudchicken is apparently away from his computer, I'll take a stab at it:

The reason for the bridge over the dry area is simple: the area is undoubtedly prone to flash flooding, beyond that which a simple fill and culvert(s) could handle.

The reason for the treated wood is also simple: it was the cheapest, most reasonable material with which to build such a structure at the time it was built. No reason to replace it until such time as it wore out (or could not meet demands of heavier loads), or, as in this case, was "taken out".

I remember seeing these pictures a couple of years ago, so the disaster is at least that old. The replacement was probably prefab concrete beams on steel pilings, which seems to be the modern-day equivalent of old wooden trestles.

[jchnhtfd]

oops! indeed...

[zardoz]

Another good reason to always carry a camera.

[dharmon]

Whoa Dude!

[:-^][:-^] So Bob, got the number to that truck driving school. I think we're gonna need it.

[Anonymous]

Wow.

At least nobody was hurt.

[tree68]

Saw a picture of that event a while back, but not the whole series. Aside from the burning trestle, the account did say it was a loaded coal train, which means that not only did the trestle burn, but probably the coal as well.

Even though the local fire laddies were on scene, you can probably see all of the water they had with them, which doesn't amount to much when you have a vertical lumberyard burning (soaked in creosote to boot), on top of which sit a bunch of very heavy railroad cars. Not much they could do.

I'd guess the RR was planning to eventually replace the wood with something a bit more durable. Now they have to (and probably have).

[Mookie]

Oh My!

Marshmellows?

Question - why would a railroad have a mainline over a wooden trestle in dry country like that? Isn't that just asking for trouble?

[kenneo]

You hope wrong.

[Anonymous]

Whoa! Now that's a HOT BOX!!! I bet that tressel ignited in a heartbeat. i hope that wasn't a mainline track!

[kenneo]

http://www.arizonarails.com/images/Travel_by_Train.pdf

This is an 8 page PDF --- need Acrobat Reader

[banghead] [censored] [banghead] [#oops]