I always wondered a couple of things about bridge track that I have never known.
1) Am I correct in thinking bridge track tie spacing is closer together for safty? In case someone's on the bridge and a train is coming, they can run faster with less chance of tripping or is it for some other reason? A director was filming a movie on a bridge that wasn't supposed to and some people got killed.
2) Does every bridge require bridge track or is there exceptions? I don't see why you would need it on a Viaduct or girder plate bridge that has ballast.
I've tried Googling these questions in so many different ways to word them but never got an answer.
Thanks
TF
My impression was that the closer spacing was to give proper cross-sectional bearing area between ties and supporting girders. That might be wrong.
You wouldn't need that on any ballasted-deck structure, and I think this is one of the 'selling points' for that construction.
OvermodMy impression was that the closer spacing was to give proper cross-sectional bearing area between ties and supporting girders...
That sounds more plausible than enabling trespassers...
Track fiddler... Am I correct in thinking bridge track tie spacing is closer together for safety? In case someone's on the bridge and a train is coming, they can run faster with less chance of tripping...
Wayne
Well that all makes complete sense now that I got the answer. Once I read the answers it made me go duh!
When we were young and knew we weren't supposed to but kids will be kids. They were always easier to walk on than the other ones so that's why I thought that way for a lot of years. I didn't think like a carpenter back then unless we were building tree forts
Years later when I revisited that Trestle I noticed they had added walk grates on either side of the bridge ties with each 5th tie supporting them. That started me thinking about it again.
Thanks for setting my thinking straight Overmod, ...Wayne.
A picture is worth, well — you know
BandO_bridge by Edmund, on Flickr
All the gory details you'd ever want.
BandO_bridge_guardrail by Edmund, on Flickr
Trivia? When a railroad is building a bridge what kind of spikes are needed?
BOAT spikes! Who'da figured?
BandO_bridge_trestle by Edmund, on Flickr
I recall the Doctortown, Georgia, trestle screw-up very well. William Hurt was almost killed. Sarah Jones was hit by flying metal from the hospital bed they had setup over the track and she was then thrown into the path of the train! They were filming a movie about Greg Allman called Midnight Rider.
The train approaching was moving at 58 MPH and the only path to escape was toward the train.
CSX never gave permission to be on the property yet they were sued for 3.9 million because they should have known that there might be a film crew on the bridge and posted a slow order.
Regards, Ed
Thanks Ed. That's a lot of good information that will come in useful. There's a lot of measurements and some good diagrams I will be using on my timber trestles soon.
Track fiddler There's a lot of measurements and some good diagrams I will be using on my timber trestles soon.
Don't forget you can click the photo to go to Flickr and use the download icon to save them to your computer.
Flickr_download by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
gmpullmanI recall the Doctortown, Georgia, trestle screw-up very well. William Hurt was almost killed. Sarah Jones was hit by flying metal from the hospital bed they had setup over the track and she was then thrown into the path of the train! They were filming a movie about Greg Allman called Midnight Rider. The train approaching was moving at 58 MPH and the only path to escape was toward the train. CSX never gave permission to be on the property yet they were sued for 3.9 million because they should have known that there might be a film crew on the bridge and posted a slow order.
The director, Randy Miller, received a 10 year sentence for criminally negligent manslaughter. He served a few months and last I knew was on probation.
I was under the impression that the lawsuit against CSX was judicially dismissed after an appeal, and then settled.
From what I have read here and there, there are still open legal matters from the incident.
The whole thing was plain stupid. My understanding of the lawsuit is that since CSX denied the fiming on the trestle, they should have know that there would be filming on the trestle. There might have been additional complications from a CSX employee seeing the filming and not telling them to leave.
Not sure how good my memory is on all this.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190The whole thing was plain stupid.
They could just have easily gone to a tourist line or one of the smaller regionals and got permission to film all day.
Hate to hijack your thread but...
Speaking of unfair lawsuits, the Union Pacific train that hit the truck trailer with disabled veterans on it was a real tragedy. Those people were at the mercy of the truck driver.
Parade organizer didn't have permits, no one contacted the UP, police saw driver enter crossing after the lights began to flash and IIRC there wasn't enough room on the other side of crossing for the truck to clear.
UP was the only party sued The crossing signal was supposed to be set for 30 seconds and only provided 25 seconds of warning. As if five seconds would have made a difference here?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_train_crash
Four decorated veterans survived their War wounds only to come home and be killed by a freight train.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/west-texas-veterans-parade-crash/
SeeYou190My understanding of the lawsuit is that since CSX denied the fiming on the trestle, they should have know that there would be filming on the trestle. There might have been additional complications from a CSX employee seeing the filming and not telling them to leave.
gmpullman Speaking of unfair lawsuits, the Union Pacific train that hit the truck trailer with disabled veterans on it was a real tragedy. Those people were at the mercy of the truck driver. Parade organizer didn't have permits, no one contacted the UP, police saw driver enter crossing after the lights began to flash and IIRC there wasn't enough room on the other side of crossing for the truck to clear. UP was the only party sued The crossing signal was supposed to be set for 30 seconds and only provided 25 seconds of warning. As if five seconds would have made a difference here? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_train_crash Four decorated veterans survived their War wounds only to come home and be killed by a freight train. https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/west-texas-veterans-parade-crash/
The lawsuit was dismissed by Judge James Rush in July of 2018. It was appealed to the Supreme Court, but not accepted. Some of the plaintiffs had settled with UP before it went to trial.
My impression is that the lack of lawsuits for other parties was caused by them all being local, and neighbors being wary of suing neighbors. My feeling is that the government of Midland was to blame. If they had called UP, I am sure UP would have sent someone to supervise the crossing.
Ed
The way I remember becoming aware of this tragedy was some kind of documentary program on TV, Seconds till Disaster or something like that.
The heck with the camera equipment, It's a shame people panic and Sarah didn't think of straddling around a truss member to hang on for dear life on the outside of the bridge. I don't know if there was water under the bridge to jump but it's also a shame if there was.