The A & C Bridge over the Colorado River at Parker, AZ burned over the weekend.
The wooden approach spans were fully engulfed and the ties on the Steel girder spans over the river burned. It is not known at this time whether the steel trusses were damaged by the heat.
Wow. Heck of a fire, great pics.
The B&O has relatively long wooden trestle on it’s Sparrows Point Branch in Baltimore. At one time there was a restriction that limited trains crossing the trestle to using only a single locomotive at a time. The trestle caught on fire in the 40’s or early 50’s (before my time as a employee) afterwards the restriction was removed from the ETT.
The emplyees common refrain was that the bridge had been ‘flame hardened’.
This bridge is on a shortline that appears on the map to provide redundant service between Phoenix and California. Does anyone know if BNSF routes any overhead traffic over this line? Even if they do, BNSF has an alternate route to/from Phoenix.
I predict this bridge will not be rubuilt due to damage to steel spans.
Mac
Quite an inferno, reminds me of the Poughkeepsie Bridge (over the Hudson River) fire of 1974.
I wonder what started it, especially in this diesel day and age.
Mice with matches.[:)]
Mickey and Minnie turned pyromaniac?
The world really has gone to hell in a handbasket…
Imagine what Donald Duck is up to with his anger management issues!
Probably vermin with matches, but also probably not mice…
Yes BNSF solicits traffic over the shortline which is owned by Genesee & Wyoming.
it connects the BNSF Transcon at Cadiz, CA with the BNSF “Peavine” line at Mathie, AZ near Wickenburg. AZRC has Trackage Rights over the BNSF into Phoenix for interchange. With the bridge closed and most of the traffic being bound for California it will have to be run all the way up the Peavine which is single-track TWC territory hosting a pair of hot “Z” trains from the east, as well as manifest traffic. The connection to the Transcon is only for eastbounds and so the California bound traffic would have to be hauled to Canyon Diablo or more likely to Winslow, AZ adding a very significant amount of mileage to the haul and giving the UP an advantage for traffic from Phoenix to California.
The actual interchange point between BNSF and AZRC is Castle Hot Springs, about 15 miles timetable west (toward Phoenix) of Matthie.
The AZRC is also used to handle solid baretable and empty auto rack trains between Phoenix and California (empty equipment repositioning). Such trains have been known to operate via Winslow.
A two-week outage is the current estimate:
It looks like the main members of the truss weren’t too close to the flames. However, the stringers under the ties may have suffered some damage.
Then again, maybe not. Someplace I read that steel railroad bridges have to be heated to around 800 deg. F to straighten bent pieces or anneal welds and the like, and they would not be damaged by that. This source says on pg. 10 that for some steels, up to 1,150 deg. F is OK:
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_271.pdf
There used to be a member here - steve14 or similar, I think - who had actual railroad Bridge and Building experience, and could provide more accurate information.
Good news!
The bridge is back in service. Sorry that I can’t get the local-news link to work for me.
Remarkably quick restoration. In this case I am happy to be wrong in my prediction.
Mac
Is there any idea at this point of what caused the fire?