With all the flooding going on in Montana, a swollen Judith River has compromised a bridge on the Central Montana Railroad northwest of Lewistown, Montana. The structure is a very long, high steel trestle, which now has a blow and “warp” in it. Photos (and a story) are available from the Great Falls Tribune at:
The Central Montana Railroad is the longest remaining section of Milwaukee Road trackage in Montana west of Terry. The line is now owned by the State of Montana and serves grain elevators at Denton and Geraldine. The interchange point with BNSF is Moccasin.
It appears this could be the end of the line for the Central Montana Railroad (including their Charlie Russell “Chew-Choo” dinner train), as this will not be quick fix.
This has a definite resemblance to a fair number of undercapitalized interurbans and short lines that could keep running until a bridge collapse or sizable derailment occurred and there were insufficient funds to repair the damage.
If it doesn’t get any worse - and especially if a large crane can be gotten in there to pick out the 2 deck girder spans that each have 1 end on the shifted pier/ “bent”/ tower before they are permanently bent, and/ or temporarily brace and support them from the existing pier/ bent/ tower - it might not be too bad. It looks like maybe about an 80 ft. long span closest to the camera, and one about 150 - 200 ft. long from the kink to the far end of the displacement - hard to tell how high it is at that point, though. At worst, that tower/ bent at the kink might be wrecked and have to be entirely replaced, depending on where in it the damage took place and how badly the steel in it has been deformed and twisted. But once that is done, to reset those 2 spans would likely be tricky, complicated, slow, and somewhat expensive - but nowhere near the cost of replacing the entire bridge. A “WAG” estimate might be in the $250,000 - $500,000 range - not cheap, but also better than abandonment and loss of service to the users, and well within the self-insured amounts of a state government.
It would appear that the flooding has scoured and undermined one of the piers and thus it is going with the flow. Bridge is repairable, but at what cost?
I just read an article about the Central Montana Railroad. Interesting to me is that the railroad came about as a result of a lawsuit between the state of Montana and the Burlington Northern in the early 1980’s. At the time of that suit, the state claimed that the line was, “essential for grain farmers in the central part of the state.”
Well, is the rail line really absolutely “essential” as claimed by the state?? Or would the farmers survive just fine without it? I guess we will know for sure when the owner of the damaged bridge (the state of Montana) decides either to repair, or not repair, this damaged bridge!
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Attorneys for Montana have filed a lawsuit against BNSF Railway Company, accusing it of failing to live up to a 1984 agreement that the state says requires the company to pay some grain shipping costs in central Montana.
Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock filed the suit on Nov. 10 in Fergus County, saying BNSF was in effect seeking to create a monopoly in central Montana. The suit asks a state judge to force BNSF to resume the payments and also cover any damages. BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said Tuesday that he could not comment before consulting with the company’s attorneys.
The case’s origins are in the 1980 bankruptcy of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. At the time, BNSF stepped in to take over many of the bankrupt company’s lines in Montana, including one between Geraldine and Lewistown. Montana officials had said the Geraldine Line was essential for grain farmers in the central part of the s
Well, that linked article says that the Central Montana Railroad was created as a non-profit company, a status which it seems to have fulfilled . . . what’s the problem, then ? [swg]
Also says that BNSF’s payments per car shipped increased from $250 per carload in 1984 to $884 as of Nov. 2009. I suppose that’s to reimburse the CM for its share of the movement’s costs ? And otherwise, I have a hard time seeing what the basic issue or problem is here . . . ?
Sounds like the usual political blather. CM has only one connection - BNSF. BNSF is “monopoly” railroad to anywhere regardless of whether grain originates on CM or at reasonably nearby BNSF main line points.
A short line division of $884 per car is VERY high. Not being privy to the BNSF-Montana agreement I have no informed opinion about the merits of BNSF’s legal position. I can say that if I were BNSF I would not be happy about giving up a third of my revenue to a shortline that lies parallel to my main at a distance of 20 miles or so.
Right on. But such is the rhetoric one hears with regard to the railroad in Montana.
My guess that on some level, the state or whoever is letting a big sigh of relief over this as it will give a way to “bow out” of the railroad business. There has never been a lot of business on the route, and has fallen since the BNSF subsidy was discontinued. With large bridges, a tunnel, and a 1.5 percent grade for loaded grain traffic, the route has inherent obstacles. It was difficult to see how the state would maintain the service in perpetuity without pumping a lot of money into it at some future time.
Now, mother nature and BNSF can be blamed for the damage and the lack of incentive to repair a line that could have been shut down in future anyway. Time will tell.
I don’t feature the decision is as easy is run the railroad or not. If the bridge is not repaired, then it will have to be dismantled as it’s continued damaged existence would be a severe safety hazard. I suspect the costs to repair the bridge will will significantly less than the costs of dismantling.
Question; Since the effects of scoring ar3e recognizeed now how should the foundation piles be constructed on any rebuild, new bridge, etc?? Realize that any bridge is unique compared to others. Would coring samples help? how deep any foundations? Etc??
The fire has destroyed a wooden bridge on the Central Montana Railroad stranding about 10 miles of stored cars between Denton and Arrow Creek. Car storage is the railroad’s primary source of revenue. The line is permanently out of service from Arrow Creek to Geraldine due to a slide, slip outs, and no business.
How much business is even left on the CMR? Once they get those stored cars out of there. It may just be in everyone’s best interest to abandon the CMR…
Well, business is a relative term. They operate the Charlie Russell Chew Choo tourist train. https://montanadinnertrain.com/
Other than that, car storage is the vast majority of their revenue. In the past, I understand they have received contracts to maintain or repair railroad equipment. But for actual loaded/empty empty/loaded commodities, there is none.
Grain produced in the area is trucked to shuttle facilties on BNSF at Carter, Tunis, Kershaw, Moccasin(Grove) or Moore. The line can’t accommodate 143-ton cars.