There was a blurb on CNN this morning that a UP train derailed some covered hoppers in northern Nevada and that two hours after the derailment, a bridge over the Humboldt River collapsed. A Google search found the following article on a Reno TV station (KTVN).
http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=9585627
Train Derailed; Cars Crash into Humboldt River in Eureka County
Posted: Dec 27, 2008 11:01 PM CST
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A map search showed at about 10 miles west of Carlin is the paired track of the old WP and SP lines. There are several crossings of the Hunboldt River by both lines and 10 miles appears close to SP tunnel 1 and WP tunnel 39 with river crossings at both ends of the tunnels… There is or was a forward connection from SP to WP (ie SP eastbound to WP westbound lines at CP Barth about 2 -21/2 miles west of the above mentioned tunnels. Then nothing until 70 miles west of the tunnels at Valmy (SP) or CP F572 (WP) .Ten miles east of the tunnels at Carlin is a double crossover. So the exact location of this collaspe (which line?) can affect the operation very little or be a major problem. Note: the old E&P (Eureka & Palisade) later the E-N (Eureka-Nevada) line (3 ft. guage) went around the mountain the two tunnels went through. Depending on the exact location of the collaspe that ROW could help greatly or be completely useless.
May be good fishing in the humboldt next year from all the grain spilled.
Union Pacific has issued a statement indicating rail operations will not be materially affected.
Nevada train derailment won’t disrupt service after all
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Associated Press - December 28, 2008 3:55 PM ET
CARLIN (AP) - Union Pacific officials say a freight train derailment in northern Nevada will NOT disrupt rail service on 1 of the country’s main east-west lines as initially feared.
Here’s that location:
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=40.607575&lon=-116.19878&z=17.2&r=0&src=msa
Was it the SP or WP bridge? I gather from the later news story that it may have been the WP (“…the train was passing through the tunnel…”), but this is not a certainty.
Johnny
A few more details. Since I do not know which line is involved here is a synospis of the track layout. From Carlin (double turnout) go west on the old SP which is north of the Homboldt river about 9 - 1/2 miles to the hamlet of Palidade. Then 1/2 mile west SP crosses the Homboldt - goes into Tunnel 1 - then immediately crosses the Honboldt again to be on the North side of the river. From Carlin going west on the old WP that rail line is on the south side of the river - 1/2 mile west past Palisade the line goes into WP tunnel 39 - exits and immediately crosses the Homboldt and is on the north side of the river. About 1 -3/4 miles furthur west of the two westernmost bridges the WP line flys over the SP and both again cross the Homboldt going to the south side of the river. The Barth crossover is just west of those bridges. Although Barth shows as only a one way crossover the terrain appears to be such that a double turnout could be installed if necessary if it isn’t already one. This is assuming that the derailment and bridge collaspe location is accurately defined. So if this location is accurate only about 12 -13 miles will need to be operated as single track instead of paired track.
One of our conductors was taking a trip west, but we can’t remember if he was taking the Zephyr east of west, or when…
This is on the westbound former SP right at the old town of Palisade. The old Eureka and Palisade roadbed could be used as a temporary detour if needed; but the site is between the Carlin and Barth crossovers.
Corwinda: Which bridge collasped the one east of the tunnel #1 or west of tunnel one?l? That means no extra crossover needed at Barth unless UP wants one to speed the repairs.
So it was the bridge on the right ? I’ll have to check it out friday when I head home.
If that is the correct location, it has to be the bridge on the left. The picture of the wreck shows a utility between the photographer and the track, which would have to place the photographer at a spot on the left side of your picture.
After looking closer I think it is this bridge on the east side of the tunnels
I agree that is probably it. Details of structural elements on your pic matches up with the picture at the wreck.
Jay
Jaeeaton: The top gusset plates on the left bridge do not match those on the photo of the collasped bridge. I assume that the picture of the two bridges is looking east since there are two bridges west of the tunnel and only only one on the east side of the tunnel looking west. If this analysis is correct then it is the WP bridge that collasped. Again if this is true there will not be a need to install a reverse crossover at Barth. It is only speculation but the SP bridge on the east side probably looks very similar to the SP bridge on the west side and not similar to the WP bridge.
Yes, the view is looking east in the first pic.
I see your point ,and it makes a lot of sense that both of the ex-SP’s bridges would be similar in style. However, if you look at the 2nd and 3rd of the Channel 2 News photos, the hillside in the background appears to be roughly parallel to the track, and closer to the track than in Chad’s photo of the twin bridges. Therefore, I’d conclude that the collapsed bridge was the former SP bridge on the east side of the tunnel. But I could well be mistaken with that.
SP is the westward track on the Paired Track. The train was loaded grain moving west. The derailment is on the SP track in an SP bridge over the Humboldt River. Bridge style is classic Harriman-era truss. SP and UP had hundreds of these.
RWM
This is the bridge that collapsed. This picture was taken from the opposite side of the track from the news photo.
I spent quite a bit of time railfanning around Palisade; and the view of the hills in the news photo places it quite precisely. (The news photo was taken from the county road bridge over the river or the road just west of the bridge.)
Did anyone get pictures this weekend or receive more information???
Back in May 2005, UP had a similar situation in Galt, IL - just west of Sterling, IL. The Galt derailment resulted in cars compromising the beams of a double track through truss bridge and put the bridge into the river. (I found some excellent pics documenting the incident and the process of restoring service - see below.) It took about a week for the process to work though, which is pretty amazing, considering they built a new bridge in that time. In the interim, UP dropped several large culverts into the stream and covered them with a train load of ballast to create a shoo fly.
