June, 1965, was not a good month for the Q.
As soon as they had the Mississippi mess cleaned up, the South Platte River
blew, flooding Denver and then, later on, wiping out the line around Bijou Creek
near Wiggins, CO.
In late June, I rode the DZ to Chicago. I believe we were on the first trip on
the Q since the flood. I was on the left side of the slumbercoach Silver
Repose, with my brother in a double room. When we got to Wiggins, I noticed we
were moving very slowly through a big field of mud. As we crossed Bijou Creek,
the north I-80S (now I-76) bridge was totally washed out, but the south bridge
was intact, but the pillars had sunk so that it went up and down. A car was
slowly negotiating it as we crossed the railroad bridge next to it.
I then noticed what had been the Way of the Zephyrs until the week before, when
the flood washed it off of the roadbed. It was twisted as it went over a tree
stump and then into puddles.
Every time I rode the DZ passed Bijou Creek, I watched progress on the repairs
of the bridge. When we returned to Denver in August of 1965, the north bridge
was still out, but the south bridge had been made level. In 1966, the north
bridge was rebuilt and, in the summer of 1967, the south bridge was replaced.
The north bridge now carries a service road, the south bridge, which had carried
the westbound I-80S traffic, now carries eastbound I-76 traffic, and a new
bridge carries westbound I-76 traffic.
sjl
Dave_Lotz wrote:
> Most traffic was rerouted over the Santa Fe from Galesburg to Ft. Madison
> and then up the K Line to Burlington.
>
> Those more knowledgeable than I, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've
> been told that westbound passenger trains were wyed at Galesburg and pulled
> to Ft. Madison with SF power, so that the Q power would be headed the right
> direction to head up the K Line. The eastbounds were pulled by Santa Fe
> power between Ft. Madison and Galesburg, then wyed to get the Q power going
> the right direction.
>
> Dave Lotz (who also spent many hours shoveling sand into sandbags with my
> scout troop)
> St. Louis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken martin [mailto:kmartin@c...]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 12:23 AM
> To: BRHSlist@egroups.com
> Subject: Re: [BRHSlist] CB&Q units in Milwaukee
>
> Jules Johnson wrote:
> >
> > Bob, don't forget that the mighty Mississippi did quite a lot of damage to
> > the Q on the Illinois side at Burlington, Ia. I was to arrive at a
> college
> > in Fairfield, Ia. in June 1965(you know to stay out of the draft) and we
> had
> > to cross the river at Rock Island and travel south to Burlington to get
> back
> > on US 34. Would you have any idea where the trains would haved detoured
> to,
> > Ft Madison, Quincy, Rock Island? Oh well your message about your summer
> of
> > 1965 reminded me of this event.
> >
>
> In 1965 when the levee broke on the Illinois side the water went through the
> underpass where hwy 34 went under the RR tracks. As I recall this lowered
> the
> hwy 30 feet and took out about 1000 ft of double track on a fill. By the
> time
> the water got to Gladstone the river was almost ten miles wide. I was in
> Burlington Community College and worked filling sandbags over Easter break.
>
> Ken Martin
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