Dave, Ken and list,
`That stretch of track east of Connett was a four mile stretch of wood
trestle that held some kind of record for the longest trestle. It's still
intact imbeded in the fill of the right of way. From where that wash out
was, service was suspended. The interesting thing was that every living
thing for many flat miles headed toward the Q's elevation. The crews during
the 65 flood said that the tracks were full with everything from deer to
snakes. I remember crews saying that even the tired rabbits were vicious
from swimming so long trying to get to solid ground. I don't remember any
rules from the black book to cover vicious rabbits on the Q. Karl, can you
think of any? Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen J. Levine" <sjl@p...>
To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 12:36 PM
Subject: [BRHSlist] 1965 floods and the Q
> 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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