Throughout Nebraska and Kansas there are many bridges and trestles still up
years after the right of way has been abandoned. The Frisco had a bridge just
east of Wichita (Augusta) that is still in place, it may be that it will
eventually be converted to a trail but not sure. Here in teh Omaha area, I see
bents on an old MP ROW but the old CRIP ROW pretty much has them removed. I
think there may be other factors too such as water management, if there is a
belief that bents may help blocakge and cause flooding, they are more apt to be
removed.
Ricky Keil
Bellevue, NE
> To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
> From: clipperw@gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 22:38:42 -0500
> Subject: [CBQ] Re: Abandoned railroad trestles
>
> Not all trestles were torn down on abandon RRs. I am not aware of any
> of the trestles on the Rio Grande Southern that were torn down. They
> have all just slowly decayed over time. There is a Milwaukee Road
> wooden through truss bridge that still serves a prairie path on the
> west side of Sequim, WA. The RR was abandon about 1980. Many abandon
> steel bridges still exist. The Q bridge across Interstate 35 at
> Cameron, MO is still in place, complete with BN emblem. (The bridge
> may have been built after the Q.) There is also an abandon steel RR
> bridge across 350 highway in south Kansas City. (I don't know what RR
> crossed it.) I know there are other examples.
>
> By the way, if the bents are left up, the top stringers are also
> probably left. There usually were six of them spaced parallel to each
> other. The ties were laid on top of them. With a minimal deck, they
> would easily support a semi truck, let alone a standard automobile or
> pick up as long as the wheel were on top of the stringers. They were
> huge timbers designed to support a locomotive. In most case, it is my
> experience that scrap companies didn't bother with timber trestles
> unless they were specifically contracted to do so. All they wanted
> was the steel. If they took them down, they would most likely burn
> them in rural areas.
>
> Bill Barber
> Gravois Mills, MO
>
>
> On Aug 5, 2009, at 8:33 AM, CBQ@yahoogroups.com wrote:
>
> > Re: Abandoned railroad trestles
> > Posted by: "Bob Webber" cz17@comcast.net rsgrzw
> > Tue Aug 4, 2009 11:19 am (PDT)
> >
> >
> >
> > It even goes further. If you leave pilings up, someone *WILL* put
> > plywood down and assume they can drive across on their bikes. The
> > next person sees the plywood (or old ties, or?) and assumes he can
> > drive his motorcycle across. The next one sees the "bridge" and
> > leaps to the conclusion that since this appears to be a road - it is
> > graded, after all - then the bridge should be perfectly fine for his
> > 4 wheeler (ATV). The next person sees the 4 wheeler cross, figures
> > his 4x4 Ford 350 can cross. There sits a 2 and a half ton vehicle
> > impaled on piles.
> >
> > Better to remove all doubt. If the railroad leaves the pilings, and
> > someone "builds" a bridge, it is assumed to be a viable
> > crossing. And, given the "deep pockets" laws on the books for
> > liability, that means the railroad is responsible. A pile trestle
> > abandoned, and not bridged becomes an attractive nuisance. That
> > attraction breeds lawsuits.
> >
> > If you think this is ludicrous, you are, in many ways, right. But -
> > the originating railroad (C&NW) and successors (UP) have been held
> > accountable for using rubber tiling (which becomes slippery when wet)
> > in 50 year old gallery cars. So, the railroad tends to make things
> > unusable once they no longer use them.
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
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>
>
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