Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Canyon Diablo RR Bridges

(no Bridge Hunter, Satellite, you can see the arch in the shadow)
Public Domain from wpclipart

Jeerry Jackson posted two photos with the comment: "Canyon Diablo, yesterday 2.23.17."
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Update:
Arthur Robinson commented on a posting
Photo of 1882 bridge from U.S. Geological Survey
Steven J. Brown posted
BNSF SD70MAC 9650 (built 1995) provides relief from the parade of orange at Canyon Diablo, Arizona - January 18, 2019.
Steven J. Brown posted
BNSF ES44C4 8111 leads across the bridge at Canyon Diablo, Arizona - January 18, 2019.
 
Steven J. Brown posted
BNSF GP60 198 (built 1990 as Texas-Mexican to Vermont Railway 381) at Canyon Diablo, Arizona - January 18, 2019.
Used to see that unit or one like it working the hill to the Port of Vancouver, Washington.
Richard Olson: Vance Pomerening same unit
Jerry Jackson: The drive from I-40 to the main line is 4 miles with a high clearance vehicle and 24 if you have to drive around obstacles, lol...
Douglas J. Fear: Tried driving in in a rental. Gave up about 2 miles in.

BNSF
In the 1880s, engineer Lewis Kingman faced the challenge of building a bridge east of Flagstaff, Ariz., where the conditions are harsh and dry and the location desolate. His railroad, predecessor Atlantic and Pacific (A&P), needed to connect to the West Coast, and in the way of that plan was a chasm – Canyon Diablo, or Devil’s Canyon – more than 225 feet deep with steep sides and 500 feet across at the top.
Bridge builders were sent to the site months before the rails arrived, with crews hauling supplies as the railroad approached the site from Winslow, Ariz. The bridge iron – 20 carloads worth – was prefabricated in New York and designed to hold 30 times the weight of the trains it would carry. Limestone pillars for the bases were excavated from nearby deposits and chiseled by stonemasons.
Once assembled, the trestle bridge stood 220 feet above the canyon floor and stretched for 544 feet from one side to the other. The first trains passed over the canyon on July 1, 1882.
A sturdier bridge replaced the original in 1900 at the same spot, and then in 1947 the double-track, steel-arch bridge seen today was completed. Its length is 544 feet and its arch measures 300 feet. While remote, this is a popular site for railfans to photograph BNSF trains.


Francis Otterbein posted three photos with the comment:
Canyon Diablo Bridge (Now and Then)
Canyon Diablo, also known as the “Devil’s Canyon”, is located on a Navajo Reservation in north central Arizona. The town of Diablo Canyon used to exist where the BNSF Railway now spans the deep canyon west of Winslow, Arizona
The town of Canyon Diablo was very short lived with a very dark and seedy history. The town sprang up as a railroad work camp on the west side of the canyon in 1882.

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Steven J. Brown posted
Canyon Diablo, Arizona - April 25, 2003. I looked up the history of the consist so here goes: 7314 SD40-2 (built 1968 as CN SD40 5058 now Farmers Coop 6974), 8005 SD40-2 (built 1977 as BN 8005 last seen stored in Barstow), 6302 SD40u (built 1966 as ATSF SD40 1702 last seen in pieces at NRE - Mt Vernon, IL), 6468 SD45-2 (built 1973 as ATSF 5682 now BNSF SD40-2R 1572), 1062 C44-9W built 1996.
Ginger Dawgg Is there still that horribly rough access road into that place? I visited there in 1978.
Steven J. Brown Yup

Chris Cruz posted
Another company publicity photo identified as the Super Chief spanning the Canyon Diablo bridge. Photo is most likely from the early 1950's.
John Pasquariello Sr Has to be post 1951 as I believe there's a Pleasure Dome car back in the consist.

American-Rails.com posted
Santa Fe F7A #331-L leads the eastbound "El Capitan," sporting its new Hi-Level cars, across the 225-foot deep Canyon Diablo in Arizona during 1954. R. Collins Bradley photo. Author's collection.
Dennis Tharp: This picture of this train with High-level cars must be taken in 1960's. Not 1954. This Hi-level re-equipped in 1956.
Ed Cooper: The first two prototype Budd Hi-Level cars were built in 1954. Santa Fe started taking delivery of more Hi-Level cars in mid 1956. Your photo was not taken in 1954 or 1956. The telling clue is the lack of fuel tank skirts on the F units. That started happening in the later 1950s. Your photo could be the combined Super Chief/El Capitan No. 18 which started in January 1958.
Eric Faris: Am I seeing this correctly, A-A-B-B-A? Wow.
Jon Talton posted
The combined Super Chief-El Capitan crosses the Diablo Canyon bridge in northern Arizona. The two trains were combined much of the year, except when demand was high and they ran separately.

A video of a train crossing the bridge The comments include another video.







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