Thursday, January 31, 2019

MoW: Bridge Truss "Repair"

Gil Moser posted four photos with the comment: "Can't remember the bridge number, I think it was on the river sub. It stayed like picture four [just a bunch of chains] for at least three years."

I know the EJ&E had a river sub. But I'll bet there are a lot of other railroads in the USA that also had a river sub. Maybe Gil is being deliberately vague to protect people's jobs.
Josh Rawls Looks like fatigue failure to me. It broke at a stress point.
Tom Mason thats a lot to break.
Dan Thomas Weld not a good repair for this old steel. Better to have bolted plates and angles. A very old bridge based on the bottom chord link and pin design.
Don Murphy I agree with the bolted plates and angles. I was Bridge Inspector on River Sub for several years and later Structures Supervisor. There is no way that would have stayed that way for 3 years back then.
Robert Oxley that's good steel though. The old stuff. [He probably means that it had a lot of pure iron from a blast furnace rather than just melted scrap steel.] Probably been red lead painted many times..lol
Kev Chaloner Would seem to be a bad design. The left hand web plate was not run past the angle bracket making the right hand web plate carry most of the load and fail by fatigue. That joint has been flexing for quite some time. I would be checking all the other ones quick smart.

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4, cropped
This shows that a truss member designed to take a compression force is not always subjected to a compression force. This break was caused by a tension force. More specifically, the forces probably changed between compression and tension as a train rolled by causing metal fatigue. If it was always under compression, the gap would not hang open.




I don't like "talking heads" videos, so I find these hard to watch. But there is some interesting information in them. So I'll just park them at the end of these notes. When he starts talking about "the lesson learned," I consider that the end of the relevant information.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Des Moines Trail/Union Railway (Wabash+Milwuakee) Bridge over Raccoon River In Des Moines, IA


If you are here because of the UP/C&NW/CGW bridge, then you need to go there.

Street View, Jul 2023

Christopher Robert posted
Downtown Des Moines, Iowa then and now.
Ray McCollough: Thanks. I don’t realize that bridge had MILW heritage.
 
Christopher Robert commented on Ray's comment
It was the Des Moines Union Railway (DMU) Bridge.
The DMU was jointly owned by the Wabash and MILW.
It was also used by the CB&Q, M&StL and CGW.
The bridge is now a footbridge and is the only remaining DMU structure.

1956 Des Moines SW and SE Quads @ 24,000

Bob Dover posted
Directly opposite the main part of downtown Des Moines, Iowa, crossing the Des Moines River, is the Red Bridge. Constructed by the Des Moines Union Railway in 1891, the Red Bridge is a hybrid construction type that has been partially reconstructed a few times. The ends of the bridge are steel-plate girder construction, but the two spans in the middle of the river are the original steel through-truss spans. The bridge was abandoned in 1996, but it was rehabilitated and reopened as a pedestrian and bicycle-only bridge in 2004. The bridge is painted bright red and lined with a modern white railing. In the center of the bridge, between the two through-truss spans, a modern platform extending off both sides of the bridge has been added to the original structure. This modern platform is outfitted with benches and is designed to provide a relaxing park-like space in the middle of the river. The Red Bridge is lighted at night, both from the outside, and with lighting of the steel components from within the truss. Because the Red Bridge is a very bright shade of red, the interior lighting makes the bridge appear as if it glows from within at night.
You can find photos of several of the downtown Des Moines bridges on www.bridgespotting.com. There are also detailed profiles of the Red, Green, and Riverside Park Drive bridges provided in my book, Bridgespotting Part 2: A Guide to Even More Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times.


Tuesday, January 29, 2019

C&O Bridge over Wabash River in Peru, IN

(Bridge Hunter, no Historic Bridges, Satellite)

See CW Junction Tower for an analysis of how the C&O ran through Peru.

Jason Jordan shared
On the C & O of Indiana at Peru, IN. crossing the Wabash River.
Rob Kunkle photo
Not one, not two, but three C&O steamers heading south across the C&O bridge east of the power plant. 1949
[]Note that the "smoke" is white instead of black. This once again demonstrates that smoke is black during railfan excursions because the fireman is deliberately putting on a show for the cameras. Or maybe they are burning the "smokeless coalfrom the New River Coal Field in Southern West Virginia that the C&O served.
I once read that the C&O was the "mountain railroad of Indiana" because its diagonal path across Indiana took it over every river watershed in the state. But, of course, now I can't find where I read that :-(. Maybe that is why it takes three steam locomotives to pull a freight.

Satellite
I include a satellite image because of the log jam. It demonstrates how large they can grow if the debris is not cleared from active bridges. This jam must have stayed intact for a while because vegetation is growing out of it. I wonder what the vegetation is using for soil.
Mike Snow posted
Chesapeake & Ohio No. 446 F-15 C&O train #17 at Peru Indiana February 16, 1946 Swartz-McCarter Collection Neg No. 3949 photo by M.D. McCarter

James Boudraux posted
Crossing the Wabash River...Peru,In...8/77...R.Richard Koenig
rrPictureArchives: 1980 Amtrak train

FallenFlags: Chessie Cat on an engine

UP/Milw (Omaha) Bridge #15 over Mississippi River at St. Paul, MN

(Bridge HunterHistoric Bridges; John A. Weeks IIIFlickr in the open position; 3D Satellite)

Technically, this is not yet another swing bridge. It's a bobtail bridge. That means it is not symmetric. That is, one side is longer than the other. All though the differences in the length of the sides of this bridge are pretty small. I might have missed that it was a bobtail bridge if it wasn't for the conspicuous counterweight at the end of the short side. This bridge is also noteworthy because we seldom have a set of photos that include the interior of the control house as well as the machinery room.

Richard A Jeffery posted eleven photos with the comment: "I found a few pictures I had taken of Bridge 15. Located on the Mississippi River in St Paul MN. Bridge is known as the Omaha Bridge to the RR crews. Bridge was built in 1915."

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If you look closely you can see the steam crane on a barge used during during construction
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In the bridge house

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The controls that cause the bridge to move

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Entrance to the mechanical room under the tracks.

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Notice the high water mark from 1965

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A video of the span swinging open as viewed from a boat




Monday, January 28, 2019

Amtrak/Penn 1910 Portal Bridge over Hackensack River in New Jersey

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; 3D Satellite)

Replacement Bridge

Why yet another swing bridge? Because it appears that I, as a Federal taxpayer, am going to help pay $1.5b to replace this bridge. (I'd rather pay for efficient rail travel than more roads.) Or is the $1.5b for the complete access project including a new tunnel? Nope, $1.5b is just for the bridge! The entire "Gateway" project is $24b with $10b for the tunnel. [CrainsNewYork (payware)] The new bridge is higher so that it doesn't need a movable span. I assume that is why the replacement is such an expensive bridge.

(Update: on page 11 of the Sep 2020 Trains magazine there is a little News Brief that the FTA has advanced the project to the engineering phase with a promise for more than $750m of funding for the $1.8b project.)

Amtrak from ProgressiveRailroading

safe_image for Northeast Corridor Portal Bridge in N.J. will be replaced
[Construction could begin in Spring 2021. The $1.81b project could get $811m in federal funding.]

Street View

Amtrak continues to plan a replacement of the more than 110-year-old Portal North Bridge, a two-track, swing-span structure over the Hackensack River in Kearney and Secaucus, New Jersey. The bridge often malfunctions, causing transit delays on the busy Northeast Corridor.
“It’s about 23 feet above water and rotates to open for marine traffic. It has not worked properly more frequently than we’d like, and causes massive delays to trains,” said Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz.
Amtrak plans to replace it with a new 50-foot, high-level, fixed-span bridge that can accommodate faster trip times and boost reliability. The $1.5 billion, six-span bridge will not open and close like a movable bridge, said Schulz.
The bridge replacement is part of Amtrak’s Gateway program, which involves a series of projects aimed at doubling rail capacity between New York and New Jersey, and improving resiliency. The new Portal North Bridge and a Hudson Tunnel project comprise the program’s first phase.
The new bridge will be built to the north of the existing structure, which eventually will be dismantled. The new bridge will feature 10 percent more capacity.
The project has a five-year construction schedule and the bridge has been designed, said Schulz.
Amtrak has collected half of project costs from local partners and applied to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for a core capital program grant. The railroad is awaiting the FTA’s review. For now, Amtrak has performed some early work for the project.
At some point, the railroad also expects to replace the Portal South Bridge with a comparable structure, said Schulz.
ProgressiveRailroading
I saved a satellite image since this bridge is supposed to be replaced.
3D Satellite
"Portal is considered one of the busiest railroad bridges in the western hemisphere, used by up to 200,000 passengers a day. When it gets stuck, it causes long lasting problems for passengers." Two problems closing it in one day delayed 80,000 passengers "on 16 Amtrak trains and 148 NJ Transit trains" because the second problem happened during rush hour. [www.nj.com]
 
William Billson posted
PRR / Amtrak Portal Bridge
James Kenney: William Billson Is that a dead man pedal on the floor?
William Billson: James Kenney I believe so.
Brian R. Wroblewski: Definitely an upgraded & updated panel if that's an older bridge.


Most of the closure problems are getting the miter rails to extend across the gaps and lock into position. "Sometime workers have to use sledge hammers to bang the miter rails between the bridge and land back into the locked position. On Nov. 23, 1996, an eastbound Amtrak train derailed on the Portal Bridge and sideswiped a westbound Amtrak train. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the incident on the miter rails." [www.nj.com]

eBook, p32
.

New Portal Bridge


Railway Age  (source)
Artist’s rendering of Portal North Bridge, courtesy of Amtrak.

NJ Transit posted two images with the comment:
Replacing Portal Bridge will increase capacity and ensure reliability for the more than 450 NJ TRANSIT & Amtrak trains a day that cross it. We thank U.S. Department of Transportation, our partners at Federal Transit Administration & Federal Railroad Administration, and the NJ Congressional Delegation for their support of this shovel-ready project.
Vishal Parmar About damn time! That bridge should’ve been replaced during the 2000s or 2010s. I do hope the speeds will be faster and with the new bridge not having to open up for traffic I would hope you can arrive a lot faster in leaving or going into NYP.
Mike Jiran Thank Chris Christie.
Vishal Parmar Mike Jiran he killed the tunnel. ARC was a disaster. What CC was guilty of was killing the ARC, endorsing the Gateway Plan via lip service and walked away. He didn’t fight for funding nor endorsed it and didn’t kick in any financial love that it should’ve gotten much earlier on.
Christopher Stephans It needs to be at least four tracks wide. Any amount of tracks less than four will be a waste of time and money.
[Several comments reflect what was on my mind: does support mean it is FUNDED?]
Mike Lordi What is response to this? https://t.co/i821yNrngs?amp=1 "Since 2016, this Editorial Board has been the lonely voice criticizing Amtrak’s $30 billion Gateway boondoggle as the wrong solution to the real need to repair two waterlogged tunnels and double trans-Hudson passenger capacity....NJT is seeking a 'core capacity' grant. Under federal law, such a project must boost ridership 'by not less than 10 percent.' But a new Portal North Bridge never could increase capacity by even a single seat, as it is a two-track substitution for a two-track bridge, carrying the same 21 peak-hour morning trains into Penn Station....In submissions to the FTA starting in 2016, NJT said that a new bridge would allow for double-decker rail cars and also longer trains, which would add 11.6% more seats to those 21 trains. But 13 of the trains were already double-deckers, and a new bridge was irrelevant to making the other eight multi-level or lengthening trains."
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William Billson posted
PRR/Amtrak Portal bridge in Kearny NJ.


rtands
[It appears that Amtrak's original plan was to build new tunnels and then economically fix the old tunnels because trains could be diverted to the new tunnels. Now Amtrak needs to figure out how to fix tunnels while they handle over 450 trains a day. It is a shame that Trump is spending money on a wall instead of new tunnels.]

safe_image for Project to Repair Century-Old NJ Rail Bridge Gets $800 Million Boost From Feds
"Nearly 200,000 people and 450 trains cross the bridge each day during normal times....A study released last year found that passengers traveling between New Jersey and New York had experienced rail delays of five hours or more about 17 times per year in recent years. About three-quarters were attributable to problems with the tunnel and the rest were due to problems with the bridge."

A comment on a post: "Portal bridge is far beyond its replacement age. The planned replacement is well underway and the design is a massive elevated fixed structure over the Hackensack River."
 

safe_image for Issues at Portal Bridge to continue into weekend for NJ Transit, Amtrak
[Mother's Day weekend: May 13, 2023]
"Delays, but few cancellations, expected as work continues to address signal problems....A total of 11 outbound and two inbound NJ Transit trains were cancelled during [Friday's] afternoon rush hour and into this evening....An Amtrak spokesman said a contractor “caused an electrical issue affecting critical systems” at the site." The problems began Thursday.
 
AltoonaWorks posted
5/2024 - From a Philadelphia-bound Acela we got this shot of the new Portal Bridge under construction over the Hackensack River outside of NYC.  The current bridge opened in 1910 and hosts 450 trains per day as of 2015 according to Wiki.

The arches are fabricated in the Port of Coeymans and shipped down the Hudson River.
Sharron Crocker posted via Dennis DeBruler

2 of 3 photos posted by the Times Union with the comment:
The first section of the Portal North Bridge was towed out of the Port of Coeymans on Tuesday on its way to installation as part of a downstate commuter rail crossing over the Hackensack River.⁠⁠
The span is part of a new $1.7 billion bridge that will connect commuter trains from New York City to New Jersey.⁠⁠
The new span is the first of three sections of the bridge that are being built in the port by the Swedish-based Skanska construction company.⁠⁠
📸: Will Waldron / Times Union
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Mammoet posted three photos with the comment:
A few weeks ago, the first of three sections of the new Portal North Bridge began its journey down the Hudson River, heading to its final placement over the Hackensack River.
Using their expertise in heavy lifting, Mammoet's team successfully transported the massive bridge section - over 120 meters (~400 ft.) long - from the assembly site at the Port of Coeymans to the roll-on location, where it was loaded onto a barge for the next stage of its journey.
These sections will eventually replace the century-old Portal Bridge, a key link between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City. 
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[This photo is good enough that I noticed the SPMT is part of the load. I wonder why the false work is asymmetric.]

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(new window) Boats can be restricted, but it requires government officials that are willing to use their brains. Sailboats can go on the Chicago river just twice a week in the Spring and Fall. And they can go only to the lake in the Spring and from the lake in the Fall. Barge operators use the river year round, but they are required to use towboats with retractable pilothouses. And I'll bet that when they move cranes on a barge to a construction site that they don't do it during rush hour.


Jul 10, 2024: Halfway done, and it is on time and on budget.
3:03 video @ 0:47


Jul 6, 2024, just over 50% complete
3:01 video @ 0:41

A 13:15 video discussing the impact of this bridge construction on tug traffic. It does have some interesting timelapse video in some parts as he talks about the issues. It is not just a talking head.

Nov 16, 2024
2:10 video

Jan 16, 2025:
The Hudson Valley in pictures posted
Amtrak/NJ Transit’s New Portal North Bridge truss # 2 is floating south down the Hudson River today to Secaucus, NJ. Taken at Kingston Park around 1:55 PM.
📷 by Mark R. Light
Glenn Brown shared