The original topic has slid far down the list, so I'll start it here. The burned trestle has been replaced with a culvert and a fill. The bridge ties had already been put on the watch list for replacement and 3 of the 4 rails on the bridge had been marked for immediate replacement before the fire. The area between MP 56 and 58 was in a little better shape before the fire, but MP 58-59 (end of the fire) was within the segment (MP 58-63) that had been marked for tie replacement 2 weeks before. That mile had about 80 ties marked. The fire damaged 280 additional ties in that mile to an extent that they will have to be replaced. Not every damaged tie HAS to be changed out since the FRA requirement for that class of track is for 1 good tie within 30 inches of a joint and then 1 tie in 5 in between--but the badly burned ties are figured for replacement. (A LOT more than the 280 ties were fire damaged, but those were the ones that were no longer functioning as a "tie" anymore). Several joints will also have to be looked at where a joint tie burned under it and visibly changed the color of the rail and the joint bars. It was actually pretty fortunate that maintenance was going on fairly close by on the line to where the contractor could relocate equipment fairly fast. That company also had equipment down on the Watco (ex-UP) PV/Hooper lines that was moved in. While talking to a couple of farmers (closer to Almira) while out there, they mentioned how important the rail line is to them. (Let's hope that they keep using it and not use it only as a bargaining chip for getting truck rates).

Once they get the rails replaced over the new fill and fix a bad kink at MP 58.1, they will be able to walk trains through the area. Probably mid-week this coming week. (The bridge was at MP 57.1--just geographically west of the rest stop on Highway 2 and west of the 2 buildings that burned at the Telford Road grade crossing at 56.7)