Interesting quote on a western trans-continental railroad . . .

[River City John]

February 1860 Scientific American -

"Out West, they are going beyond anything ever attempted in reckless construction of railways. A western man, who, in his time, has been a merchant, a surveyor, an engineer, a land agent, a railway president and a professional politician (on more sides than one, by way of variety), once remarked to me, concerning a mutual acquaintance who was an engineer, 'a good theoretical man, Sir, but requires millions [of dollars] to carry out his plans; he might do well in England, with an unlimited supply of money, but he is not calculated for our western country; not practical, Sir, not practical! We want men who can build railroads of corn cobs, if necessary!'"

RCJ

[Trailrider]

Too true! And they'll never make money hauling people around. Might be okay for hauling coal, lumber, &cetera. For people, ya might as well load up in steam-powered kites. Much faster, if not as comfortable...especially if you pack 'em in like sardines! 

[HogDoc Olliday]

One of the best books on the subject of the building of the railroad is:

Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Stephen Ambrose.

[JohnsonBarr]

Ambrose is right most of the time but, not always. A better source is Eugene A Miller's 'Railroad 1869'. Gene's grandfather, Arundel C Hull, was the Union Pacific Railroad 'assistant' photographer from Omaha to Promontory and the family's archives of photos and journals gives a wonderful first hand history. I was lucky to recieve copies from Gene of his own research about Arthur Ferguson and his daries as Ferguson worked his way west as a UPRR location surveyor from Omaha to Promontory. These wonderful bits are part of my Originals Class character Johnson Barr. I've been a 'spike head' since I was a kid which, among other things, lead to the small nineteenth century timber truss bridge company I started some twenty plus years ago. Go visit my site and see what idle hands do when they aren't thumbing hammers.
lonestarbridge.com

[Professor Marvel]

which, among other things, lead to the small nineteenth century timber truss bridge company I started some twenty plus years ago. Go visit my site and see what idle hands do when they aren't thumbing hammers.
lonestarbridge.com

Lovely work, Monsieur Barr, unfortunately I was hoping for something...... larger

you see we lost a complex wooden trestle bridge to fire a while back:

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15368726

yhs
prof marvel

[JohnsonBarr]

Mr. Howe's patent bridges are indeed are Marvel, sir. While I scale down to meet my customer needs, there is no reason to think 1:1 scale can not be recreated. Budget not withstanding of course. I enjoy collecting historical bridge pics, might you have a few of the dearly departed?

[Professor Marvel]

Monsieur Barr,

yessir, the mathematics of materials, strain, load,  & etc do not care as to scale, do they :-)

I regret to say that I have no photos of my own to offer but can at least provide this entertaining google search result:
http://tinyurl.com/bridges-pics

From the pics it would appear to have , well,
less wood
than I was led to believe...

yhs
prof marvel

[Trailrider]

Interestingly, you might check model railroad books and magazines! A lot of the drawings that appear are based on original prototype (1:1 scale) structures that were measured and copied by the modellers. Of course before costructing anything that would be used, you'd need to get a structural engineer (with a P.E. certification in their state) to check out the design.

[JohnsonBarr]

Prof, your link to the CATS pics was of the plate grider, steel pier bridge that was set a blaze; the handy work of an arsonist. The bridge has been repaired and the trains were running again from Chama up over Cumbres Pass this last fall while I was making my annual narrow gauge tour. I nailed the aspen change dead on and the pass was a sight to see.

[Professor Marvel]

Why thank you Monsieur Barr
it is good to get the facts (our local talking heads reporters are deficient and ignorant, and recently my memory sucks is less than stellar) and even better to hear that it has been repaired so well!

yhs
prof (less than stellar) marvel

[JimBob]

As a matter of interest for the techno-freaks out there,loading data on modern bridges is derived from the work done on those early railroad bridges as to how much it will hold before failure.

[JohnsonBarr]

Applied science with the only engineer on scene in the cab of the locomotive. Trick was to have the loco push progressively heavier loaded flat cars out across the span with the locomotive being the final pass or fail gauge. Sometimes the bridge magic failed.

[Professor Marvel]

Applied science with the only engineer on scene in the cab of the locomotive. Trick was to have the loco push progressively heavier loaded flat cars out across the span with the locomotive being the final pass or fail gauge. Sometimes the bridge magic failed.

Ahhhhh "bridge magic" !

is that the 19th century version of  "magic server pixie dust" ...?

yhs
prof marvel

[JohnsonBarr]

Dust was indeed involved with failure. Bridge magic involves transmitting the load to the abutments at either end. Sometimes giant sucking sounds would over come the magic and send the whole mess ass over teacups. I believe
the technical term is gravity but, I might be half a bubble off.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Greetings All!

Very interesting.  And a shame that the bridge, even as half-a$$ed modern as it may be, was burnt.  (I say "half-a$$ed modern" since it came after the turn of last century, not the beautiful, if scary, huge timber spans across very deep ravines that were features of the original builders.)


Bridge Magic & Magic Server Pixie Dust:  I'll sell some if you want.  I also have some farmland for sale just West of San Fransisco.  It has a little drainage issue, but it's really good land.

(offered by my alter ego: Steal Horse)