Winds Knock Dowm 4th Tallest Railroad Bridge

TomPM

Another Fried Egg Fan
Winds Knock Down 4th Tallest Railroad Bridge

Yesterday’s (July 21, 2003)severe weather in western Pennsylvania knocked down a portion of the fourth tallest railroad bridge in the US.

See the link below for the story on the collapse of the Kinzua Viaduct.
http://www.bradfordera.com/
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
That is not good! Luckily no one was seriously hurt.

I love this quote though:

"The bridge has sustained some damage," said Donald Main, assistant director of the Bureau of State Parks.

Some damage!?!?! Bit of an understatement, don't you think?

Andrew
 

shaygetz

Active Member
Wow, what a shot, they're going to be rerouting thru Nebraska 'til that's fixed. 'Spose Micro Engineering or Rix could make a replacement kit?
 

Gary Pfeil

Active Member
Isn't it amazing that the structure was built in 4 months in the 1880's? And Starucca Viaduct was built in less than a year? A simple road bridge across one track in Boonton has been under construction for well over a year already. And they had no power equipment!
 

Blake

Member
They didn't have unions back then Gary!!:D :D
Man, you should have seen that bridge in person. It was truly breathtaking. It was only being used for a tourist rail line until about a year or so ago. I got to see one of the steamers up there and also walked across it. What a bummer.
 

jim currie

Active Member
it it a sad day when bureaucratic bungling let this monument get in such a sad state read a while back that it was in bad shape it seems that the state had made no repairs to it in many years.
i can rember when i was growing up of hopping a freight and rideing over it more than once,now it probley will be just a memory, but a good one:D
 

MCL_RDG

Member
What must go up...

...must come down!

That's all I really wanted to say about this reality. I know it's tough fellows, hey they retired my GG-1s, they make decals of graffiti, after a B23-7 I was lost on deisel spotting evermore.

it a sad day when bureaucratic bungling let this monument get in such a sad state

No man as a bureaucrat ever built a thing that contributed to this country other than misery on another man. Let's leave the bureaucrats and their misery out of this one. It's a loss bad enough.

Mark :D

I apologize for the rant on the demise of the Viaduct. Thank you, I feel much better now!
 

Gary Pfeil

Active Member
Bureaucratic bungling? This bridge was built by the Erie Railroad and the Erie's descendant railroads stopped using it many years ago. It remained abandoned until a tourist railroad started using it. Were the profits of this tourist railroad sufficient to maintain that property? Apparently not, which comes as no surprise. Why then would anyone assume it becomes the states responsibility to mantain it? Where does the cash come from to do so? Government has only one source of cash, us, the taxpayers. I won't go into a political discourse here. Rather, a philosophical one. What is the basic premise behind the notion that government ought to maintain that bridge? Presumably that we as citizens had a right to have it preserved, so we can ride trains over it. If you look around the world and wonder why it seems to be going to hell, this premise (in a much larger sense) is the reason. I won't go into a discussion of what properly can be considered as our "rights" This would require a book. But since I often feel the despair of "what can one person do?" I need to at least tell you all what the correct "rights" of man are. Because this is all one man can do, to not let his silence condone those ideas which he holds as evil. Men have rights to action, not to material things or services. Things and services are provided by men. One man cannot have a right to the product of another mans labor. That is called slavery. Man can only have the right to purchase those services. The primary right is the right to life. This requires the freedom to pursue those things required to sustain life. (The right to action) There is no right to food, there is the right to grow or buy it. You don't have a right to a home, you have the right to buy or build one. And, you should have the right to keep and dispose of the products of your labor, which is where government becomes the largest violator of rights.

This only touches the "tip of the iceburg" on the subject, but hopefully will provide sufficient material for further thought. If anyone would further discuss this, I'd be glad to do so offline.

I am sorry to have brought such a "heavy" topic to a forum dedicated to model railroading. It is all one man could do!
 

Matthyro

Will always be re-membered
There aren't many tornados around here but I remember one some years ago and no matter how well structures were maintained, they were destroyed in a minute.
So even if this viaduct had been preserved, wouldn't a tornado just wreck it if it hit head on?
 

Gary Pfeil

Active Member
Hi Jim, Actually, you are right, I hadn't considered the fact that the bridge was in a state park. This leaves open the question of whether it is proper for the government (on any level, federal, state, local) to be the owner/operator of tourist attractions. It is probably obvious that I do not feel it is. But I admit it is a tremendously complex subject, not suitable for discussion here. If anyone is interested in pursuing the topic, please email me.
 
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