Danbury service suspended due to high water.

[DutchRailnut]

the cost of putting concrete ties on a slightly used line would have been ludicrous.
beacon line is still stick rail.

[HBLR]

I know they have their plan, so no need to comment on that.

In my opinion, I think putting piles in, and some kind of support beam system on top, and then adding the fill, would help with any future washouts in this spot. I think the idea to use rock for the whole thing is a good one, as rocks will allow water to pass through vs act as a solid wall. Of course over time stuff builds up, but still better than an actual soil levy type structure.

[DutchRailnut]

They don't need a bridge, there has not been any washouts there in 159 years, so stop re-inventing the railroad.
We got profesionals handeling it.

[Kilgore Trout]

I don't think this was answered, at least not directly so - how does this washout affect the signal project? Had work already started in the area?

[DutchRailnut]

Work has been going on for over a year at various locations, there has not been any cable installed, so no it did not get affected.

[Tommy Meehan]

Was there any additional damage from Thurs.-Fri.'s rain storm? Where I work in Elmsford the damage was actually worse -- much much worse -- than from Sunday night's storm.

[DutchRailnut]

no the second storm did not dump much in Danbury (around 2") but over a much longer span.

[DutchRailnut]

Here are todays pictures taken by Condr. Holland , the repairs are coming along very well.
So far 3500 tons of rip-rap (big stone) was brought up from Tilcon in Branford by truck.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/22 ... good-times

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/28 ... good-times

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/23 ... good-times

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/24 ... good-times

All in all a great job so far by all involved, from looks the track may be open way sooner than earlier estimates

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Would concrete ties have changed the situation here significantly? Would they have possibly eroded, or would the additional weight have caused the tracks to collapse into the void, or would they have not made a difference?

Nothing would've prevented a washout of that size. Same principle at work as a huge water main break causing a 50-ft. sinkhole to open up under a concrete-roadbed state highway. Send that much water gushing through packed earth, and that packed earth will liquefy and give way regardless of how well-engineered it is. Take away the fill, and it doesn't matter how strong the roadbed is on top...it won't support its own weight.

Impossible to prevent this with culverts because in a flash flood water can get diverted by obstructions on the topography and saturate areas that never ever see flowing water. Anywhere that's even a minimal statistical risk for this already has culverts. ex-New Haven lines that survived the biblical floods of '55 already had them installed in all areas that were even slightly elevated risk of this happening again. To totally zero out any risk of far-flung water redirection in chaotic situations you'd have to build virtually every paved road and every railroad in this climate on nothing but culvert. Which is not only unrealistic, but also environmentally un-permissible because natural groundwater has to flow somewhere and can't be dammed for miles at a time with concrete.

[Jtgshu]

Wow, thats great progress!

It always amazes me how when the chips are down and the railroad is "hurt" how quickly everyone pulls together to fix it and get things back in order

thanks for all the great pics!

[Tadman]

That is impressive. It's been amazing the weather-related hurdles MNCR has dealt with this year, definitely not been an easy one. Now I can see why Noel went to Florida. He was probably plenty tired of the weather on the former NH property after throwing switches or coupling cars in it for decades.

[Noel Weaver]

That is impressive. It's been amazing the weather-related hurdles MNCR has dealt with this year, definitely not been an easy one. Now I can see why Noel went to Florida. He was probably plenty tired of the weather on the former NH property after throwing switches or coupling cars in it for decades.

Well, my job wasn't coupling cars or normally throwing switches but I was plenty tired of cold weather, cold cabs, icy roads, high heating bills at least for six months of the year, snow up to my knees and sometimes even higher and finally work in general although I enjoyed my work for the most part.
Everybody reaches a point where it is time to make a change in his or her life. Retirement is one of those points.
Noel Weaver

[mgbcab]

Progress has been made!

[Steamboat Willie]

Looks to me like service might be restored by next week perhaps. Nice work to everyone who was involved in making the repair job relatively quick and way ahead of schedule.

[MNR's #1 Conductor]

Looks to me like service might be restored by next week perhaps. Nice work to everyone who was involved in making the repair job relatively quick and way ahead of schedule.

Agreed!!! MNR always gets the job done, no one can say otherwise!!