A couple weeks ago, a group of SCRM members took a motor car from Rockton as far west as we could get on the old Rockton & Rion. We were stopped at about MP 11.3 by some damage caused by a logger -- the track went from standard gauge to Zn3! We walked the remaining distance to the end of track, about a mile short of Anderson Quarry. The end of track, which we call "East Anderson," is the end of Museum ownership. There are about three other owners of the right-of-way past this point to the original end of track.

It's unlikely that the Museum will ever acquire the extreme west end of the railroad, but that doesn't stop us from dreaming about it! Even if we could get the right of way back, the bridge is a major obstacle. Mill Creek has undermined the foundations of the main arch. Personally, I think the best option would be to build a new steel bridge next to the old one. The question of what to do is moot anyway, but it's still fun to speculate how to fix this.

Just thought I'd share these photos. It's a pity the bridge is in such poor condition. There is one other similar bridge on the railroad -- Morris Creek bridge, at MP 7. Morris Creek bridge was originally three arches and a bit taller than the one over Mill Creek. The easternmost arch was blocked up at some point. The "Chinese Wall" was built next to the Morris Creek bridge, so it's only visible from the north.

We managed to get all the way to this point without a single derailment -- but the Fairmont A5 gang car derailed three times on the way back due to the gauge spreading. Maybe some day we'll have the whole railroad rebuilt. I remember when running trains to Rion Quarry was just a crazy pipe dream, so anything's possible!

The main arch (viewed from the south), which looks like it's going to collapse some day soon:


A closeup of one of the many the stalactites hanging from the mortar, viewed from the north -- I think this was about three arches east of the main arch:


The creek channel and westernmost arches, viewed from the north:


Here's a link to a composite panorama of the whole bridge:
http://206.74.78.57/miscpix/mill%20creek%20br.jpg

Matt -

Quite an impressive bridge! Shame you couldn't find some type of funding for repairs. How many arches are there? I counted 12, but the trees may be blocking the view of some of them.

Do you guys have any photos of R&R locomotives on the bridge?

Les

Funding heck -- it'd be nice if we just owned the bridge and ROW.

I haven't come across any photos of the bridge in R&R days. It's WAY back in the woods, well away from anywhere railfans would have been able to get to in the '60s. I've heard of a cache of company photos, and I'm trying to get access to it but so far haven't had any luck. There MAY be something in them, but I rather doubt it. There aren't even any logging roads closer than a quarter mile from the bridge.

It has 13 arches, 12 little ones and the one big one. There are 10 east of the main arch and 2 west of it. A tree is blocking the view of the easternmost two arches in the panorama.

It's not noticable in person, but if you look closely at the pix you can see that each arch is slightly different. If you look closely at the main arch, you can also see the remains of a piling in the creek. The stone bridge (we think it was built in the '30s) replaced a wooden trestle built in 1901 when the western extension to Anderson Quarry was built, and the piling is apparently from the first bridge!