Long Ravine Trestle is a pair of deck plate girder railway bridges near Colfax, California.[1] They carry the Union Pacific Railroad Roseville Subdivision over Long Ravine and Interstate 80, traversing the Sierra Nevada. The original crossing was a three-span Howe truss bridge with wooden trestle approaches, constructed as part of the first transcontinental railroad.[2] The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad was subsequently constructed under the bridge between 1875 and 1876.[3] The trestle portions of the bridge were replaced with embankments by this time.[4] The original wooden trestle was replaced with an iron structure in 1890.[5] Southern Pacific double tracked the line and constructed the two modern bridges, completed in 1912 and 1913,[6] to carry the rails. The southern span was retrofitted in the late 1958 to allow for the new U.S. Route 40 freeway to be routed underneath.[6] The bridge is predominantly used for freight trains, but is utilized by the daily Amtrak California Zephyr.

Long Ravine Trestle
Long Ravine Trestle spans Interstate 80 in the Sierra Nevada
Coordinates39°07′25″N 120°56′24″W / 39.1235°N 120.9401°W / 39.1235; -120.9401
CarriesRoseville Subdivision
CrossesLong Ravine, I-80
LocaleColfax, California
OwnerUnion Pacific Railroad
Rail characteristics
No. of tracks2
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
History
Constructed bySouthern Pacific Railroad
Rebuilt1890, 1912/1913
Location
Map

References

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  1. ^ "UP - Long Ravine Trestle". BridgeHunter. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  2. ^ Bianculli 2001, p. 65
  3. ^ Sommers & Staab 2018, p. 24
  4. ^ Sommers & Staab 2018, p. 24–25
  5. ^ Sommers & Staab 2018, p. 96
  6. ^ a b California Log of Bridges on State Highways (District 3) (PDF) (Report). October 2018. p. 26. Retrieved February 16, 2024. {{cite report}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)

Bibliography

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  Media related to Long Ravine trestle at Wikimedia Commons