Plumas County, California Bridges: Marble Lane Bridge across the Middle Fork of the Feather River Overflow

November 2015 (39.76238, -120.33774) Marble Lane Bridge

The Marble Lane Bridge (09C0001) is a 285 ft long four span steel truss that includes a 100 ft long Pratt through truss span. The bridge is supported by large diameter steel pile extensions across the Middle Fork of the Feather River Overflow, which are several wandering streams near the headwaters of the river. The bridge was built in 1908 by the Canton Bridge Company in Ohio.

The Marble Lane Bridge is located in the Sierra Valley, an enormous meadow surrounded by mountains. You can see and hear long Union Pacific freight trains crossing over Beckwourth Pass just a little north of the bridge. This is considered one of the most beautiful and unspoiled areas of California.

This is a single lane bridge with an asphalt covered timber deck. The steel members came from the Cambria Steel Company of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It's interesting how a bridge with steel from Pennsylvania and designers from Ohio got built in a high plateau in California. Since the bridge was completed in 1908, perhaps it was built to carry equipment for the nearby railroad that was being built over Beckwourth Pass.

Plumas County, California Bridges: Marble Lane Bridge across the Middle Fork of the Feather River Overflow by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Plumas County, California Bridges: Clio Railroad Trestle across Willow Creek

November 2015 (39.75342, -120.56772  ) Clio Railroad Trestle

This week we're going to look at another railroad trestle bridge on the Union Pacific Feather River Line. When the Western Pacific began building their line through the Sierras they abandoned the narrow gauge tracks of the Sierra Valley Railroad, turning railroad towns into ghost towns and turning Portola into a major railroad terminus between Oakland and Salt Lake City.  In order to maintain the 1% grade, the railroad built plate girder bridges on tall steel towers wherever they had to cross a canyon.

The Clio Trestle is 200 ft above and 1000 ft across Willow Creek Canyon. This part of the line (built in 1909) carries the railway east to the railroad depot at Portola, then over Beckwourth Pass, and into Nevada.

A trestle is defined as an open cross-braced framework used to support an elevated structure such as a bridge. It is undoubtedly an inexpensive way to carry a heavy train over a long, deep canyon but it's utilitarian appearance isn't very attractive. The philosophy that the most aesthetically pleasing structure for a site is the one that's most efficient at carrying its load is a nice idea that probably isn't true.

In the photo below two steam locomotives pull classic rolling stock (photographed by Randy Woods in 1991) across the Clio Trestle on their way west to the 10th anniversary celebration of the Sacramento Railroad Museum.

Plumas County, California Bridges: Clio Railroad Trestle across Willow Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Plumas County, California Bridges: The Union Pacific 'Keddie Wye' across Spanish Creek

September 2015 (40.01886 Degrees , -120.95819 Degrees) Keddie Wye Bridges

South of the Spanish Creek Highway Bridge the Feather River Railway Line splits in two. A single set of tracks goes through Tunnel #32 and then widens into two sets of tracks onto bridges over Spanish Creek.

 The 'High Line' (built in 1931) goes to the north (to Bieber, California) where it connects to the Great Northern Railway (now the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway), which provides access to the Pacific Northwest. The main line continues west over the Sierras and to Salt Lake City, Utah.

The two bridges making up the 'Keddie Wye' are deck plate girder bridges supported on towers with single deck truss spans over the creek. The mainline bridge was built at the same time as the railway in 1909 and the branch leg (creating the 'Wye') was built in 1931. Each of the two segments of the 'Wye' are about 500 ft long across the canyon formed by Spanish Creek.

The Keddie Wye was named after Arthur W. Keddie, a Scottish surveyor who marked out the route over Beckwourth Pass and convinced the Western Pacific Railroad to complete their railway line across it. He felt that going over Beckwourth Pass (at 5000 ft) would result in savings by avoiding all the snow at 7000 ft high Donner Pass. However, less snow meant more rain and rock falls that required constant maintenance.

Today, the town of Keddie is a favorite spot for railroad buffs to photograph trains over the Wye. Occasionally a train headed west will wait on the 'High Line' while a eastbound train crosses over the creek. Eric Blasko took the photo below of three locomotives pulling the Overland Mail East across the Keddie Wye (from the book 'The Feather River Canyon, Union Pacific's Heart of Stone,' written by Steve Schmollinger). This book has been a good source of information while writing about the bridges of Butte and Plumas Counties.

Plumas County, California Bridges: The Union Pacific 'Keddie Wye' across Spanish Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.