(The following story by Lisa Aleman-Padilla appeared on The Fresno Bee website on November 24.)
FRESNO, Calif. — Burlington Northern Santa Fe crews are working around the clock to rebuild a Chowchilla railroad trestle that was destroyed last week in a suspected arson.
The railroad is offering a reward, up to $10,000, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever started the fire that began early Wednesday morning.
Cliff Parker, a structure supervisor with the railroad, said he hopes to have the bridge completed Tuesday night so the track can be laid Wednesday.
Once that’s done, crews will dismantle the nearly 1,000-foot shoofly, or temporary detour, which reinstated rail service Thursday. The shoofly bulges about 45 feet east of the trestle.
About 60 trains, including Amtrak, cross the trestle daily. Amtrak’s service was disrupted north of Fresno to Merced, forcing passengers to travel by bus until the shoofly was in place.
“We plan on Wednesday to start laying down track panels to bring the line [shoofly] over,” Parker said. “When we get the bridge built, we’ll start moving that out of there.”
Along Santa Fe Boulevard, stacks of rails stand waiting to be laid over the finished bridge.
Sunday morning, crews were placing 12-ton concrete abutments at the ends of the bridge, in addition to several 19,000-pound concrete middle supports.
The original bridge was built in 1939 from creosote-treated timber and steel.
Parker said the new bridge will be constructed of concrete and steel, and the project has required nonstop effort.
“We don’t do it too often where we work around the clock like this,” Parker said. “The amazing thing was getting the concrete delivered so fast from Omaha and Oklahoma.”
A portable office, toilets and a make-shift kitchen are serving as a home base for the dozen or so workers committed to finishing the project before the Thanksgiving holiday. Tall towers are providing light after nightfall.
As cranes, forklifts and bulldozers paved the way for the construction, a four-car Amtrak train rode the shoofly heading north.
The engineer and Parker exchanged waves and nods as Parker resumed working.