Field Application of Z-spike Rejuvenation to Salvage Timber Railroad Bridges

The researchers express their gratitude to the Association of American Railroads, Dr. Duane Otter, principal engineer at its Transportation Technology Center, Inc., and Mr. Bill Riehl, director of structures for Rail America for extensive assistance in seeking interested railroad owners with potential sites for field investigation of the shear spiking technique. Mr. Tomasz Gawronski, director of bridge maintenance for the Union Pacific Railroad – Southern Region, made sites available for the work described herein and coordinated all logistical arrangements for the field work. He provided technical and material support via work and safety equipment, power tools, local transportation within Texas for the CSU researchers, and accommodations, etc. for his personnel cooperating in the research. Mr. Colin Hepker was point person in making all arrangements on site and off site for the conduct of the research done on the GLIDDEN SUB 69.11 Bridge in Eagle Lake, Texas. He traveled to Colorado State University for preliminary training on shear spiking and to help plan the field work. Mr. Kevin Louis performed the above tasks for the work done on the TOYAH SUB 534.35 Bridge in Stanton, Texas. He arranged and participated in numerous site reconnaissance visits leading to the selection of that bridge. He traveled to CSU for preliminary training on shear spiking and to help plan the field work. Subsequently, he assisted in the setup of instrumentation, organized the site access, site preparation, safety protocols, and communication within the UP network regarding all train traffic passing over the bridge during the periods of load testing. Mr. Geoff Pavlicek also assisted with instrumentation setup , site preparation and technical support necessary to monitor the types of engines involved and loadings being carried by the various trains. Both these gentlemen conducted the spike installation and maintained site safety. Dr. Jeno Balogh, of Metropolitan State College of Denver, participated in the site reconnaissance visit to the Glidden SUB 69.11 bridge site. He devised the instrumentation techniques and trained the personnel who did them on site for the subsequent load testing. CSU graduate student Karthik Rechan Rudraprasad directed instrumentation set up on that site, oversaw all load testing, and performed the data acquisition work. CSU graduate student Kevin Hedin assisted with the preparation of needed spikes, instrumentation planning, and data reduction for the Toyah SUB 534.35 bridge site. Disclaimer The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the …