BRIDGE CONNECTING THEBES, SCOTT CITY RECEIVES NEW RAILS

New rail plates were laid along the track while railroad machine operators drive cars that pull rail spikes.

Railroad rail gang member David Duncan used an acetylene torch to cut a section of rail to be lifted and replaced.

Union Pacific Track Supervisor Gilbert Salsa gave hand signals to a crane operator while he guided a section of old rail from the track on the Thebes railroad bridge. Both tracks on the bridge are being replaced with heaver rail.

A section of heavyer rail, right, will be joined with an old section of rail temporarily until new rail arrives. The new rail weighs 136 pounds every three feet.

SCOTT CITY -- A three-week, $400,000 project by Union Pacific to replace the rails running over the Thebes Railroad Bridge is under way.

Both the manpower, 32 workers, and labor time for this project are considerably less than they would have been nearly 100 years ago when the bridge was erected, Tom Hyatt, director of rail for Union Pacific, said.

Two-thirds of the 100 men it may have required for a project like this in 1905 have been replaced by a wide range of job-specific machinery.

"There's very little labor work done on modern railways compared to what it used to be years ago," Hyatt said. "The 1950s and 60s is when there was a drastic change. Every few years we get improvements in equipment, it gets better all the time."

The project is drawing in support from across the country. The three men in charge for Union Pacific, Hyatt, Gilbert Sosa, manager of rail system, and Arnie Ozuna, operation trainer, hail from California. Eight of the laborers working on the project are from the Scott City/Pine Bluff Depot while the rest of the bridge gang is made up of specialists who travel the line from Texas to Kansas.

The old 119-pound ribbon rail, which was laid in 1968, is showing signs of stress. Some hairline cracks are starting to appear in the steel, which is 119 pounds for every 3 feet, and Hyatt said it is time to replace the nearly 30-year-old steel with a sturdier line.

Workers will be laying 136-pound ribbon rail in quarter-mile strips. One end of the rail is held by cables while a railroad car carrying the strip moves over the old section. As the car travels, the quarter-mile rail plays out next to the old section. Rollers will then remove the old strip and insert the new section.

Gas-powered spike drivers finish the job by securing the rail into place.

The old section of rail can be used as a center guard rail, which does not support the train's weight, or it can be recycled for later use.

Workers will work up one side of the track then down the other in five-hour shifts. The rail traffic has to be stopped while the work is going on, and the trains are delayed five hours.

"It backs them up quite a bit," Hyatt said. "Five hours is a lot for this line."

Twenty-three men lost their lives between 1903 and 1905 when the bridge was under construction. Three men were killed on July 16, 1904, when a tornado blew them off the bridge.

Hyatt said bridge work requires special safety precautions. His men wear life preservers and are harnessed to the bridge. If those measures fail, a boat is stationed below the span, which is 231 feet tall at its highest point, to rescue a worker if he falls.

Bridge work is also more confined then regular rail replacement, making the project slower and more difficult.

It took three years to build the Thebes Railroad Bridge which connects Thebes, Ill., to Scott City, at a staggering cost of $4 million. On the day it was opened, 33 steam locomotives were coupled together were sent to the middle of the span then locked into an emergency brake. This was done to show the strength of the bridge.

Hyatt said the 90-year-old bridge looks good for its age.

"I don't think the bridge will be made larger," he said. "Sometime in the future they may have to strengthen it or make another bridge."