Culvert South of Alna Center

[Mike Fox]

Well the dirt guy in me is rather curious about that culvert. After the first fail, I researched the plastic pipe we had been using and for the size, it did not need any elongation during installation. But, based on what has happened again, perhaps it should. This involves bracing the pipe into an egg shape. Then fill around the pipe to just above it, tamping and compacting all the material. Remove the braces and finish filling over the top of the pipe. I was part of a crew that did this on a 4 foot diameter pipe, 40 feet down, 150 feet long.

Two other options exist though. Cement pipe or steel culvert. Either way, expensive....

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Or box granite...

Or wooden trestle...

Or mag lev...

How critical is this water path?  Can it be re routed to another nearby outlet?

See ya
Jason

[Dave Crow]

How expensive would it be to do a granite culvert similar to original designs?s

[Bill Reidy]

Would two smaller culverts work instead of the single larger one?

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The undergrade water passage has to stay where it is since there are no other culverts near AC.  From what I have seen of doubling culverts, there may be some gain of stability but there's more of chance of debris clogging the culverts so water can get impounded against the fill.  If a pond forms during a heavy rainfall it can cause a washout of the fill.  

A stone box culvert would be nice ... maybe we could get one of the boxes from the old FS&K grade (kidding).  Of course we'd have to dig up a larger area than the present culvert takes.  

It would be a shame to dig up where the track work was done so maybe there's a way to reinforce the existing pipe.

[James Patten]

Can we force a steel culvert into the culvert that's there so that it restores the existing culvert and prevents it from future collapse?

[Ken Fleming]

Contact the State of Maine surplus in Augusta.  We are in the system.  See if the State or GSA surplus can supply a better culvert.  I'll see if I can find the FSC (Federal Stock Code) for culvert.

No luck so far.  Is there some clever name for culvert? 

[Gordon Cook]

Off the wall idea.....
How about installing a couple of vertical PT posts in the middle of the existing culvert with header and footer beams to spread the load?
I realize it might clog, but if the posts are 2X6's with the narrow dimension parallel to the water flow they would be ok? We could even taper the 2 inch side to discourage clogs. We don't have to jack it up, just stabilize the culvert where it is now before it gets worse.
It would save a lot of effort if it would work. If it doesn't we're no worse off.

[Keith Taylor]

How about fill it in....a trackside lake would be scenic!
 

[Wayne Laepple]

Over on the narrow gauge discussion site(www.ngdiscussion.net), there are some comments about replacing wooden trestles with steel culverts. One individual noted that in some cases, long timbers (switch timbers, perhaps?) were installed under the track, parallel to the rails, to spread the load and keep it from crushing the pipe. Maybe we should consider that.

[Robert Hale]

Why not make an external skeleton trestle to support the track work and still retain the culvert/fill? You would need 7 6x6 8ft long pressure treated timbers, some concrete tube forms and some quikcrete. All can be had at Homedepot. Dig out the roadbed on either side of the ties just enough to run the 8' timbers under the ties (parallel), each end support the first timbers with two more (one on each end, perpendicular) then support the second set of timbers with vertical timbers set in the concrete tubes in the ground. It takes the main load of 8' of track and moves it to 4 points away from the roadbed and culvert. Might cost no more than 500.00 to save the culvert and minimizes the roadbed disturbance.