Bridge Series: Plate Girder Bridge (Railroad) Traditional Cache

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Hidden : 4/23/2010
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


Plate Girder Bridge (Steel, Railroad)


This an example of a plate girder bridge, the most typical bridge type used by railroads due to their high strength, simplicity of design, low maintenance and ease of construction. The primary tradeoffs include shorter spans and less then ideal aesthetics.

Steel Plate Bridge Elevation and Section



Girder bridges can be made of various materials including steel, concrete and even wood. Steel girder bridges are made of steel I shaped beams; the smaller size beams, or girders, are manufactured at the mill in a single process; larger girders must be constructed out of several pieces of steel plate therefore the name plate girder.

The main components of a plate girder is the vertical middle section, or web, and the upper and lower horizontal members called the upper and lower flanges. The intermittent vertical pieces perpendicular to the web as seen on this and other plate girder bridges are called stiffeners and are there to prevent the web from buckling, or twisting.

The length of plate girder railroad bridges are usually relatively short since they typically pre-manufactured and have to be transported to the final site. When a single bridge is not long enough several are put together in a series and supported on large piers. Often the piers are located in rivers were water forces can be quite powerful, especially during floods. In fact, the most common type of failure of plate girder railroad bridges is scour; the flow of the water actually digs out the earth downstream and under the pier foundations.

More Information:
Girder Bridge by Wikipedia
Plate Girder Bridge by Wikipedia
Bridge Scour by Wikipedia

The Cache

The cache can be reached from the trail on the bridge and it might be a good idea to bring a friend if heights are a concern. It’s plenty large enough to hold a log, swag and trackables. And, of course, be careful not to drop the cache onto the water below.

Trail Maps

For Garmin users, maps of the trails can be found on Switchbacks.com

Switchbacks.com Badge

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Oyvaq ernpu

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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