"With the trestle's collapse, I walked back up to the north end of the span, shooting a few mop up shots and pausing to bum a bottle of water off the fire crew before heading back to the office."

"A trio of firefighters from Oakdale had been directed to move to the east side of the trestle and get in close on the remaining fire in the deck. I went over with them, getting a nice "brothers under the bridge" vertical shot and following that up with my favorite of the day..."

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"OFD's Dave Peterson and partner Rick Morgan (red helmet) playing a stream of foam into the wind and creating an image that reminded me of a mid-winter fire fight in Canada."

"It was 4:23PM as I stepped back over the west side of the trestle...   It was time to head back to the Bee and download!

"Union Pacific wasted no time cleaning up in the aftermath of the blaze.  Unbeknownst to yours truly, a demolition crew went to work Sunday morning on the remaining few hundred feet on the north end of the trestle. By sundown on June 10, only the south end of the span and the actual river crossing (on steel piles) remained in place. All that remained of the rest of the elegant span were several piles of kindling."

--Ted Benson

The Tidewater Southern's crossing of the Tuolumne River was built about 1915 -1916 as part of the railroad's extension to Turlock and Hilmar.  It stretched 1636 feet, spanning the Tuolumne River and a flood channel.  The trestle was never electrified.  The Tidewater's overhead extended no further south than C Street, just two short blocks from the north end of the span.

The trestle was one of the best known photo locations along the railroad.

My thanks to Ted Benson for the gracious use of his text and photographs.

Tidewater Southern Railway

Burning of the Tuolumne River Bridge

all photos on this page are by Ted Benson and are used by permission.  Copyright 2001 Modesto Bee

click the image to see an enlarged version.