LAREDO, Texas — The Final Spike Steam Tour has entered the third country on its itinerary.
This morning, the train celebrating the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger crossed into Mexico, a historic moment underscoring the three-nation linkage created by the CPKC merger and marking the first trip into that country for CP 4-6-4 No. 2816. The locomotive is shown crossing the Rio Grande at the International Railway Bridge between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico; in the foreground is the second bridge under construction at the site [see “KCS breaks ground for second span of international bridge …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 1, 2022].
The train is working its way south to a June 7 display date in Mexico City; after some additional time in Mexico, it will return to the U.S. in mid-June and complete its journey in Calgary on July 10. A scheduled excursion with No. 2816 in Illinois planned for late June has now been cancelled [see “Planned Illinois excursion …,” News Wire, May 30, 2024].
Railway Age article of 11/1/22 re: ground breaking for new bridge has a conceptual drawing showing the 3nd bridge to be at the same elevation at the existing bridge. New bridge is to be on RoW 35′ from existing RoW sharing renovated customs facilities at Laredo.
https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/kcs-construction-to-begin-on-second-u-s-mexico-border-bridge/
I didn’t realize the second bridge will be so much lower in elevation than the first, unless it’s just a weird camera angle.
Does not appear to be weird camera angle to me Unsure why lower.
I believe the lower bridge in the photo is the construction access bridge, not the new railroad bridge itself. What appears to be the top of a pier for the new bridge is just visible above the tree on the left side of the photo. On the right side of the photo it appears to be a new abutment to the right on the old abutment. I am not familiar with the project, but some of the details of the lower bridge imply temporary construction bridge to me.
Ah, now that I see it I think Peter is right. I didn’t see the higher pier and abutment before.
I’m sorry but I saw a lot of temporary construction bridges during the Brightline bridge expansion/replacement and that structure looks far more substantial than anything temporary.