Crossing the Neches Flood Plain. Tremont & Gulf Mikado #30 traverses the 1,100 ft. long, concrete trestle over the Neches River at Milepost 13.7 on the Texas State Railroad. This is the longest of 24 bridges on the line. It was built in 1980, replacing a timber bridge which had existed since 1909. Although the river at this location is not normally 1,100 ft. wide, the land around that river is a major flood plain, which tends to expand significantly during wet seasons, especially in the spring. Sure enough, when we visited the site in April of 2019, there was so much water under this structure that several planned photo stops had to be eliminated, because there was just no dry land from which to photograph the train. Obviously, the newer, concrete bridge requires a lot less maintenance than the timber structures that were put here when the railroad was originally constructed back in the late 1800s.
I might add that I saw my very first scorpion at this photo location. Needless to say, our photo line was established on the ballasted fill just below the trestle, and as I was getting set in the stone, I noticed something scurry away from my boot. Sure enough, it was a small gray scorpion. I didn't get a great look at it, so I have no clue what species it was. Fortunately, like most venomous critters, it appeared it would rather run than fight.
