The Virgin Creek Trestle was the second of the five Trestles on the Ten Mile Branch which were needed to get Union Lumber Company’s (ULC) trains from the mill opposite downtown to the Ten Mile River basin.

We have only one photo of the real Virgin Creek Trestle – this one:

This picture was taken after a severe storm in 1949. The trestle was not repaired but shortened and the remainder turned into a berm with a culvert. We believe this took place in  in 1959.

A picture of our first model of the Virgin Creek Trestle is shownj below:

As you can see from the picture we built the model of the trestle with no cross bracing (just as in the picture). We have been told that the trestle MUST have had cross bracing. However NO-ONE produced a picture. So …… the model had no cross bracing!

A decision was made to replace the eight year old trestle which had suffered the ravages of the Fort Bragg salt air (the layout is but a half mile from the sea), the UV and the winter rains. Here’s how we did it:

The old concrete and trestle has been removed ……..

The footings for the new trestle are in pace:

Here you can see the south end abutment and footings for the bents:

The new north end abutment and bents:

Here’s the new trestle virtually complete:

The new trestle (unlike the old) even has Virgin Creek: