Got asked to bid a very unusual project

[quicksandfarmer]

The work spot in your picture looks like a muck spot that a person might sink to their knees in.

My experience is that a sheet of plywood on a mucky bottom provides enough support for a person to stand. You need to weight it down but it takes very little weight to make it stay.

 

[JethroB]

Just thought I’d throw this one out there. HayDude what’s the out-of-the-hole speed of your biggest tractor?

 

[kirkawilson]

Jack-up (spud) barge with jib cranes.

 

[Chewwy]

Just curious. Is that Brandywine Creek?

 

[dodge man]

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This will get the job done, go big or go home.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I was kinda waiting for someone to recommend a helicopter with a big grapple...

 

[garry1p]

There are some good ideas on here and with you on site to evaluate what you can or can't (shouldn't) do I suspect you have a very good idea on how to tackle this job.

After looking at your last picture I think it is very doable but trustworthy help and safety has to be a concern you will have Murphy's law working around you.

 

[CliffordK]

The rails are still there but the ties are rotted. It’s unsafe for people to walk on, but it can be done.
Yes, there’s a large Museum there and care must be taken. Little to no population. It’s rural.
There is a plan in the future for a walking trail to connect this museum to a future museum in the planning stages about a mile up the tracks.

Your’s truly will be bidding that job, too.

But first, we have to get the mess cleaned up and the water flowing freely again.

If the bridge is going to get rebuilt for foot (and bicycle) traffic, and can be rebuilt from the top side, then that might be a good place to start.

You could build a work platform on the bridge where people will be working, but I can imagine why the RR doesn't want a lot of people up there. Not that it isn't built to take hundreds of tons of weight.

 

[2manyrocks]

When they worked on the local bridge, they had a work platform suspended over the top rail that they could raise and lower as needed.

Basic problem with a ladder resting on the pile is the pile can shift unexpectedly and once you take out enough logs, it won't be stable. Looks like enough vertical height to be concerned about the risk of fall. And going up and down a ladder and back and forth across a RR bridge with an iffy floor could be a pain.

So I'd want access I could control either suspended from the RR bridge or a floating work platform and likely a stable boat, too, to cover whatever situation I didn't anticipate happening.

I'd also want a good gas pole saw to be able to reach without risking my body parts to this mess.

I looked for videos of people clearing log jams. What I found are either smaller piles that people can walk up to that they chainsaw apart or big piles that get pulled away with cables and brute force. I haven't found one like this where the pile is in a relatively deep channel and they tried to cut it into smaller pieces to handle before pulling it away.

 

[airbiscuit]

This would help those of us in the peanut gallery.

• Distance from Bridge to pile (Length of ladder).
• Diameter of largest logs?
• Depth of River (3ft?)
• Strength of current during dry season?
• Also, what do you estimate the total length and width of the pile to be (hard to tell perspective from photo)