Earthquake Damage to Railroads

W. G. Byers Collection: 1976 China

	Image-B1901 Failure of ground under railway line. Extensive damage was done to the rail system in the Tangshan region.
	Image-B1903 Buckling of rail lines due to ground deformations. The Tangshan region has many soft soils that behaved poorly during the earthquake.
	Image-B1904 Along the 152 km stretch of railroad between Tanggu and Fengnan County, there were 106 instances of bent rails, which correlated to the residual deformation of the railway bed.
	Image-B1907 Bridges located on silty clay and silty-sandy clay, such as Ji Channel Bridge, suffered serious damage.
	Image-B1908 Bridges located on silty clay and silty-sandy clay, such as the Dou River Bridge, suffered serious damage.
	Image-B1910 Railroad bridge over Jiyunhe River. Relative movement of the banks caused the bridge piers and abutments to move towards the center of the river. The bridge span was reduced by 2.37 meters and in the process seriously damaged the rail tracks.
	Image-B1913 Vertical bending in rail tracks near Linxi mine caused by subsidence and ground deformation.
	Image-B1916 Two piers of a railway bridge were damaged, the reinforced concrete girder fell, and the rails were left hanging off the bridge by an aftershock.
	Image-B1917 The rails on the deck and abutment of a railroad bridge were bent by the earthquake.
	Image-B1920 Seven cars of the no. 40 train were derailed due to serious buckling of the track. The engine was destroyed by fire: 430 concrete ties were damaged.

W. G. Byers Collection