More Work...

This past week was a very busy week for the crew on the Central Branch Railroad.  Following Monday's tree trimming, Larry Moon, our maintenance supervisor came up from Riley on Tuesday to do some routine maintenance on equipment and prep work for more spraying along the rails.  This has been a tough year to get any spraying done due to the frequent rains in May and June.  Larry and Dave Crawford did get some spraying done this week.

Also on Tuesday, Gene and Sandy Harding took an inspection ride going west out of Waterville.  They did not make it to Coon Creek due to downed trees. They returned on Saturday morning to cut trees, including the mess pictured below on the east side of Coon Creek.  Also pictured is a large tree down across the bridge towards the west side.  That tree is yet to be dealt with - not real sure how to cut a tree while standing on a bridge or trestle!

Wednesday morning was another big round of trimming east of the Vista RD crossing.  All together, Gene Harding and Dave Crawford trimmed 26 trees that had fallen across the tracks east of Blue Rapids.  Most were in the 6-8 inch diameter range with several in the 12-15 inch diameter range.  We thought excited when we could see the  Big Blue River bridge but then found 3 more trees in the last quarter mile or so at the east end of the rails.

At least now the rails are open for a ride on Monday going east from Waterville across the river and back.

And of course along with all the tree trimming, the grass in the Blue Rapids rail yard had to get mowed Thursday evening.

After a busy week, Friday evening provided a beautiful view of the Big Blue River.  The first picture is looking south and the second one looking north from the bridge.

PS - Almost can't count the number of deer we have seen this week.  Probably saw a half a dozen Friday evening between Blue Rapids and Waterville.  We had one jump across the rails at dusk that was illuminated by the headlight!

Day 2 of Tree Cutting

This morning was the second day in which Gene Harding and Dave Crawford cleared trees that had fallen across the railroad tracks during or after the storm on July 10.  We cleared several more trees and there are at least three more to but cut up.  We encountered a rattlesnake and a deer.  We never saw the rattle snake but could hear the rattle in the rubbish.  Fortunately the snake was off to the side where we could leave it alone.  The deer was laying in the grass along the right of way and jumped up and ran off as we approached it.

This afternoon, Gene and Sandy Harding rode east from Waterville to check for downed trees and limbs between Waterville and Blue Rapids.  They encountered some small limbs to be cleared away but no fallen trees.

Not knowing that Gene and Sandy had checked the rails between Waterville and Blue Rapids, Dave and Kathy Crawford took an evening ride west from Blue Rapids to Waterville.  That trip wasn't a total waste as they were able to return the sprayer trailer to Waterville.  On their ride they encountered a deer and a small group of turkeys walking between the rails.

Tuttle Creek and Big Blue update:

Tuttle Creek is at 1120 ft (45 ft above multipurpose pool elevation) and still releasing at 25,000 cfs which drops the lake about a foot a day.  The Flood Control Storage Space is now down to 75% of capacity.

The Big Blue River at Blue Rapids is at about 46 ft (20 ft above flood stage).

CBRR Storm Damage

Southern Marshall County had quite a storm roll through early in the morning on Wednesday, July 10.  Blue Rapids had a lot of damage to trees.  It turns out the railroad has quite a few downed trees to deal with also.  Dave and Kathy Crawford went east from Blue Rapids on Tuesday, July 16 and cleared several small trees and branches from the tracks.  Things weren't really too bad until east of the Vista RD crossing where they encountered a large downed tree (first photo below).  The tree was more than they could handle with the saws-all they had with them.

On Thursday, July 18, Gene Harding and Dave Crawford went out with the intention of cutting down that tree, which they did.  Three or four trees later (who's counting) it was time to call it quits and come back another day.  At one point, a deer came along and was very curious about what we were doing.  That provided a short rest break until the deer wandered off.  The deer is near the center of the 2nd (middle) picture.

After cutting down the tree in the last picture, inspection of the track further east revealed another large tree across the rails, thus the decision to return on another day.  The rails between Waterville and Blue Rapids have not been inspected and it is quite likely that some downed tress will be found there as well. (Current lake info follows the pictures.)

PS:  As of Thursday, July 18 the Tuttle Creek Lake elevation is down to 1125 ft.  They are currently releasing at a rate of 25,000 cfs and will do so for several weeks.  The present goal is to get it down to 1105 ft.  A release of 25,000 cfs is about 50,000 acre·ft per day.  They have about 1.34 million acre·ft of water to discharge in order to get back to the normal multipurpose pool elevation of 1075 ft.

The Big Blue River at Blue Rapids is at about 50 ft.  Flood stage is 26 ft so it has about 14 ft to drop in order to be back inside its banks.  Without additional rainfall, the lake and river elevation should drop about 1 ft per day at the present release rate of 25,000 cfs.

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Tuttle Creek Reservoir on the rise again!

After dropping several feet, both the Big Blue River at Blue Rapids and Tuttle Creek Reservoir are on the rise again.

The Big Blue River at Blue Rapids had crested at 61.31 ft on May 31.  By June 16 it had dropped back down to 53.96 ft.  Today it is back up to 57.26 ft and projected to crest at 59.6 ft at 1am on June 27.  As a result, Vista RD east of town is again under water.  The first photograph below is Vista RD west of the RR crossing taken this morning.  The second photo shows the previous water line at that location.  The third photo shows Vista RD south of the RR crossing, taken yesterday afternoon.

At 1pm this afternoon Tuttle Creek Reservoir was at 1131.91 ft.  The Flood Control Storage space was at 88.68% of capacity and the lake area was 50,251 acres.  The area of the lake at a normal pool elevation of 1075 ft is 10,900 acres.

Tuttle Creek crested at 1135.82 ft on May 31.  At that time the Flood Control Storage space was at 99.49% of capacity and the lake area was 53,958 acres.  On June 14 the lake elevation had dropped to 1128.60 ft (80.1% of Flood Storage Capacity).  There were 10 days when the discharge at the Outlet Works or "the tubes" was 20,000 cfs or greater.  Six of those days the output was 30,000 cfs.

The most recent inflow at Tuttle Creek was 48,200 cfs and the average daily outflow was 7,218 cfs.  The outflow was reportedly going to be decreased from 10,000 cfs to 200 cfs yesterday.  The 3 day prediction shows an outflow of 200 cfs today, 5,000 cfs on Tuesday, June 25, 8,000 cfs on Wednesday, and 10,000 cfs on Friday.

Today the USGS guage on the Big Blue River near Manhattan (south of the lake) was showing a backwater condition and therefore no streamflow being reported.  The streamflow of the Missouri River at Waverly, MO at 2pm this afternoon was 221.000 cfs.  Waverly, MO is the downstream target that detemines how much water can be released from Tuttle Creek and other reservoirs on the Kansas River.

Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony

On Saturday, June 8 a group of Girl Scouts from Troops 622 and 1616 from the Waterville, Blue Rapids, and Marysville area rode the rails west from Waterville to “Somewhere” for a bridging ceremony.  Bridging is a ceremony to recognize a girl scouts progression from one age level to the next.

Photo Credit:  Girl Scouts of NE Kansas and NW Missouri.

Blue Rapids Community Foundation Circle of Giving Match Day

The Marshall County Railroad Historical Society was one of 15 organizations that participated in the first annual Circle of Giving Match Day.  MCRHS collected $1,645 from 14 donors.  Additional information will be provided when it becomes available.

 For complete information on the match day results visit the BRCF match day web site at bluerapidsmatchday.com

Thank you to all who supported the Blue Rapids Community in this fund raising effort.

2019 Flood Fact Sheet

Just some interesting data regarding Tuttle Creek Reservoir and the 2019 Flood