A fill trestle is a bridge that is built to provide a scaffolding for the construction of a fill or an earthen dam. Typically, the trestle is built across the valley and a railroad track is laid across the trestle. Specially designed side-dumping railroad cars filled with earth or gravel are pushed onto it and dumped, burying the trestle. Typically, a fill trestle is constructed out of wood which remains buried in the fill and eventually decomposes. Advances in construction technology, particularly the development of the dump truck, have rendered the fill trestle technique obsolete.

External links

A "Failing grade" for the Northern Pacific - Construction and burial of a fill trestle for Stockwood Fill on the Northern Pacific Railway.