Railroad Bridges
My second topic for the holiday season is bridges. Iāve wanted to do some RR bridge research for a while ā the need seems to pop up in model railroading, and you can never find what youāre looking for quickly. At the same time, thereās a prototype bridge for about every MR span conundrum you can find ā itās just finding it and the technical details when you need the info that is tough.
First, a classic stone arch bridge overpass over a road or small creek ā Hereās a 1872 stone arch bridge over a creek in Massachusetts. The tracks have been pulled up for a park trail, but the stonework is perfect.
Classic railroad engineering had fills being held back by stone abutments with a trestle spanning a creek or gully. This old style trestle is the Orange & Alexandria RR bridge, Union Mills, Virginia, 1861-1865. It looks like the photo was taken with troops on and around the bridge & train ā Civil War period. The bridge was a strategic concern to both the Union and Confederate forces. It ended up being rebuilt at least 7 times during the war
The Kinzua Aqueduct Bridge was originally a wood trestle first built in 1882. At the time, it was called the 8th wonder of the world ā It was the tallest bridge of the time rising almost 300 ft above the valley, and it spanned 2,052 ft. This pic shows the bridge as it was in early 2003. It was rebuilt as a steel trestle in 1900. It serviced trains until it was closed to commercial traffic in 1959. Then around 2003, it was decided to upgrade the structure to support RR traffic again. This photo was taken after several months of restoration and upgrading. July 21, 2003, weather was a bit inclement, but work for the day was completed and workers had gone home for the day.
ā¦Later, a tornado touched down and 30 seconds later what remained of the bridge is shown in the pic.
āYet all was not quite lost. The bridge has, since the tornado, become an attraction not despite of but because of its semi-collapsed state. Visitors can walk across what remains of the bridge to a glass-floored observation deck from where they can survey the wreckage below. Kinzua Bridge now serves as an example of how corrosion and the elements can fell even the mightiest steel structure given time and a well-placed tornado.ā
In northeastern California, the Western Pacific built the Keddie Wye bridge in the Sierra Nevada mountains. In this pic, EMD GP20, WP #2002 leads a large consist east across the bridge in June 1980.
Heading west to Oroville, California, WP #3543 EMD GP40, crosses the Keddie Wye bridge westbound from Reno, 1974.
Again, a bridge by the Western Pacific – WP #3548 crosses a set of concrete arches.
Moving to operable bridges, here is a photo of a Bascule bridge in Chicago, 1900 to 1910. (Thereās also another bridge in the background.)
This pic shows the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) Bascule bridge over the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle, Washington. The bridge was designed by the Strauss Bascule Bridge Co. and was constructed 1913-14 by the Fort Pitt Bridge Works of Pittsburgh for the Great Northern Railway. The bridge is a Strauss Heel-Trunnion Bascule bridge.
I believe this is the swing bridge on the St. Joseph river, St. Joseph, MI, at Lake Michigan. The pic (as I found it) had no caption, but I identified it by the famous St. Joseph lighthouse seen in the background. The St. Joseph & Grand Island RR Co. built the swing bridge in 1903 (there were previous RR spans at this location). It was primarily used by the UP, but several RRs had track rights across it. It is still operable today – I believe Amtrak still crosses the bridge. There is an Amtrak station just south of the bridge in St. Joseph.
This is a 2016 photo of a fantastic set of lift bridges built by the PRR between 1935 to 1937. The line is now operated by the NJ Transit Authority, Newark, NJ.
I believe this is a set of Warren trusses on steel abutments.
The abandoned line appears to be an electric (catenary) line across a series of plate girder spans with steel towers. The heavier plate girder span over the waterway has stone or concrete abutments.
This is an old photo of the trestle east of the Hagerman Tunnel built around 1887 by the Colorado Midland RR. The trestle was 1,084 ft long.
Another vintage photo shows a set of high spans, 1890.
The bridge at Dale Creek Gorge (Wyoming territory) combined a wood truss span (looks like a Warren truss design) between trestle style wood supports. This photo was taken in 1868 as it was completed. The bridge was built by the UP as part of the transcontinental RR. It was the largest span on the line towering 150 ft above the gorge. It was replaced by an iron bridge in 1876 because the wood bridge swayed too much as trains crossed.
This is a Pratt truss design on Gatton Railway Bridge over Lockyer Creek. The Pratt truss was introduced in 1844, and was used heavily as a design for bridges up to the Second World War. It was designed by Thomas Willis Pratt (1812 ā 1875) and his father Caleb Pratt, a pair of American engineers, just several years after William Howe patented his famous Howe truss design. This bridge design immediately became widely used during the period when many bridges moved from wood components toward all-steel construction designs. Its most compelling feature was the ability to span great distances using simple construction methods. It was regularly used to span anchor points that are up to 250 ft apart. It was most commonly used in railroad bridge construction, although it was also a preferred choice for creating other types of bridges all around the world until early 20th century.
The Howe truss design was introduced by an American architect, William Howe. It utilizes similar design such as Pratt truss, but with a strong difference. Here the diagonal structural beams slope toward the bridge center, while Pratt truss utilizes diagonal beams that slope outward from the center of the bridge. This approach makes diagonal members of Howe truss bridge in compression, while vertical web members are in tension. The early Howe design was used for wooden spans.
This is a later example of a steel Howe design. Compare this to the Pratt design a couple pics up by looking at the center vertical and the diagonals coming off of it. (I hope I have this correct!)
This vintage pic is of the Ashtabula Howe Truss Bridge, Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, over the Ashtabula River, Ashtabula, OH. This was the scene of the 1876 Ashtabula Railroad Bridge Disaster. A train of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway carrying about 160 passengers passed over the bridge as it failed. All but the lead locomotive plunged into the river. The train’s oil lanterns and coal-fired heating stoves set the wooden cars on fire. The accident killed approximately 92 people. It was the worst rail accident in the U.S. in the 19th century.
Here is a double track Warren Truss bridge. The Warren Truss is a very common design for bridges. James Warren patented a design in 1848 (in England), which many attribute the name āWarren Trussā. His patent was more about the methodology of building rather than a ādesignā. Warren trusses are popular and can be found around the world. The Warren Truss uses equilateral triangles to spread out the loads on the bridge. This is opposed to the Neville Truss which used isosceles triangles. The equilateral triangles minimize the forces to only compression and tension. Interestingly, as a load (such as a car or train) moves across the bridge sometimes the forces for a member switch from compression to tension. This happens especially to the members near the center of the bridge.
In this Santa Fe publicity photo, GP35’s #1305, #1323, and #1343, along with a pair of GP30’s, head west over the 1,506-foot deck-girder bridge spanning the Colorado River near rural Topock, Arizona circa 1964.
With all of this new knowledge, I wanted to review a famous RR bridge here in the Cincinnati area ā the Ludlow bridge. The Ludlow bridge or Cincinnati Southern Bridge, originally the Cincinnati Southern Railroad Swinging Truss Bridge, is a vertical lift bridge that carries the Norfolk Southern Railway over the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Ludlow, Kentucky. The bridge is composed of four through truss spans: a main span on the northern side, the currently unused vertical lift span on the south side, and two additional spans over the main shipping channels in the center of the bridge. The truss design of the bridge is considered a continuous Baltimore through truss. The bridge crosses the Ohio River just downstream from downtown Cincinnati, about where the Mill Creek dumps into the Ohio River. Construction on the CS Ry Bridge began in 1875, and completed in 1877. The 519-foot span of the longest section was the longest of its type when it was completed. The total length of the bridge is 3,230 ft.
It was extensively modernized in 1922, and it remains the busiest railroad bridge in the city of Cincinnati. The modernization replaced the swing span with a vertical lift span that was designed to rise only 13 feet. That was all that was considered necessary for clearance during periods of high water. The span was visually unique in that the swing pier from the original structure was left in place even though it was no longer physically connected to the bridge. Since 1976, the bridge’s vertical lift span has been abandoned in its closed position, forcing all ships to pass under the center truss spans. The lifting machinery has since been removed. For extensively tall ships, the bridge marks the end of their Ohio River voyage.
Thereās a great website with info and pages on other bridges at: https://bridgehunter.com/oh/hamilton/bh43291/ .
On the south side, a Warren deck truss span provides the lead to the bridge. On the north side, a lengthy plate girder bridge provides the approach.
Hereās two great shots of the abutments and Warren truss lead on the south side.
Note that the grating for the walkway has been pulled up. (The handrail remains.)
This pic from Budd Street shows the different plate girder approach on the north side.
Southbound NS #9909 & #7677 lead a train on the Ohio approach coming from W 7th St., 2012.
This is a drawing of the original bridge with the swing span. Note the cylinder shaped abutment at the pivot point for the swing section.
ā¦Another view of the swing span.
Today, the center abutment for the swing section remains though it does not support any portion of the bridge (photo taken in 2013).
In this photo, you see one of the lift towers with lifting machinery.
Though I didnāt find a caption with this photo, it likely is showing the renovation work in 1922 when the swing section was removed and replaced by the lift section. The crane on the right is mounted above where the new lift tower is being built.
Bridges are fun projects for the MR enthusiasts. And theyāre great studies for engineers. But whether youāre a modeler or not, bridges are simply fascinating. And, a little research opens huge amounts of information ā I could provide probably 6 months of topics on the various bridges and fantastic pics.
Thx,
Kevin
Hello Kevin,
I’m trying to find a photo of the roundhouse that existed at Riverside, just west of Cincinnati, Ohio. I believe my grandfather’s company built it, Tri-City Building, back in the late 1920s. D. F. Jones, my grandfather, was general manager. Actually, I think he was the owner of the business. I haven’t been able to find an actual date or anything specifically stating the builder, but I believe this was his. I would so much like to “track” down this location and find as much info about it as exists. My sister and I are working on a memoir we expect to publish by Easter 2022. Is there anything you can tell us about this location and possibly the roundhouse that no longer exists? I’m told an Amazon warehouse has been built on the site where the roundhouse once stood, having long since been demolished. It sits between River Road and the Ohio River, and Idaho Street to the west, Southside Avenue to the east, sort of across the river from Bromley, Kentucky. Please let me hear from you.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Carol Jones – cjones314@cfl.rr.com
Carol,
I wish I could be of more assistance. I only found two links in a quick research attempt:
1) https://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/2018/02/cincinnati-oh-cindbig4-riverside-yard.html – Which I believe is your blog request.
2) https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/riverside-yard-cleveland-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-r-r-cincinnati-ohio-looking-east-showing-l-15-projectors-on-round-house-and-l-24-projectors-on-coal-dock-general-electric-company/ywFKZuiECVg-xw – which provides a not so clear pic of the roundhouse and coaling tower.
As much as it may look like I have access to a large number of historical RR pics, in reality, every entry is researched after seeing a pic I like, or researching a topic Iām interested in. I usually start with a Pinterest photo. Thereās a few historic sites I pull up, but most of my research is the result of simple Google searches.
Georgeās reference below is to the Cincinnati RR Club (CRRC). They have a large collection of file cabinets containing historic data about the RRs in the Cincinnati area. Here is a link that you can make contact with them: http://www.cincinnatirrclub.org/ . Iām not sure exactly how they work as far as allowing individuals to do research with their files, but theyāre the best bet to have photos and info on the roundhouse.
Thanks much for the request,
Kevin
Maybe you can answer their query. . Maybe CRRC has some information, if it is accessible.
My computer is still down.
Thanks, George