St. Charles Air Line Bridge Before Elevation

There are a lot of photos of the current Strauss trunnion-heel bridge. Photos of the swingbridge that existed before the tracks were elevated and the river was straightened are rare enough that they deserve there own posting rather than getting lost in the existing posting.

Paul Petraitis posted
11am 9/23/1905, Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
Ean Kahn-Treras We are looking off of 18th Street in this view. The elevated track is the IC iowa division curving for their crossing of the RI at 16th Street.
Mark E. Vaughan Wasn’t the Erie carfloat interchange operation in this area also?
Bob Lalich The Erie Lake Line had two stations, both of which were farther north. Information describing the operations can be found here: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/.../genealogy/erielakechi.html

Bob Lalich commented on Paul's posting
The bridge seen here is the SCAL swing bridge. The yard here is C&WI's 18th St Yard. 16th St Tower can be seen in the distance. Here is the smoke abatement map of the area.

1897 Map

Paul's posting is also one of the better views I have seen of Burlington's grain elevators that were next to some slips off the South Branch.

James Boudreaux posted
Elevating the St. Charles Airline from Chicago Union Stations' south main line. Bottom L/S quadrant is now Amtraks' 16th St. diesel shop and yard (ex Penn Central, Pennsylvania RR). Upper R/S quadrant is Metras' yard (ex CB&Qs' Zephyr Pit)

David Daruszka also posted
St. Charles Airline track elevation under construction.
Bob Lalich That is a beer bottle from the Schoenhofen brewery. http://forgottenchicago.com/articles/schoenhofen-brewery/

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