Pecous: rfHonan

CSX/C&O+HV 1917 Bridge over Ohio River at Sciotoville in Portsmouth, OH

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, Satellite)

Historic Bridges

The seldom-photographed Sciotoville (Limeville) Bridge towers above a CSX train of 129 empty coal hoppers. The shot was taken from on top of the parapet at the south side of the bridge.

Appalachian Railfan photo:

A coal train makes it way westbound (TT Direction) with coal destined for points north as the final light of day is setting over the Ohio River. A scene like this only makes me reflect on a time when it was possible to see C&O Superpower haul miles of black diamonds along this route. What a sight that would have been to see.

"This bridge held the record for longest continuous truss span [775'] in the world from its opening until 1945. See April 2000 Trains Magazine for an article on this bridge." [Bridge Hunter] It was also the heaviest. [Historic Bridges] "It remains today the mightiest bridge ever built from the point of view of its load capacity." [cohs]

McClintic-Marshall Company booklet from Historic Bridges

Gary Bellamy commented on a posting

Ken L. Chamblin commented on a posting
Here is a view from the Ky side taken by me from my train

Ken L. Chamblin commented on a posting
Got Tunnel Vision?

Engineering News-Record Vol. 80, No. 2, p62 from Historic Bridges

One side was built on falsework. Then the cantilever design allowed the other side to be built with minimal falsework because the first side was available to balance it. But the forces on the joints changed between the initial truss structure on the first side and the final cantilevered truss so hydraulic jacks were needed to join some of the members for riveting. The following catches the center pier completed, wooden piers used as falsework, a travelling gantry on the false work to build the supported span, and a creeper hoist on the other side of the center pier to build the suspended span.

Engineering News-Record, Jan 31, 1918, p221 from Historic Bridges

"It contains some of the most massive members and chords ever seen in a truss bridge." [Historic Bridges] The following shows a member that requires both booms of the hoisting tower to lift it.

Engineering News-Record Vol. 80, No. 2, p66 from Historic Bridges

A pictorial summary of the construction stages. As the suspended span grew, they could remove some of the false work under the supported span because it was being held up by the weight of the suspended span. Reducing the number of falsework piers in the river was important in the Winter to reduce the impact of ice flows on the falsework.

Engineering News-Record, Jan 31, 1918, p235 from Historic Bridges

One of three photos posted by Charles E. Whisnant

The massive size of the members is caught by this photo. I had to look a while before I did find some men in the photo.

Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXXXV, 1922, p931 from Historic Bridges

Three photos by Dave Honan with the comment:

A couple miles east of Portsmouth, OH, is CSX's massive Sciotoville Bridge, a two-span, 1,550-foot continuous truss bridge over the Ohio River. The structure, the heaviest continuous truss bridge on the continent, was designed by David Steinman and built by Gustav Lindenthal between 1914-17 for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. (April 05, 2004)

CB&Q+NC&StL+IC Bridge over Ohio River at Metropolis, IL

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, Satellite)

Note the far (Kentucky side) span is longer. At the time, it was a record long 720' simple span. The other four spans are "just" 551'.

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sternwheel-part4 has a couple of photos of the bridge. That page also has seven facts including: "At 708 feet the bridge contains the longest pin-connected simple through truss span in the world."

Birds-Eye View

David Honan

20171230 9402c, east elevation taken from the I-24 Bridge
(I still haven't figured out why my bridge pictures are typically so hazy.)

First of nine photos in C Hanchey's Illinois Flickr Album, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC)

I have noticed that when you take I-57 to Kentucky you pass under a BN overpass in the southern part of the state. This surprised me when I first saw it because the motto of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy was "Everywhere West." Not South. Like the Milwaukee Road, CB&Q wanted their own access to coal in the Ohio River valley. In fact, James J. Hill, who aquired control the of CB&Q in 1901 could use the coal for his other railroads --- Great Northern and Northern Pacific.

So, in 1904 Burlington acquired a 122 mile line from Concord, IL to Centralia, IL. In 1905 the CB&Q began pushing towards Metropolis to link up with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad (NC&StL) in Paducah. CB&Q reached Metropolis in 1910. The Paducah & Illinois Railroad (P&I) was formed of a partnership between CB&Q and NC&StL to build a mile long bridge over the Ohio and 15 miles of track to connect the 2 Railroads. [Part 1]

Burlington specified a double track bridge that would support Cooper E90 live loading. This showed significant foresight because E90 (90,000 pounds per axle (Army)) is a strong bridge by even today's standards. [Part 2, ConnDOT, WiscDOT] The trusses and approach bents support two tracks, but the approach plate girder spans currently support just one track. As I have come to expect with long train bridges, trains travel slowly over this bridge.

A complicating factor at the Metropolis site was that bedrock was approximately 230 feet below low water level. This depth prohibited founding the piers on the bedrock, instead the piers are founded on a thick quartz sand layer at approximately 75 feet below low water level. Founding the piers on a substrate that could allow them to settle over time prohibited many bridge designs. CB&Q Chose to build a Simple Truss Bridge designed and built using Silicon Steel instead of the normal High Carbon Steel and specifying an even stronger nickel steel for certain members of the bridge allowing the bridge to be made lighter. [Part 2]

C Hanchey Illinois Flickr Album has nine photos starting with an overview.

See last paragraph of IC Railroad Scrapbook.

Lots of info in this posting's comments

The rivermen were allowed to specify the placement of the piers. They specified a 700' navigation span [part10] When they learned that the engineers designed a span over 700', the rivermen decided: "By having the main span 720 feet in width, a steamboat with a large tow will be able to pass under the bridge at any angle. With lights on the piers at night the span will be sufficient width to enable the pilots to judge his distance and pass under the bridge." [part12]

John Stigall commented on a posting
Bridge + sunset - what could be better?

If you have seen one of the 551' spans, you have seen them all.

It is hard to catch how much bigger the 720' span is from the Illinois side. This does catch the unique "stepped" design of the piers. The lower part is probably thicker to resist ice and flood waters.

Kenneth James White posted
Another giant spanning the Ohio River: The Metropolis Bridge at Cario Illinois.
[The bridge is at Metropolis, not Cario. The step in the piers make it easy to determine that the water level was higher when this photo was taken.]

Even the approach is rather massive.

Bob Kinstrey posted several photos with the comment: "Crossing the Ohio River a few miles south of I 24 at Paducah KY. Also some of the approach bridges on IL side. There is another RR bridge of the same design several miles north of I 24."