Thanks, rcdrye. I love this stuff. I could spend a lifetime trying to master the railroads that were in Chicago and never fully succeed.
Rich
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It is amazing how much NS and CSX own nowadays as a result of fallen flags.
Rich
I’m not sure if it has been mentioned about the ‘allision’ between the B&O bridge and the freighter Pontokratis back on May 6, 1988. Two photos by John Smatlak:
From the court record: The term “allision” means “the action of dashing against or striking with violence upon”
Indeed the bridge was still in decent shape around 1980 when this pair showed up for a visit!
Legal details about the encounter are found here:
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-7th-circuit/1054971.html
Remnants:
Laurentien On The Calumet by Grapes of Rathke, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
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It’s about time, Ed. We have been waiting for you. 
Rich
A Chicago Tribune article at the time reported as follows:
A 10-story-high oceangoing freighter collided with a railroad drawbridge on the Little Calumet River Friday night with a rending crunch of metal and charges by the bridgetender and ship`s captain that the other was to blame.
The accident blocked the river and threatened to tie up waterway traffic all the way to the Mississippi River. The collision crushed part of the ship`s superstructure and trapped it underneath the bridge just south of 95th Street. The Coast Guard said 27 crewmen were aboard the Cyprus-registered Pontokratis when the accident occurred. No one was reported injured.
According to Deputy District Chief George Meek of the Fire Department and Officer Colletta Donohoe of the Police Department, the bridgetender said the freighter rammed the bridge while the bridge was in the up position. The pilot and captain of the vessel contended that the ship was moving along in the middle of the river when the bridgetender lowered the bridge on top of it.
Howard Schillaci, 27, a sales clerk at the nearby Calumet Fisheries, 3259 E. 95th St., said he heard a ”loud rumble” and then a sound ”like a couple of cars crashing,” shortly after 8 p.m.
”The top of the ship is all smashed,” Schillaci said. ”The bridge is all smashed where the captain would be, and all the front windows of the cabin are broken.”
Authorities said the freighter was going north in the river, being pulled by tugs when the collision happened. The vessel continued northward for about 50 feet after the impact, dragging the bridge with it.
The bridge and the superstructure of the freighter became linked in a tangle of metal. Police said that when they arrived on the scene, the crewmen of the freighter were all gathered on the deck at the stern wearing their life preservers, but they all stayed on the ship.
A Fire Department hook and ladder truck extended a ladder from shore to the freighter to allow investigators to board the vessel which is 590 feet long, according to the Coast Guard.
Another employee of the fisheries called the bridge a ”jackknife bridge” because it opens and closes like a pocketknife and is anchored only on the west bank of the river.
Helen Brohl, director of marketing for the Illinois International Port of Chicago, said the bridge was not a city-operated bridge. She said it was a railroad bridge belonging to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
”This is terrible,” Brohl said. ”We`ve been working very hard to ensure the integrity of the Port of Chicago, and this hurts us.” She said the accident could take a week to clean up, which would mean the river would be blocked to ships and to the numerous barges and tugs that normally use it.
Fortunately, Brohl said, no ships were trapped in Lake Calumet to the south. Also, she said any vessels bound for Lake Calumet could still be serviced elsewhere in the Port of Chicago.
Brohl said the ship left Lake Calumet at 6:30 p.m. Radio Man 1C Brian Zelner of the Coast Guard said the ship had unloaded its cargo of steel and was proceeding back to Lake Michigan empty but with water for ballast.
Authorities said there were 10 bridges between Lake Calumet and Lake Michigan: 5 road bridges and 5 railroad bridges.
Brohl said the B&O bridge is considered troublesome. ”Some pilots and tug operators have complained that it is not up enough when it is in the up position. ”Typically, it`s a pain because ships have to watch out for it”.
Brohl defended the pilot, identified by authorities as Carl B. Turner of Ontario, Canada. Authorities said the bridgetender was Norman J. Minas, 59, of Midlothian, and the captain of the ship was P. Papamethodiou of Greece.
”It`s my understanding that it was not pilot error,” Brohl said. ”The ship did not run into the bridge.” The Coast Guard said an investigation was underway to determine who was at fault.
Immediately after the accident, the Fire Department called for a diver to be sent to the scene, but the crew of the ship was quickly accounted for, and the diver was not needed.
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https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-7th-circuit/1054971.html
In contrast, the control house for the B & O Railroad Bridge was located in a two-story brick structure on the west bank of the river, slightly north of the Bridge. The northern view was unobstructed from a side window of the house, but the view to the south was almost completely obstructed by the bridge structure. The bridge operator could not see a northbound vessel until it nearly transited the Bridge. When the operator was at the control panel, his back was to the river, and his ability to see in any direction was limited.
The Conrail Bridge bridgetender told Mr. Minas that the approaching ship was a “big boat” which meant that Mr. Minas had to open the Bridge fully. Mr. Minas continued the raising procedure until the “FULLY OPEN 83°” indicator light illumined on his control panel. He then turned off the master switch and released the foot operated seating switch.
A survey of the bridge tower after the accident showed that the “FULLY OPEN 83°” panel light was illuminated; however, the angle indicator on the panel was approximately 76°. Mr. Minas indicated at the time that the indicator was in error; he testified that his belief that the angle indicator was wrong was based on the fact that the angle indicator would read 10° when the Bridge was fully closed.
Norman Richter, a B & O, and subsequently a CSX, electrical maintainer from 1940 to 1987, supervised the modification of the bridge cams in 1960 so that the Bridge could raise to 83°, as it had been able to do when initially built. At this time, the operator’s console was fitted with a synchro-controlled angle indicator to measure continuously the angle of elevation of the Bridge. Richter, while observing the first attempt to elevate the Bridge to its “fully open” angle in over twenty years, became concerned that a steel electrical junction box on the west diagonal of the north truss would be crushed against the counterweight tower. He consequently ordered the Bridge elevation to be stopped short of 83° to prevent any damage. However, the railroad supervision had requested a fully open angle of 83°. The electrical indicators were adjusted so that the modified degree of elevation that the Bridge had achieved would be thereafter the “fully open” position of the Bridge. No angle-measuring device was utilized to determine the angle to which the span actually elevated after this modification.
Mr. Richter testified that the console indicator read “79 or 80 degrees” at this time. The electrical junction box could have been repositioned to allow the Bridge to raise to 83°, but this was not done.
Richter testified that such a procedure “would have involved lots of work and lots of money.” At the date of the accident, the Bridge was operating according to Mr. Richter’s modifications, not according to the 83° angle drawn in the permit.
It was negligent for the B & O electricians in 1960, working on the Bridge, to rewire the operation of the Bridge so that its elevation level was limited to a level lower than an angle of 83°. The Railroad has not sustained its burden of proof by demonstrating that a failure to elevate the Bridge to 83° was not the cause of the allision. The purpose of the Bridge permit was to ensure that vessels could navigate the entire Calumet channel of approximately 135 feet up to a height of, at minimum according to navigational charts, 120 feet. If the Bridge had been raised to 80°, the Pontokratis would not have contacted any part of the Bridge, even if it had touched the west fendering protection system.
More here:
Cheers, Ed
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Dawn and I watched ‘Shall We Dance’ (again. one of Dawn’s favourite films).
A good number of scenes of trains and bridges in Chicago.
David
The bridge’s leaf was destroyed when a ship collided with the bridge. The leaf collapsed as a result, falling and wrapping itself around the boat. It caused the Calumet River to close for ten days while the bascule leaf was removed. The fixed approach span and the mechanical frame of the bascule span were not removed and these remain in place today.
At one time the bridge once carried Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad trains across the Calumet River. The US Coast Guard deemed the bridge unsafe following the crash, so it was demolished. CSX, the successor to the BOCT had other routes around the river so it just rerouted its trains to other lines.
This bridge was historically and technologically significant as an example of a Strauss heel-trunnion bascule bridge. The bridge was noted for having the longest bascule span in the world when completed, although it did not hold that record for very long, as bridges built soon after exceeded the span.
Rich
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Ed, that is a superb photo. Kudos!
In the good old days when you traveled by car from Chicago through northwest Indiana, that overall sight had to be something to see with its collection of vertical lift bridges and the bascule bridge.
Here is a current photo of the site looking west. You can see the remains of the bascule bridge on both sides of the river.
Rich
Source: Google Maps
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TF Some wonderful bridges to attempt building, perhaps?
David
Of the 5 bridges in use at one time, only one remains in use today. The bascule bridge was destroyed and removed after a ship crashed into it. One of the four vertical lift bridges was removed some years ago. Two of the three remaining vertical lift bridges remain fixed in open position with their operational machinery removed.
The one remaining vertical lift bridge is owned by Norfolk Southern. This bridge recently underwent some emergency repairs. This project consisted of the inspection and repair of a sheave assembly believed to be the cause of a malfunctioning 115-year-old lift bridge owned by Norfolk Southern Railroad.
ICC, formerly known as Illinois Constructors Corp., found, removed and replaced a fused shaft. Work had to be performed quickly to melt the damaged shaft for removal, replace the shaft and reinstall the assembly, which included a 60,000lb pulley wheel and one-inch steel cables, each weighing approximately 12,000lbs.
The project was completed within the 112-hour operating window despite the unanticipated fused shaft. Because the work was done with the bridge in the “down” position, the project required coordination and approval from the U.S. Coast Guard.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
- Unexpected fused shaft required around-the-clock work to melt and remove within the 112-hour outage window without damaging surrounding sheave components
- Sheave wheel 12 feet diameter, 60,000lbs, 210 feet in the air
- One million-pound concrete counterweight
- One inch steel cables removed and reinstalled—each weighing 12,000lbs
- Repaired sheave assembly, reinstalled and adjusted to restore bridge operation
- Deployed 275-ton crawler crane
Here are a couple of photos of the sheave.
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Bridge operations are unique to their geographical locations and the amount of traffic that is handled on both rail and water.
Early in my career I was assigned to work B&O’s Bridge 460 in Cleveland which spanned the Cuyahoga River at the geographical North end of B&O’s Clark Avenue Yard.
Bridge 460’s normal position was raided for water traffic. There was a procedure to be observed when lowering the bridge for rail traffic. The normal rail runs across the bridge would be a yard engine moving between a DuPont plant and the Yard both too and from on both first and second tricks; another yard engine on second trick going too and from Sherwin Williams Paint; Interchange runs too and from the NYC Interchange at Whiskey Island were on a ‘as needed’ basis and revolved around second trick as that was when the Bridge Operator for both Bridge 463 and Brudge 464 was on duty.
When a Interchange run was going to Whiskey Island, the Operator would lower Bridge 463 for the train and driver to Bridge 464 and then lower it. After the train cleared Bridge 464 the operator would raise it and return to Bridge 463 and raise it. When the interchange run notified the Operator that they were ready to depart Whiskey Island the operator lowered Bridge 463 went to Bridge 464 and lowered it, raising it after the Interchange run cleared and then returned to Bridge 463, raising it after the run cleared.
The traffic moved over the Whiskey Island interchange normally consisted of coal trains destined a Cleveland Electric Illuminating plant in East Cleveland and returning empties. Occasionally loaded iron ore trains would be delivered to the Island for the B&O to move.
This was in the early 1970’s - over half a century ago.
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Very interesting. What types of moveable bridges were 460, 463, 464? What can you tell us about 461 and 462? Are these bridges all still in use?
Rich
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460, 463 and 464 were all Bascule rolling lift bridges. I don’t know for a fact but I suspect bridges 461 and 462 were some form of bridges that spanned some tributary creeks that fed the Cuyahoga River.
From Google Earth it looks like both bridges 463 & 464 still exist, however, there no longer appears to be track structure in use for them. The Whiskey Island interchange tracks no longer exist.
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Wow, I went looking for those two bridges on Google Maps and found the wrong two initially as I honed in on the bend in the river next to Bridges 463 and 464. Spotted another two bridges which were lift bridges, then realized my mistake. Can you put numbers on those two bridges and where is your Bridge 460 in all of this?
Rich
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I started doing more looking down that river as it moves away from the lake. There are a whole lot of moveable railroad bridges. Amazing!
Rich
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I didn’t even realise I had this photo in my album but I’ll post it here as another look at the B&O Calumet bridge remains:
Calumet_lift by Edmund, on Flickr
Here’s a diagram of B&O 401*:
CT&V Lift Bridge by Edmund, on Flickr
Somewhere I have a ‘Flats’ track diagram showing the B&O route through the industrial Flats of Cleveland. I’ll try to find it.
Here’s a look at Bridge 464:
Bridge 463 is interesting due to its ‘Jackknife’ design:
My wife was there a few years ago but this is the only photo she took of Bridge 464:
B&O Bridge Flats by Edmund, on Flickr
- I presume there was a renumbering of the mileposts since the design of this CT&V bridge.
Cheers, Ed
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What a gorgeous photo. It is even more beautiful when you blow up the photo. It is so interesting that they removed the damaged portion to clear the river passageway but left the rest in place.
Rich
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