Here is the B&OCT bridge in happier days before the ship crashed into it.
Rich
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Not one of the 12 historic Chicago railroad bridges because it was no longer there to be saved, but this is the diagonal B&OCT bridge to Grand Central Station before the B&O trains crossed the South Branch of the Chicago River on the bascule bridge at 16th Street. This diagonal bridge crossed the river between Taylor Street and Roosevelt Road.
Source: Industrial History: B&OCT's Bridges over the original South Branch
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That I heard, the derailment was caused by a thin flanged wheel that picked a switch point on the approach to Bridge 464.
The Green Spring tie plant was also the location of the B&O’s bridge fabrication shop. Wood ties and bridge steel both came from the plant.
In the Summer of 1969 my first working days after returning from my Honeymoon, I was assigned to work a Temporary Train Order station in Boughtonville, OH about 10 miles East of Willard. On the 4th of July severe thunder storms ravaged NE Ohio - numerous bridge/culverts were damaged on the B&O’s line between New Castle, PA and Willard. At Boughtonville the double track line was carried over a creek on two separate bridges. The #1 track bridge washed away, the #2 track bridge wasn’t damage. The Temporary Train Order station was established to control a ‘shoo-fly’ around the damaged bridge while it was being rebuilt. Trains would operate with the current of traffic under signal indication to the TTOS, where the Operator would give the train a Train Order to operate on #2 track over the existing bridge and then back to #1 track on the West side of the bridge - MofW having installed crossovers on both the East and West Side of the damaged bridge. The TTOS operated for about six weeks as a pile driver pounded in new piles for the new bridge which ended up being a girder truss affair that had been fabricate by the Green Spring Bridge Shop and transported to the location by train.
MofW installing the crossovers created a derailment when a coal train operating on #2 track had the rail run under it and it derailed about 30 cars which had to be remediated before the bridge work could begin.
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I have a publication about straightening the south branch of the Chicago River with a detailed accounting and maps. Originally, the B&OCT station was west of the river and the channel was closer to the NYC/CRI&P tracks into Lasalle Street station. The B&OCT bascule bridge was built at the future location of the river channel and the St.CAL bridge was moved beside it after the new channel was dug. The two railroads used one bridge at a time during the river straightening.
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Well, if you ever want to make a few in your garage woodshop:
BandO_bridge by Edmund, on Flickr
Don’t forget the guard rails:
B&O Bridge guardrail by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
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Before the new channel was dug for the Chicago River, the B&OCT’s Grand Central terminal was reached via a two-leaf Scherzer bascule bridge over the original channel just south of Taylor St., which had replaced an earlier swing bridge. There was a separate swing bridge at around 16th St. for the SCAL.
As the new channel was dug the new B&OCT bridge was built over dry land to provide a path to Grand Central after the new channel was dug. The new SCAL bridge was built over the old channel on a low base. A junction on the “island” between the bridges allowed the removal of the old SCAL swing bridge.
The new, high level, foundation for both bridges was built near the “new” B&OCT bridge, then that bridge was taken down and put up on the new base. The SCAL bridge and associated track were also taken down and put up on the new foundation, minus two bays of the truss, since the new location did not require as long a bridge to get the same clear channel. The B&OCT’s new line on the east side of the new channel allowed removal of the Scherzer bridge pair.
Old maps show the B&O’s pre-straightening yards west of the old river channel marked “NP” for the Chicago & Northern Pacific, later the B&OCT.
Links to some great articles can be found in the thread. I can re-post them if necessary.
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That double-leaf Scherzer just amazes me. How it was designed that the ends were essentially unsupported is quite remarkable. The weight of a train would have to be supported over what amounts to a cantilevered ‘diving board’!
More on it here:
https://chicagology.com/harbor/riverbridges/taylorstreetbridges/
Again the ingenuity of the engineers of the day still amazes me. No computers, no lasers and again, built in the upright position. I’ll bet there was a sigh of relief when each leaf was lowered for the first time and they joined perfectly.
Regards, Ed
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I see it was at least painted in B&O standard building tan! What, no black trim?
Cheers, Ed
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The first Scherzer bridges started were the pair of Metropolitan West Side’s double leaf bridges over the Chicago River just north of Van Buren Street. The first one finished (beating the MWSE bridges by a few weeks) was the Van Buren Street bridge, built by the City of Chicago.
The double leaf was possible because the land end could be supported in a way that allowed the bridge segments to balance, in a sense giving outward support to the “diving board”. The MET bridges were in service for over 60 years, still operable when they were removed.
The rolling segment on the Scherzer bridges allowed for wide openings. Later developments in Trunnion bridges fixed most of the issues with Scherzer bridges. Most of the Chicago River bridges in use today are of trunnion design.
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This was the Summer version of a TTOS - it didn’t have a potbelly coal stove. The Winter versions were a couple of feet bigger and had a potbelly coal stove in the corner - with the stove going, one side fries and one side froze - turn regularly.
As can be seen there is a light bulb available for the TTOS. In the Summer having the bulb on attracted insects from acres and acres all around. When the TTOS was set up in areas along river banks - the insects were magnum in quantity. You only turned the light on to copy a Train Order. Winter time the bugs stayed home.
Obviously the facility was constructed without regard to expenses - all to beat the Operators out of getting paid at the overtime rate for working without shelter.
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Bridge 464 in 1993 during the MS walk:
Also the powerhouse of the Cleveland Transit System and the Detroit - Superior bridge pre-restoration. At the end of the walk we were treated to a concert by the best Beatles tribute band of the age: 1964. You can see the concert venue risers to the left of the powerhouse which is now the Cleveland Aquarium.
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Love those bridges!
Rich
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Love that story!
Rich
Amazing the different types of bridges.
I often wonder could they build old bridges like those, these days?
Of course these days bridges are built to a modern design etc. but I still wonder?
David
In your dreams. LOL.
Rich
Like I say, I wonder.
David
Could they?
Sure.
But why would they?
Rich
Blockquote
Really? I think that a serious historian would be offended by such sayings and conclusions.
Rich
You’d be surprised, Rich.
But, in essence, the changes are inevitable, the macro-manifestation of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Observing the event creates a reaction that cannot be separated from its stimulus. The effect is aggravated by our inability to capture all the details or even be sure of some central facts. Try discussion a Civil War battle with three different historians. You’ll come away with four different impressions 
All that said, I am delighted with this thread. I am entranced by bridges of this kind. Lace girders and fabricated trusses bespeak power and trigger the imagination. I hate heights, and I still tremble when driving across some bridges (and I am left cold by modern designs), but wooden trestles, and iron and steel bridges are all magnets to me.
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Well, who knows what the person had in mind that David quoted. But I focused on David’s comment, “Changing it to suit their ideas”.
I don’t think serious historians do that. Different historians may have different impressions, as you say. But, change history? I don’t think so. I think about William Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich or James McPherson’s Battle Cry Freedom as examples of being faithful to history.
Rich
Back to the topic at hand, I am glad that you are enjoying the thread. Like you, I have a fear of heights. Just yesterday, I encountered a photo of a worker standing on a beam when a bridge was being constructed pretty high off the ground, no safety lines or ropes.
Rich
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