I was browsing one of my favorite photo haunts, The John W. Barriger III Library on Flickr and found that an album of excellent photos had recently been added showing bridges and stone arches along the LS&MS Lines also two depots in Wakeman, and Fremont, Ohio in the 1870s era.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/albums/72157668319227885
Of particular interest is the photograph (#14) showing the iron double track railway bridge over Ashtabula Creek in Ashtabula, Ohio. This was the site of the famous Ashtabula Bridge disaster which occurred only eleven years after the bridge was built.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtabula_River_railroad_disaster
On further investigation I found a copy of the book describing the disaster and resulting investigation here:
https://archive.org/details/ashtabuladisaste00peetuoft
The bridge had been designed by LS&MS President Amasa Stone using patterns from the wooden Howe Truss design and adapted the ideas to iron construction.
Some of the passengers killed were travelling to Ashtabula. The depot was only 1,000 feet beyond the bridge!
Another interesting pair of photos in the album (16 - 17) show the swing bridge over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. Today there is a two track vertical lift bridge there that was built in 1953 replacing another swing bridge, this one having two tracks employing a gauntlet arrangement so only one train at a time could use the bridge. I do not know when this swing bridge was built or if there was an intermediate one built after the iron one shown in the Barriger album.
I imagine traffic got pretty congested here before the fully double-tracked lift bridge was built, afterall, this is the New York-Chicago
Gidday Ed, I’m afraid I’m going to have to boycott all these interesting sites you linking us to as I find I’m wasting valuable modelling time!!! [|(]
I take it from the Google Maps street view that the railroad hasn’t been in Wakeman for quite some time.
I was quite taken with the bridge in Photo 14 then realised it was the one that had the disaster you were referring to. I’m thinking that the Lachlan RR might just have to reengineer it at a future date, so I guess, after all, I can put the time down to research.[:-^]
In addition to the stone arch bridge shown still extant in Wakeman, Ohio, I did a little more research on the Conneaut Creek double stone “culvert” which is still carrying traffic for CSX some 147 years later!
Then:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/26883803542/in/album-72157668319227885/
Now:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wyatt_heilman/8091638094/
I just find that fascinating…
Thanks for looking,
Ed
Oh, that’s not just a piece of documentation- it’s an actual bona fide Artifact!
Look at the presentation plate on the cover: it says, “Charles Collins, Chief Engineer of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway.” Collins was the engineer who approved the design of the Ashtabula bridge, and was discovered dead from a gunshot wound several days after testifying before a committee of the state legislature.
That’s quite a find!
Indeed—I quite agree!
I thought my original post was getting a little long-winded so I left many details to the interested parties to explore on their own.
It is interesting to note the relationships between Amasa Stone and his brother-in-law William Howe during this period:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amasa_Stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howe_(architect)
The link to the Stephen Denison Peet book The Ashtabula Disaster. was included to enable anyone interested to read the full account. In reading the book, I am amazed at how many ironic parallels can be drawn to present-day tragedies.
https://archive.org/details/ashtabuladisaste00peetuoft
The collection of Mr. Barriger and his long-time friend, Robert G. Lewis must have been quite extensive and we are grateful to their family members who have taken the initiative to see that these documents and photographs are not only preserved but made available to any individuals so inclined.
Mr. Lewis’ daughter has responded to posts in this forum saying that she is grateful for our appreciation. (RGLfan)
Ed, I am one of the daughters of Robert G. Lewis. My sister and I donated my dad’s collection to the Barriger Libary after he died. He had a vast collection as you can see. He was always worried about what would happen to his collection. We wanted to preserve what he had so lov