BNSF/Santa Fe Bridge over Kankakee River

20150714 2692, looking upstream

(Bridge Hunter, Satellite, Bird's Eye View) I made a trip to take pictures of the BNSF/Santa Fe bridges over the Kankakee River on a day that was to have scattered thunderstorms, July 14, because the river was predicted to be rather high that day. It was flowing fast enough that sometimes you would hear a "babling brook" sound because the eddies of water would make waves that broke into little white caps. The engines are BNSF 7362 (ES44DC, built 2010), 5098 (C44-9W, built 2004), 7488 (ES44DC, built 2000), and 4002 (C44-9W, built 2003).

In a picture I took earlier when I first arrived you can see a couple of waves on the edges of an upwelling near the bank.






Later, when I was playing around with getting an "artsy view," the sun peaked between the clouds and lit up the bridge, trees, and river.

I didn't spot the pattern identified in Bridge Hunter that every other pier was cut stone (probably dolostone) because there were three concrete piers in a row on the north side of the downstream (foreground) bridge. But I now agree with the Bridge Hunter theory that when the bridges were rebuilt, they doubled the number of piers to reduce the span lengths. During the rebuild, the northern most cut stone pier was repaired and the next one was replaced.

The remaining three cut-stone piers still stand as they were originally built.

For the upstream bridge, they not only added concrete piers between the existing cut-stone piers, they added a concrete buffer to the existing piers. If you follow the satellite image link at the beginning of this post, you can see the buffers sticking out on the upstream side. You will also see that the piers of the two bridges align with each other. Originally, the pier of one bridge was in the gap of the other bridge. Bridge Hunter captured the fact that the spans of the upstream bridge are concrete slabs rather than steel girders.

Since both bridges have cut stone construction, they are both rather old indicating that Sante Fe added the second track across the river rather soon after the first track was built. The downstream bridge strikes me as the older one. But it has a concrete abutment whereas the upstream bridge is cut stone. I think that is because the abutments of the downstream bridge were rebuilt.

USGS

By visiting the bridge on a cloudy 14th, I did catch the river at a peak flow.

Before going to the bridge, I had studied the satellite images and found a gap in the trees along the bank. It learned it is a picnic area maintained by the state in the Des Plaines Dolomite Praries Land and Water Reserve. I took this shot by turning around from where I took the first pictures of the bridge to remind me that the location was an easily accessible picnic area.

As I left, I turned around and noticed that the train was hauling pigs as well as double-stacks, so I took some more pictures. This one integrates the picnic area, bridge, and train.

Update:

Roger Durfee posted
Just a grab shot of ATSF 999283 at Wilmington, Ill. I'm diggin that P&LE boxcar too. June, 1978.
[I think the caption should read "near" Wilmington rather than "at". The railroad bridge in Wilmington is UP/GM&O/Alton and has just four piers.]
smile emoticonJune, 1978.

Since I was on my way to Wilmington, IL, and needed to get off at River Road, I took a quick side-trip to the picnic area for another shot. We had a few 1" rains, so I was wondering how the water level would compare.

20160603 3344

Jerry Jackson posted
SD40-2u 5049 was crossing over the Kankakee River near Lorenzo, IL with the 199.

Jerry Jackson posted
Late Fall of 1991/92. GPG0M's and a GP60B crossing the Kankakee River at Lorenzo road with a westbound HP train on the ATSF Chili Sub.

HalstEd Pazdzior posted
This one's for you Jerry.
S-SEPLPC1-22 led by a Canadian Pacific SD70ACU in heritage paint, crosses the Kankakee River.
7/26/20

Dennis DeBruler commented on HalstEd's post
HalstEd Pazdzior's photo shows that they put international containers (40') in 5-packs. I've noticed that domestic containers (53') tend to use 3-packs and even singletons.

(Photo left at bottom as a monument to a Google bug.)
Nick Hart posted

L CHI105 hustles west across the Kankakee River with a GP60M(-3) and an SD60M having the honors.

Lorenzo, IL
July 24th, 2020