Trail/Conrail/Pennsy/GR&I Blue Bridge over Grand River in Grand Rapids, MI

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, 3D Satellite)

Bob Kline posted
Undated, but I'll guess 1950. The bridge belonged to the GR&I, which was taken over by the PRR in 1918. Today the bridge is a footbridge. The 92 miles of track north of Grand Rapids, MI, is now the White Pine Trail. The last passenger train north ran in 1952. The last freight in 1984. Criminal, but at least the ROW survives. IMHO all abandoned tracks should be preserved - they could never be obtained again in most areas.

Tom commented on his post (below)
 Here's the bridge with a Pennsylvania RR steam train on it, probably from the '40s or early '50s. There has always been an ugly white blotch by the front of the engine on every copy of this photo I've ever seen, so I just repaired it, once and for all. The Pantlind Hotel and McKay tower in my photo above can also be seen here.

Tom Carter shared

Conrail NW2u 9167 leads a string of cars onto the 1892 GR&I bridge over the Grand River in Grand Rapids in June of 1978. The cars in tow will be set off on the north side of Fuller Station for the Michigan Northern to pick up. A few years later the bridge would be painted blue and become the pedestrian "Blue Bridge."

The four prominent background buildings are still there, but would be pretty much hidden by new buildings today. The Amway Grand Plaza Hotel is on the left, then the Fifth Third Bank building, Butterworth Hospital is way back there with the landmark sign atop its roof, and the McKay Tower is at the right. The buildings appear closer than they actually are because I was using a strong telephoto lens, in fact that Butterworth Hospital sign is nearly three quarters of a mile back.

Tom Carter posted

We're facing east across the 1892 Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad bridge spanning the Grand River between Fulton and Pearl Streets in Grand Rapids. The Pennsylvania Railroad leased the GR&I in 1921, which became Penn Central in 1968 and Conrail in 1976. The tracks were removed in the mid-1980's, and it became the pedestrian bridge that we now call the "Blue Bridge" in early 1988.   

Those "tell-tales" hanging across the tracks, of course, are to warn brakemen atop the roofs of boxcars that a bridge or other obstacle is approaching. With the advent of air brakes in the 1890's, tell-tales became pretty much obsolete by the early 1900's as brakemen no longer had to set the brake on each car from the roof. Railroads weren’t too concerned with removing old tell-tails though, as they were still pretty commonplace into the 1950s and I saw quite a number of them even in the 1980s. This photo is undated, but those cars across the bridge imply it was taken in the mid-1950s, yet those unattended tell-tails from more than a half century earlier are still almost completely intact.    

The tracks curve to the right a couple blocks beyond the bridge where they pass by Union Station and then on to the yards between Burton and Franklin Streets. Trains coming toward us curve northward a couple blocks behind us where they parallel the C&O tracks through the west side, and in Comstock Park they separate with this line continuing north to Mackinac City. 

Grand Rapids Public Library Photo

Thanks to Sue Bogard and Don Geske.

Nathan Nietering: Worth a read….it almost wasn’t blue! 

https://www.woodtv.com/.../from-utility-to-icon-the.../amp/

Update: you can rent the bridge for events. (source) It is also a photo op for wedding parties.

Greg Bunce posted
GR&I Bridge over the Grand River, Grand Rapids May 1986.

Tom Carter posted
Here's an obscure 1901 photo of the 1892 GR&I bridge across the Grand River in Grand Rapids, which in the mid '80s became the pedestrian "Blue Bridge." We're looking east southeast, with the GR&I bridge toward the left and Fulton St. bridge on the right. Note the neat railroad tower without a stand at the bottom. Not sure if it's for controlling train movements or if it's a crossing guard shanty for stopping traffic on Front Street. Of course, if you or I had taken the photo, we'd have waited all day if need be for a northbound train!

Grand Rapids City Archives and Records Center posted
Happy Tuesday, history friends. We hope you are having an awesome day. Our image shows the Blue Bridge in 1998. 
Tim Shanahan shared

AJ Grigg posted
Blue Bridge over the Grand River. A line to add to my map, as I hadn’t discovered it yet before visiting Grand Rapids. Apparently this is an ex-Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad bridge, later part of the PRR. This once led to a station just east of the river, still standing but now an office building today.

The Blue Bridge is easy to spot in the foreground.

Dale Husar posted
Cool shot of the various downtown bridges across the Grand.