Friday, February 22, 2019

1870+1931 PAL/IC Strauss Bridge over Green River at Rockport, KY

1931: (Bridge Hunter, no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

PAL = Paducah & Louisville Railway

Jim Pearson Photography posted
Paducah & Louisville LG1 Northbound
Paducah and Louisville Railway's University of Kentucky Locomotive 4522 leads LG1, a northbound Louisville Gas and Electric load of coal across the drawbridge at Rockport, Kentucky on October 30, 2020.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Mini Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO 100.

Photo provided by jrd via BridgeHunter-1870, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
[I think they reused the piers so the river must have been running really high.]

Photo taken by J.P. in Sept 2011, Bridge Hunter

McLean County Kentucky Lost Railroad History posted
Congtatulations to Ohio Co. & Muhlenberg  Co for their. $17.3 million Federal Grant awarded for the railroad bridge in Rockport that services 110,000 freight cars per year.
The work will involve replacing the deck, improve the approaches to the bridge and upgrade the electrical and mechanical components that allow the bridge to rise and accommodate River traffic.  The work is expected to take approximately 5 years to complete with a total cost of $36 million.  Paducah and Louisville Railway, Inc. has pledged the $19 million in funds necessary to complete the project.
The bridge was constructed in the 1930s and is a critical link to boist Ohio County's economy as goods such as lumber and coal are shipped from Ohio County to Louisville and surrounding areas.
Thanks to Tim Williams for sharing the picture of the Rockport Railway Bridge.
Douglas Butler shared
 
Jim Pearson Photography posted
Norfolk Southern 4117 casts a long shadow on the Green River in this top-down view, as it pulls a loaded coal train across the drawbridge at Rockport, Kentucky as it heads north on the Paducah and Louisville Railway on November 23d, 2023.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic 3 Classic Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/8, 1/400, ISO 100.

Steven Fancher posted
Michael Gore: Put many a 4 barge tow through Rockport RR bridge back in the 70s-80s. In those days, we went to Ken Mines dock at mile 97.5 or Pittsburgh and Midway Coal Co.'s dock at mile 99.5 or on up to Peabody Coal's Homestead Dock at mile 105.8 to load out. Occasionally on up to mile 108 just below L&D 3 at Rochester to the last of the coal docks. Or, the many coal docks below Rockport: Pyramid, Lewis Creek, Gibraltar, River Queen, Alston, Taylor's, and Sebree. Plus, grain docks at Livermore and Sebree and the Anaconda (Alcan today) aluminum ore dock below Big Rivers below Sebree. Coal was king in those great days! I sure miss it!
Was a world all its own in the coal boom days. A very busy world...Crounse was running 6-8 boats out of their Calhoun headquarters, ACBL 2 to 4, Shearer/AEP 2 to 4, plus add in other miscellaneous company trampers. Most watches was a constant stream of meeting several boats. When upbound, there was plenty of waiting time under the points. We were like one big family on a first name basis; towboaters, lock men, dock men, even certain bank dwellers we hailed with the whistle every trip.
Steven Fancher: Michael Gore we were taking an mty to paradise and picking up a couple lds they were dismantling the unloader at paradise plant. I just came from alcan hole yesterday.
Dennis DeBruler
Michael Gore commented on Dennis' comment
 You are welcome. Bridge is at mile 95 on the Green River. Here is the technical data.
[I noticed in a couple of the photos that it looked like they reused the swing span pier. This confirms it.]

Michael Gore commented on Steven's post
From my Green River scrapbook. The former Livermore RR bridge that sat cocked in the river. Very steerable when at pool, but when the current was running any at all, "knocking out" at Livermore was the custom. When on the A.C. SHELTON or LEWIS A. ENLOW with their greater hp, some of us would hold kill out midstream and flank just above the shear fence upper bull nose. When at the exact right time, then come ahead and punch her through. It was tricky timing the flank. Come ahead too soon and you could still get into the shear fence or come ahead a little too late and overflank into the little pier on the portside. If Rough River was running out strongly, that changed the current through Livermore. I was fortunate to have never touched Livermore, but I have been puckered with sweat running down my underarms before, too!

Sometimes the river really is green. This was the "signature photo" for the town of Rockport.
Brandon Whitaker, Aug 2021

Matt Reese photo. (Caution: RailPictures.Net is not a well behaved web site. Don't leave their page open.) ''Three P&L slugs sets lead a loaded coal train across the Green River Drawbridge at Rockport, KY, in the last light of a summer evening. The train loaded at the Cimarron Mine near Madisonville, KY, and is destined for the LG&E power plant near Lousville, KY."

Luke Sharrett Flickr 2009 Photo shows it in a raised position. And you can see the counterweights.

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