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Bridge Hunter;
3D Satellite, 425+ photos)
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Joe Dockrill posted
bridge built outside a bridge, Niagara Falls, from suspension to steel span.................clever
Unknown - Buck, Richard (December 1898). "The Niagara Railway Arch". Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 40 (836): Plate VIII. New York: American Society of Civil Engineers. [Wikipedia]
Bill Blake commented on his post
1897 - They build the new bridge around the structure of the old bridge. |
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| eBook, Digitized by Google, scroll down several pages |
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Bridges Now and Then posted
Photo of John Roebling's Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge taken from the Canadian side, 1869. (William Notman)
Art Suckewer: Opened in 1855. Built by John Roebling. Pedestrians and carts on the lower level, trains above. |
The suspension bridge being replaced is the second one built at this site. John A. Roebling built the first one between 1852 and 1855. I recognize the name because he was the first to manufacture wire rope in North America; and he built several suspensions bridges, including the Brooklyn Bridge, to expand the market for his wire. This was the first suspension bridge that carried a railroad. Many didn't thing a suspension bridge could carry a train because they were too flexible to carry the focused weight of a crossing train. The key was that John built a stiff, 18' deep double-deck truss. The upper level carried the tracks and the lower level was for carriage and pedestrian traffic. There were "four main cables 10 inches in diameter with 3,640 no. 9 gauge wires each." [
StructureMag]
The four masonry towers were 60.5' tall. What neither of these photos show is the "56 under deck cables (river stays) anchored to the bedrock on the banks of the river." They were added to brace the bridge against the winds that would howl through the gorge. In the truss, the diagonals (tension members) were wrought iron rods 1" in diameter and the verticals (compression members) were wood timbers. [StructureMag] It cost $400,000. [
NiagaraFallsTourism] Unfortunately, I don't know how to convert 1855 dollars into today's dollars. But I do know that a penny could buy more than just a little piece of candy back then.
Some sources call the steel bridge below the second suspension bridge, others consider it just maintenance of the first bridge. I consider it the second suspension bridge because between 1877 and 1886, Leffert L. Buck completely rebuilt the bridge. Just because he was the engineer responsible for the maintenance of the bridge and because he did the rebuild with little interruption to rail traffic doesn't nullify the fact that it was a new bridge when he was done. Buck used steel, which would have been a bleeding edge material in 1877, to replace the deck truss and towers. [StructureMag] "This new structure was capable of carrying an increased load from 300 tons to 350 tons which was much more than any train and load was capable of weighing. All that remained of the second bridge was the anchorage's and cables but they too had been overhauled and improved." [
NiagaraFrontier]
Heartfelt History posted a cropped version of the above public library photo with the comment:
On March 8, 1855 John Augustus Roebling traveled over his Niagara Suspension Bridge in a trial train crossing made by a 23 ton engine.
During the crossing the heavy train created only a minor 1 inch depression over an area of 100 feet on the bridge’s deck.
At that moment the bridge became the world’s first operational railway suspension bridge.
Image of a train crossing The Niagara Suspension Bridge five years later in 1860 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Raf Man: The first railway suspension bridge was opened on Dec 27 1830 in England for transporting freight (coal) It was not very successful and was replaced by a regular bridge in 1844 due to cracking of the support towers.
Ray Hebert: I think there's a misprint in the original post. That span looks more like 100 yards than 100 feet.
Tom Hayden: It was not just "the world's first operational RAILWAY SUSPENSION bridge". It was the world's ONLY operational railway suspension bridge ever built. Because suspension bridges swing so much in the wind there is a high probability trains will tip over while crossing them. The longest railroad bridges today are cantilever designs. For shorter spans simple truss bridges are used. They also use trestles of various types. Without going into a lot of technical details, cable stayed bridges are much more resistant to swinging in the wind, but are still not recommended for railroads.
Eric Sandbo: Built before the Bessemer steel process was available?!
Joe Vandenberg: Eric Sandbo Yes
Even though the steel suspension bridge seemed more than adequate when it was completed, just a decade later, the growth of train sizes was making it obsolete. So Buck built the arch bridge we see today under the suspension bridge as illustrated by the photo at the top of these notes. By this time, using a steel arch for a railroad bridge was considered better than a suspension bridge. The deck was "reused" so no trains were delayed and the highway floor was closed only two hours per day. "The bridge was completed on August 27th 1897. Extensive tests proved that a steel arch bridge possessed much greater strength than ever anticipated. This bridge continues in use to this day. With only minor changes from the original, it is capable of handling the heaviest of loads and bridge engineers do not indicate how many years the future life span of this bridge might have." The original name was Lower Arch Bridge, but it is now known as the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge. [NiagaraFrontier]
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Bob Fasco posted
Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, built 1851-1855
Fran Koch: the Bridge had a wave as the train entered and exited the span.
Paul Murphy: As someone who was a certified state bridge safety inspector, my natural affinity is to gravitate towards bridges, especially ANYTHING done by Roebling. The Niagara Falls Bridge, the aqueduct bridge in Pittsburgh that carried the canal boats and donkeys over, Covington, Brooklyn - one over the Mississippi - all amazing feats. Roebling also was instrumental, as mentioned above, in the creation of the twined steel cables that replaced the hemp ones that were used on the Portage Railroad in Central Pennsylvania as well - great photo! |
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Bill Blake posted
February 2018 - Nice photo of the Maple Leaf Express crossing the Whirlpool Suspension Bridge in Niagara Falls. |
Clay Harwood
posted two images with the comment: "The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge stood from 1855 to 1897 across the Niagara River and was the world's first working railway suspension bridge. It spanned 825 feet (251 m) and stood 2.5 miles (4.0 km) downstream of Niagara Falls, where it connected Niagara Falls, Ontario to Niagara Falls, New York. Trains used the upper of its two decks, while pedestrians and carriages used the lower. The bridge was the idea of Canadian politicians, and it was built by an American company and a Canadian company. It was most commonly called the Suspension Bridge, although other names included Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge, Niagara Suspension Bridge, and its official American name of the International Suspension Bridge."
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Max Eddy posted
The Railway Suspension Bridge over the Niagara River, built in 1855 by John A Roebling. 1859 Photo by William England courtesy of Getty Images. |
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Niagara Falls Adventures posted
The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge was not only an engineering marvel: it was also the most critical improvement to the Underground Railroad. - Built in 1848, and renovated in 1855, the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge was the first railway suspension bridge of its kind. This allowed pedestrians, carriages and trains to travel between the American and Canadian sides of Niagara Falls. - Prior to construction of the Suspension Bridge, people and goods had to be transported by ferries like the Maid of the Mist. For freedom seekers along the Underground Railroad, this meant a dangerous trip down the almost 200-foot gorge, into a rowboat, and across the river to Canada. - With the completion of the railroad span on the bridge, freedom seekers could remain hidden in train cars, reducing their chances of being caught by the bounty hunters looming along the border. This drastically cut down the time the dangerous trip took, and increased the likelihood of finally finding freedom in Canada. Niagara Falls Adventures sharedKarolyn Smardz Frost: Thank for the great posting! It was open for foot and carriage traffic in 1848, and to rail traffic for the first time in 1855. Harriet Tubman crossed.over bringing freedom seekers to Canada on the steam trains that passed over this bridge. |
Dougie Jay provided three images in the comments on the share.
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The Underground Railroad System Map (courtesy Tubman Tours) |
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Dougie Jay
posted two photos with the comment: "Whirlpool Rapids Lower Steel Arch Bridges; 1969 looking south & 2011 looking north (D Campbell, courtesy Alan Buchner & Daniel Odette, Railpictures)."
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Janic Acaster commented on Dougie's post
Fall colours |
Bill Blake
posted two photos with the comment: "Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, NF - 1931 and today."
Sharon Riley: The original Michigan Central Bridge was built in 1883 by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a grandson of the American business magnate, and president and chairman of the New York Central Railroad and director of 49 other railroads. When the owners of the Whirlpool Bridge were going to charge a rent that he considered exorbitant, he built just his own bridge a mere 200 feet up river! To prove its strength when opened, 20 locomotives hauled 20 loaded gravel cars, all of them on the bridge at once.
That bridge was replaced in 1925 because rolling stock had become much heavier. The tracks have since been removed, the Railroad wanted to demolish the bridge, but the city resisted due to its historic nature, and there it sits for all to love.
Carl Mottern
shared with the comment: "I used to like working at the WRB in my early years with US Customs. The traffic was much lighter as many folks don’t know it’s there. “The morning rush” was the same work commuters every day. The Freights on the Michigan Central Bridge were cleared by checking off the loaded cars on a pre printed manifest. That changed later with automated manifests. The Amtrak #64 and #65 manifests were pre screened before the trains arrived. The scenic photo ops with the changing seasons were worth bringing the camera every day. I’d walk out to various lengths of the bridge for better angles. The only better gig for me was the two person office at the Airport."
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