(Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

URR = Pennsylvania Union Railroad

Efforts are underway to make this part of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail.

This bridge used to connect the USS Carrie Blast Furnaces on the north bank with the USS Homestead Works on the south bank.

Samantha Eva posted

Ron Milko: Carrie

I think I'm up to at least three hot metal bridges across the Monongahela River. These carried special bottle cars of molten iron ore from a blast furnace to a steel making facility that had, given the date, open hearth furnaces and later Basic Oxygen Process (BOP) converters. I think the Bessemer (Kelly) Process for making steel from iron was obsolete by 1900.

Kordite Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

Rankin Hot Metal Bridge

Also know as the Union RR Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge, this 483 foot Pratt through truss bridge was built in 1900 to bring molten iron from the Carrie blast furnaces to the Homestead Steel Works on the Monongahela River's south shore.

One of four photos posted by Steel Valley History

AltoonaWorks posted

Tuesday Travels

Pittsburgh isn't all that far away but was the final stop on fall vacation last year. Pictured here is the abandoned Carrie Furnace Hot Metal bridge at Homestead, PA. More photos of abandoned railroad remains at this link: https://www.flickr.com/.../albums/72157629156890238/page7

[Actually, this is the link for this photo. It is the first of nine photos of this bridge.]

eBook, published prior to 1923 via Bridge Hunter

Adam Piscitelli posted
There were 7 hot metal bridges built in the world but only these 6 have been identified: 1. Rankin Hot Metal (Carrie) 2. Mon Con (J&L Eliza) 3. Port Perry Bessemer (Duquesne-ET Works) 4. Riverton-Duquesne National Tube (Duquesne-McKeesport) 5. Trumbull Steel (Warren OH). 6. Swedeland Bridge (Alan Wood Steel/Heckscer & Sons) If anyone knows where the 7th one is please chime in.

JaQuay Edward Carter posted

HOMESTEAD MAP, 1902
T.M. Fowler & James B. Moyer 

Focusing on the industry flanking both sides of the Monongahela River. On the right was the Homestead Steel Works (9) and on the left was Carrie Blast Furnaces, a "pig iron" production facility.  

The pure and refined "pig iron" was then added to other scrap metals at Homestead and formed into steel in the open hearths and rolling mills.   

The Homestead Steel Works were first constructed in 1881. Andrew Carnegie bought the 2 year old Homestead Steel Works in 1883, and integrated it into his Carnegie Steel Company. It was once the largest steel mill in the world and the most productive of the Mon Valley's many mills. 

There were three bridges spanning the Monongahela River in this view, including: (from bottom to top)
1. Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge at Munhall (also known as the Pinkerton's Landing Bridge or P. McK. & Y. "Pemickey" Bridge). 

2. Hot Metal Bridge, connecting Homestead Works with Carrie Furnaces. It was built around 1900, 5x stronger than a normal bridge, with fireproof brick and 2-inch steel plating along the sides. There were only 7 built in the world, with 2 in Pittsburgh remaining. The other connected Jones and Laughlin Steel Company's iron (Hazelwood) and steel (Southside) facilities. 

3. The 1897 West Braddock Bridge, a narrow trolley bridge equipped with a wooden deck. It was later rebuilt and renamed, Rankin Bridge.

(M) was the site of Munhall Methodist Episcopal Church on Ravine Street. The building was later home to a school.

Nick Markowitz Jr. shared

JaQuay Edward posted

"THE MIGHTY MONONGAHELA"
w/ views of CarrieBlastFurnaces National Historic Landmark (2006) & Hot Metal Bridge

The ironmaking plant began operating in 1884, when the first blast furnace was brought to the site from Port Elizabeth, Ohio. A half dozen more furnaces would be added to facility by the turn of the 20th Century, including Nos. 6&7, pictured here. The pair of blast furnaces were constructed between 1906 and 1907, and in  operation until 1978, following the steel crisis.

There were only 7 Hot Metal Bridges built in the world, Pittsburgh has two. The other used to connect J&L's Pittsburgh Works (iron side) in Hazelwood with Southside Works (steel side).
It was built 5 times stronger than a regular bridge, with fireproof brick and steel plating.

Today, only a portion of the vast site remains. Carrie is among the last surviving Pre-WWII blast furnaces in the United States and the only extant iron plant remaining in Pittsburgh.

Historic Homestead: Steel Capital of the World 

As seen on Rivers of Steel's 
"Hardest Working River" Tour
October 31, 2021

Out of Focus PGH posted six photos with the comment: "In the tracks of iron horses."

1
At Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge.John Lampke When was this taken out of service?
Noah Davidson John Lampke 1978, when the Carrie Furnace on the east end of the bridge shut down.
Noah Davidson John Lampke It would’ve been amazing. The sights and the sounds would’ve been remarkable. I believe that iron plating on either side of the tracks was to prevent the cars from dumping their molten load into the Mon.

Dave Kuntz posted four photos with the comment: "Sometimes I marvel at how much infrastructure our ancestors left us, while we have the prosperity to abandon it. Here we see the Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge over the Monongahela River SE of Pittsburgh. Built in 1900 and including an abandoned diamond still in place, this is a gem that is best explored by drone."

Ted Gregory shared

Richard J Imel commented on Dave's post
here is a picture of that bridge i believe back in the glory days of railroading. I was going to make an N scale model of that bridge

Sherpes Haser posted four photos with the comment:

"Hot Metal Bridge", at Carrie Furnace, over the Monongahela river

Simon Tessier: Anyone know why it has this particular shape?

Roger Morris: Simon Tessier It's possible to get a leak in a hot metal car. If molten metal lands on water it will instantly explode. They don't want that.

Dennis Herriges: What did the railroad haul across this bridge? Was it hot slag from the steel mill ? Where was it hauled to?

Mike Charles: Dennis Herriges hot metal from blast furnaces at Carrie Furnace to the mills in homestead works. Slag from there would also cross the bridge on the way to Brown’s Dump (site of former Century III Mall, current walmart and strip mall in West Mifflin, PA. Also raw materials for the blast furnaces.

Paul Baran: The sides are on them incase there was a hot metal or Sinder spill or derailment. I made many trips over this bridge. There was an open side and the closed side. Open side was for hauling raw material into the plant and empties out.

Shane Rolin: These photos look like they're from the North side of the river. I just looked at Google maps and the entire north side trestle system is complete demolished and removed beyond the bridge abutment at the shore.

Sherpes Hasher: Shane Rolin correct. the photos are from 8 years ago [as of 2025] at least. It's too bad they removed that section

Ian Bowling commented on Sherpes post
Took some photos of it a few years ago. Here’s one of them that I took.

safe_image for Editorial: Carrie Furnace on the cusp of long-awaited breakthrough
Part of a $9.2m stimulus fund will be used to restore this bridge as a trail and connect it to the Great Allegheny Passage between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, MD.

Dave Kuntz posted four photos with the comment: "The Carrie Hot Metal Bridge is less attractive from the back and therefore much less photographed. The approaches have been removed but one track still remains. This bridge was once an integral part of America's steel industry and had hot ore cars travel across it. It may become a rail trail. Rankin, PA"

Tim Shanahan shared