Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Lost/Wisconsin Central Abt Trunnion Bridge over Manitowoc River

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

This bridge supported the Wisconsin Central's route to their depot & freight house and ferry. Since passenger traffic is obsolete, this bridge is also obsolete.

The bridge was demolished in the summer of 2011. [Bridge Hunter]
Ben Stalvey posted
The good old Manitowoc Wagon Crane. Note the old Soo Line bridge in the background.
Dennis DeBruler Thanks for pointing out the bridge. That is a rare Abt Trunnion design.
 
Manitowoc Engineering Company has several overview photos of their ship and crane building facilities on a peninsula in the Manitowoc River. You can see the weight in its horizontal position because the span is down. This is an example.
Ben Stalvey posted

"Because the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company and Manitowoc Cement Company required the full width of the river for ship access, a swing bridge at this crossing was unfeasible. An earlier deck truss bascule bridge dating to 1895-1896 was located at this site, but was replaced by this bridge in 1926. The earlier bridge had the counterweight tower on the east bank, versus the west bank. The bridge was demolished in the summer of 2011." [Bridge Hunter] But we can see from the various photos that the movable span iwas less than half of the width of the river. So a swing span would have provided as much clearance.

Joan Geraldson posted
I obtained the following info from a moderator of the Manitowoc History site:
“I would assume that (this bridge) has been there since the early 1900's. I have pictures of the Mullholland foot bridge which was taken down around 1900 and this bridge is in that picture. I am pretty sure it is Soo Line and I have a picture of the inside of that bridge tenders house. A railroad worker had his legs amputated in the early 1900's and they gave him the job of bridge tender after the accident. He raised a family in a box car at the end of Buffalo St.”
Joan Geraldson August 15, 2010 [It was removed just a year later in 2011.]

Joan Geraldson posted

Google Earth, Nov 2010
I'm sure the captain of the ABT (Articulated Barge-Tug) docked on the other side of the penninsula was glad to see this bridge removed in 2011.
Google Earth, Nov 2010
The swingbridge was also removed.
Google Earth, Jul 2011

StoryMaps

Flickr (Oh joy, the link broke since I wrote the draft. I found a Manitowoc Album, but not a bridge photo.)

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