BNSF/SantaFe Bridge over CS&SC in Lemont, IL

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, 3D Satellite)

CS&SC = Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal

I started some separate notes concerning the building of the bridge.

Several more views of this bridge are in some notes about this bridge no longer opening for barge traffic.

20190708 8647, Video

safe_image for patch

It was 1899 when the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was being completed - and this photo was taken of the two bridges that spanned the waterway. On the left is the Stephen Street/Lemont Road bridge, which was used for vehicle traffic - mostly horse and buggy at the time. The bridge was removed in the early 1980s.

If you look very closely at the bridge on the right, to its immediate left you'll see a rail line that was either used for construction of the bridge and canal, or quarrying, or possibly both. Piers that are remnants of this line are still visible today, especially from the Lemont Rd bridge.
Dave Rodgers Rock probably came from the quarry in Plainfield..
Dennis DeBruler The rock probably came from the Lemont Quarries a little to the east of here. Until dolomite limestone was discovered around Bedford, IN, Lemont had the best building stone in the country. The Water Tower in Chicago and the Joliet Prison are examples of buildings built with stone quarried in Lemont. After the canal was built, the stone that made building the canal hard became an ongoing source of jobs.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Dave Rodgers Interesting! The reason I mentioned Plainfield is that quarry had rail access.
Dennis DeBruler Dave Rodgers And I understand that the Plainfield quarry was a gravel pit. That would save them the cost of crushing the rock. So I agree with you that Plainfield was probably the source of the rock.
https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../ej-quarry-and...
[I looked at my photos from that area and the near abutment for the Stevens Street Bridge seem to be covered so deep in vegitation that you can't see the stone. Maybe I'll poke through the greenery the next time I'm down there to see what is left.]

MWRD posted on Mar 8, 2023
Workers setting the turntable wheels for the Santa Fe Railroad bridge in Lemont, Illinois, on December 8, 1898.
Greg Burnet shared

MWRD posted

MWRD posted
The photographer's notes on this image from August 8, 1899, read, "10:45 A.M. Santa Fe 'Local' the first regular train to cross new drawbridge over Sanitary & Ship Canal at Lemont."

 

MWRD posted on Feb 21, 2023
The first passenger train to cross the new Santa Fe Railroad Bridge near Lemont, Illinois, viewed looking south with the Lemont Road bridge in the background, on August 8, 1889. The text written on the image reads "1404, 8-8-99, 11:46 am Santa Fe Train No. 16, The first passenger train to cross the new draw bridge over Sanitary and Ship Canal at Lemont, Ills."

 

MWRD posted
A line of workers is seen moving material during the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, near the Santa Fe Railroad bridge in Lemont, looking upstream from southeast wall on November 20, 1899.
Reed Dring: This was an interesting build. Usually there is an obstacle to cross and its difficult to construct over flowing water. Here they built the bridge on land, then blasted the rock below it.
Dane Johnson-Kantner: Was it ever a swing bridge or did it get designed as one but just not built for it? This bridge gets a lot of talk as it's one of the most limiting bridges in the United states to this day in terms of height.
Dennis DeBruler: Dane Johnson-Kantner Technically, it is a bobtail bridge because it is asymmetric. It did turn in the 1940s and early 1950s. For example, during WWII, submarines and minesweepers went to the Gulf of Mexico to join the war because the St. Lawrence Seaway had yet to be built. All of the moveable bridges along the CSSC and South Branch used to move, but no longer except for the Amtrak/Pennsy bridge. That is why all of the local towboats have retractable pilot houses.
MWRD posted
A line of workers are seen moving material during the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) on November 20, 1899, near the Lemont Railroad Bridge (originally the Santa Fe Railroad Bridge), looking upstream from the southeast wall in Lemont, Illinois. The bridge was one of many built by the Sanitary District (now MWRD) during construction of the CSSC.

Larry Candilas commented on a share of the Santa Fe Bridge near Harlem Avenue
Very unique bridge - not a center-pier swing but a bob-tail swing, swung over land to clear the channel.

 

Dennis DeBruler commented on Larry's comment
You are thinking of the BNSF/Santa Fe Bridge in Lemont, https://www.google.com/.../@41.6794331.../data=!3m1!1e3...

Jerry Jackson posted
GP60M's were worked hard after their May 1990 delivery to the Santa Fe. Here 5 units are passing through Lemont, IL with a westbound TOFC train comprised mainly of Quantum trailers. Notice that just the lead unit and the trailing unit are sporting flags, showing support for "Operation Desert Storm" in February 1991.

Jerry Jackson posted
I haven't posted too much Santa Fe lately, so I'm gonna make up for that with an FeF#3. GP35u 2897 and a GP30u with a short local (?) crosses the Sanitary and Ship Canal in Lemont, IL headed west, in April of 1992.

 

One of four comments by Raymond Craven on a video of a towboat running the north and south branches
 I think the least I saw when running up there was 17' vertical clearance on the bridges.
Another comment: Jim Taylor: The vertical clearance at Lemont is about 19', the Chicago bridges are a couple more feet in the center of the channel.

Brenda Williamson posted two photos in "The Great Loop" with the comment:

Here are two bridges that people sometimes confuse. 

First, the black one is in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal on the route through downtown Chicago. It is 17’ in Navionics and 17’6” in Skipper Bob book. Its name is Conrail CSX Railroad Bridge. It is what you have to clear to go through downtown Chicago. (I thought some of the cool looking bridges in downtown would be the lowest, but no, it is this one.)

The second bridge (which needs some paint) is the infamous unavoidable Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe bridge which is 19’7” (plus or minus depending on water level). It is after the downtown Chicago route and the Calumet River route converge. Everyone who does the Great Loop must go under this one.

Sean Welsh: I did a write-up here on clearance at the Scherzer Eight-Track (and Lemont) back in April, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheGreatLoop/posts/10161225542018630/

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Update:  I learned from Ramon Rhodes in Facebook that Santa Fe designates this bridge as 24B. Ramon has posted a 2009 photo essay by Joe Padgen. I have already mentioned a posting by Ramon concerning Bridge 9B. He explains that the number in a bridge designation indicates the milepost that was established with Dearborn Station as 0.

Update: I learned from a comment on some Cal Sag bridges that this is the lowest bridge at 17 feet on the main navigation channel to O'Brien Locks. The Canal Street RR Bridge is the lowest on the navigation channel to the Chicago River Locks.

Update: Stuart Pearson posted some interesting pictures on Facebook.

Update: A USACE clearance table for the Illinois Waterway indicates this bridge has 19.7' of clearance and includes the note that the bridge does not open. The lowest clearance I found was the 8-Track Bridge at 17.6' except for the South Branch Bridge, which was 11.1'. But the South Branch Bridge can, and does, lift.

MP Rail Photography posted

A BNSF intermodal crosses over the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal as it heads eastbound on the Chillicothe Subdivision.

June 2, 2024

Lemont, Ill

MP Rail Photography shared

I first discovered the SanteFe Railroad Bridge across the Sanitary and Ship Canal near Lemont when I moved to the Chicago area in the 1970s. It was impressive enough that it was the first bridge that I visited after I retired. It is on my to-do list to find and scan the pictures I took in the 70s. But I can get the blog started with the pictures I took recently. The first three pictures were taken with my cell phone because I could not retake the pictures of the barge with the big spool. The remaining pictures were taken later after I bought a new SLR camera.

Even though the bridge was designed to be a movable bobtail (asymmetric) swing bridge, it was fixed by the 70s. Back then, I watched an empty barge being pushed very slowly under the bridge with crew members on the barge watching the clearance between the top of the barge covers and the bottom of the bridge because there appeared to be just a few inches to spare. During a recent visit, I noticed an 6-barge tow of empties heading downstream. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera working yet when I saw it. It was a rather big tow for this canal because many of the tows are just one or two barges. I closely watched the tow go under the bridge. Several of the barges had covers, and it appeared that there was a foot of clearance. Evidently, that is plenty of clearance because the tug did not slow down for the bridge.

When I arrived, there was a barge "parked" on the side of the canal next to the bridge with a big spool of cable. It was clear that the spool was too high to go under the bridge.

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Later, I figured out that the pickup truck was towing a pump. And they were pumping water into a bulkhead that was about 10 feet long on the spool end of the barge. You can see the hose and some of the bulkhead portal just beyond the top left side of a drainage channel in the following image.

This second picture was taken a while after the first one because I had driven down to the end of the industrial frontage road and back between taking the two pictures. If you look closely, you can see that the barge is beginning to tilt so that the spool end is a little lower than the other end. But it is going to take a lot longer to sink the spool end enough to get it under the bridge so I left and went into Lemont. Later, when I was leaving Lemont, I noticed from the "high bridge" that the barge was going under the bridge. So I parked my van on the shoulder when I got off the bridge and trotted back up the pedestrian walk. It  turns out, I did not need to hurry because the barge was not moving.

This is the first time I have seen a tugboat move a barge on the hip. Note the offset (asymmetric) design of this bridge so that the navigation channel is not obstructed by the swing pier. This is the West elevation, and the camera is facing upstream. The swing pier is setting on bedrock because this stretch of the canal is dug through a limestone outcropping.

The East elevation is not cluttered with weed trees, but I could not frame the whole bridge even with an 18mm focal length. So this is most of the bridge and...

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...this is the short span.

I was fortunate that a train was stopped on the bridge so that you can see the immense scale of this bridge. The sky that day was blue, but I overexposed the pictures so that you can better see the details of the bridge. The two lane road in the middle has just a 9'9" clearance, so the road on the left is dug into the bedrock to create a truck road with a 14'5" clearance. The little "road" on the right is a bike trail. Above it you can see part of the metal counterweight used to balance the weight of the long span.

One advantage of the bobtail design is that you can easily get a underside view of the short span.

And this view shows the fresh cut they made in the limestone to create enough clearance for trucks.

Because of the size of this bridge, you can clearly see the tension vs compression members. The tension members are pin-connected rods whereas the compression members are built-up beams. And the number and size of the rods varies as the load varies. Most steel truss bridges I've seen use just one standard size. But if a bridge this big, it would be a significant waste of steel if the size of the links were not customized. I've inserted this close up of the center tower with its original size so that you can pan it and see the details. Note that the top cords have 4 big rods. And the upper-left to lower-right diagonals have two big rods whereas the other diagonals have two little rods. And all of the diagonals have turnbuckles so that the tension can be adjusted. I had assumed that the counter weights on the short span would balance the long span. But if that was the case, I would expect the diagonals in the central tower to be symmetric.

I was concerned about the amount of rust I saw on the bridge. And then I discovered the pictures taken by lazzo51. His collection contains about a half-dozen pictures for this bridge, and they are all much more rusty than my May 2014 pictures. So this bridge has had some maintenance.

Update: a trackside photo.

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Whenever I'm in the area, I got to the end of the old Lemont Road to check out the barge traffic. The sun happened to be good for catching another picture of the bridge. (Most of the property along the canal is fenced off and you can't legally get close to the canal. This spot is the other extreme, it doesn't even have handrails. I learned later that towboats stop here to let crew members get off and walk into town.


Update:

AshtonTugs

Jerry Jackson posted
Warbonnet Wednesday. Lemont, IL early 1991, probably March or April. Notice that only one or two units have the Flag supporting Desert Storm.

Mark Hinsdale posted
At Lemont IL...

Jerry Jackson commented on the above posting
Strange seeing power other than ATSF there.

HalstEd Pazdzior posted
A "Warbonnet" is in charge of an eastbound stack train.
4/18/23
[A comment indicated that it will be 35 years in the Summer of 2023 since the bridge has been painted.]

Jerry Jackson commented on HalstEd's post
HalstEd Pazdzior: Jerry Jackson it's almost completely tree'd in these days. Nice shot

Jerry Jackson used as a cover photo

Jerry Jackson commented on the above posting

Jerry Jackson posted
The power on the Lemont shot was, 7435, 7402, 7445 and 7421.

Jerry Jackson posted
It's March of 1991 and GP35u 2897 and an unrecorded GP30u pass through Lemont, IL headed towards Joliet.
[Back when it wasn't rusty and the trees were not in the way.]

Jerry Jackson posted
©Me Westbound, Lemont, IL May 1991.

Jerry Jackson commented on the above posting
Crossing the Des Plaines river.

Jerry Jackson posted four photos with the comment:

I usually planned 90% of my shots, even though I didn't have access to modern apps, radios, time schedules, etc. I depended on hot trains leaving Corwith on-time and I was rarely disappointed. I was shooting with a Nikon F4HP and a Nikkor 100-200mm straight f:4 lens. I picked up a cheap KMart 2x tel-extender, under $10 I'm sure. I set-up on the west side of the bridge over main (Stevenson?) street in Lemont, IL and waited. I was shooting at least at a minimum of f:8. I forget the shutter speed. All shots were hand advanced. I think #3 wins the gold star.

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[I believe Jerry posted the same view, but it appears he has digitally enhanced the photo. His comment indicates 1991.]

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Zaky Joseph commented on Nick's posting

Jerry Jackson posted four photos with the comment:

Flippin' Friday. Flip through these reposted photos iffin' you like. These were taken either while awaiting the first westward trip of the new GP60M's or just after. Both trains are on the same main, so probably a before shot. I doubt that I stuck around after the 60M's. This train, lead by an SD45-2 and a C30-7 (In my actual favorite Santa Fe scheme.) are eastbound, running wrong main. The north track was typical for outbounds from Corwith. A very crappy morning as it was way overcast and I was shooting with a straight f/4 zoom and coulda used a few more open f/ stops. I shot these manually and I did manage to luck out between trucks shaking the Lemont road bridge. Yes, I know there's a parking garage there now. Lemont, IL May 1990.

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[Note the small electric power tower in front of the tall part of the truss. That tower was a high-tension tower when it was built. It was part of one of the first high-tension power lines built. It carried electricity from the Lockport Powerhouse to downtown Chicago.]

Robby Gragg posted
Continuing with the green theme, back in November of 2012 a pair of former BN SD60Ms lead L-CHI102 west through Lemont. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Zaky Joseph posted
"SEND-ME-BACK SUNDAY"... Send me back to June 30, 2004 when a westbound M -IHB KCK freight (Manifest-Indiana Harbor Belt to Kansas City, KS) on the former Santa Fe Chillicothe Subdivision passes under the iconic Cal Sag Channel bridge at Lemont, Illinois with a former ATSF GP60M #147, former ATSF gp30 (BNSF #2464) and a BNSF geep, still in BN green.

Jon Bentz posted
James L. Ludwig House track off to the right served Dalman Lumber and Gorski Distillery. The depot was on the photographer's right-torn down so the cranes and abutments could be installed for the Lemont Road bridge/.
Jon Bentz The bridge piers were under construction when I was there. The depot hadn't been torn down yet.
Paul Jaenicke Wonder when the swing bridge in the background was no longer swinging?
James L. Ludwig Barge struck it in the 1950s and did not report the damage. And since there was no one to lay claim to the damage and the Santa Fe couldn't afford rerouting their hot freight traffic and crack passenger trains to bypass Joliet and use other railroads they decided to tell the Metropolitan Water district that it would be permanently closed to traffic other than barges that would have to swap power on both sides or run low cabins through.
Paul Jaenicke James L. Ludwig Do they run low cabins often? Thanks for the info.
Dennis DeBruler Paul Jaenicke The towboats that work in the Chicago area have retractable cabins because now all of the bridges are fixed except the South Branch Bridge. The Albert C is running light with its cabin in the air because they hit something and it won't go down anymore. It passes the Mary C that has its cabin down.
https://youtu.be/5LZq_YBs78U
Dennis DeBruler And here is the Mary C going under the bridge. I've watched them pump water into barges to lower them to go under and then pump the water back out.
https://youtu.be/yG3rm9fgZJE
James L. Ludwig Paul Jaenicke Yes they do I've seen other boats running with canopy up being stupid enough not to realize that the speed they were cruising at caused a wake that made the waves raise the boat height until they scraped the bottom of the bridge.
James L. Ludwig To the left downhill from the locomotive was a spur that served the canal side storage tanks of Tri -Chemical industries operated by Chevron which stored fuel and chemicals. The owner defaulted on lease payments to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the facilities were torn out in the the late 1980s.

Jerry Jackson posted four photos with the comment:

Number 3 was the keeper. October 1990 in Lemont, IL. I'd set-up this shot from the west side of the small bridge over Stephen Street. The afternoon 199 train was due, but you never knew what would show up before or after. Luckily I caught GP60M 132 and a few others leading that day. Nikon F4 w/Nikkor 100-200 mm Zoom and a 2X Telextender. All manual, no motor drive. The good old days.

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Matt Buhlig posted
Santa Fe engine on a Santa Fe bridge in 2020.
BNSF 3167 leads a rather short L-CHI105 through Lemont, IL this afternoon. 6/2/20.
Matt McClure ATSF painted that bridge regularly. BNSF not so much.
Dennis DeBruler Joy Brown caught the same train over the Kankakee River.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/chicagolandrailfan/permalink/3081376301901596/

Jacob Diorio posted
BNSF 284 leads Q-ROBCHI east across the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal at Lemont. 7/6/20
John David Retro Belle in the consist too ...

Matt McClure posted four photos, and Jerry added some more photos as comments.

Stuart Pearson posted a closeup view.

Jacob Metzger posted fallen flag locomotives on the bridge and a towboat by the bridge.

Jacob Metzger posted the same photo to a different group, and Ramon Rhodes provided a picture of a towboat in a comment.

Middle River Marine has a crew at this bridge to ballast and de-ballast.

Keith Yearman posted ten black&white photos including some pin-connected details.
Michael Zwicke Any one know when this ceased being a swing bridge? Must have been impressive to see this monster move.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Michael's comment
The best I have been able to determine, 1954 was the last year the bridges moved. The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway removed the need for moving ocean-going ships through the Illinois Waterway. Towboats still have full Illinois Waterway clearances through Romeoville. This bridge is the first clearance issue. But there is no point fixing this bridge because several other bridges aren't much higher.
http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../houston-we-have...
Michael Zwicke Dennis DeBruler I really enjoy your Industrial History posts. I've been researching the C&EI and C&WI RRs on and off for the last 15 years or so and I recently found your work.

Robby Gragg posted
On 1/21/20 three cascade green BN motors lead L-CHI105 west through Lemont, IL. 2020 or 1998?
Robert Learmont Kudos to the trainmasters who assigned the power and the conductors driving the train.
[A nice view of two of the old towers for the early 20th Century MWRD powerline.]

Steven J. Brown posted
Santa Fe FP45 103 (built 1967 as ATSF 106 to ATSF 5946 to ATSF 5996, became ATSF 96, wrecked on Cajon Pass 1994, scrapped) crossing the Sanitary and Ship Canal in Lemont, Illinois - February 1990.
[Today, the tracks are surrounded by trees.]
Steven J. Brown shared
Jerry Jackson updated

 

Jerry Jackson commented on his update

How in the hell did I miss that!???

I'm Flabergasted!

That is Outfreakinstanding!

I'm so disappointed in my railfanning life right now... I must go back in time.

It's not like I wasn't living 20 minutes away at the time. Somebody coulda called me. Maybe if I wasn't such an a-hole? Na that couldn't be it...

Two of the photos shared by Bruce Blackadar from his album:

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This short WB local came as I was putting the drone up and I hadn't yet gotten it into the position I planned. But I think I like this angle at least as well. BNSF ex-Santa Fe transcontinental main, Lemont, IL,8/13/21.

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Bridge over the canal on the BNSF ex-Santa Fe transcontinental main, Lemont, IL,8/13/21.