 |
| Dennis DeBruler |
 |
| 2008 Russ Nixon Photo from Bridge Hunter comments |
Tom Wood comments in Bridge Hunter:
As for its history: allegedly it was originally constructed by the King Bridge Company in Wilmington, Delaware in 1897, then bought by the railroad, dismantled, and rebuilt on its current site in 1906.This would explain why some of the truss spans were built in 1897 and the deck plate girder spans were built in 1903 and 1904. Then more work was done in 1924 because the swing span and another span are from this year according to Historic Bridges.
I'm including a June 6, 2009 Bridge Hunter comment by James Norwood because I also wondered about the bridge name given that the Wabash Railroad was much further north of here.
I am wondering why they call it the Wabash Cannonball Bridge? The rail line that crossed here was an old New York Central branch line. Only the Wabash Railroad had a train called that to my knowledge. It's bridge over the Wabash River is clear up in Attica, Indiana or another at Andrews, Indiana. No hate, I am just curious as to the story behind the name. Maybe something to do with the French, George Rogers Clark, and Vincennes history involving cannons and the river that was interesting to the farmer/owner and locals perhaps?
Interesting development is the State of Illinois is taking over control of the bridge according to a report in the "Daily Record" newspaper of Lawrence County, Illinois. Story can be found athttp://www.lawdailyrecord.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=56...
Some more photos of the bridge during it's Railroad days
can be found at http://indianarailroads.org/board/index.php?topic=2837.0
One pic even shows the swing span open.
There are paranormal legends involving crossing from Indiana to Illinois and seeing a "floating purple head", thus another nickname for the bridge. Info about that can be found by googling it. Take care, JamesIndiana Haunts speculates the "Cannonball" name is because of the sound it makes when you drive across it because of the wood deck. And "Wabash" comes from the river, not the railroad.
It was built by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (Big Four). Since Big Four became part of the New York Central, this bridge was owned by Penn Central when it was abandoned. An owner of a grain drying service on the Indiana side of the river bought and repaired the right-of-way in 1970 so that he could serve the farms in Illinois as well as Indiana. (Bridge Hunter comment by Barbara Paxton, date is from Historic Bridges) Illinois took control of the bridge and evidently fixed it. (One cannot assume that Illinois will fix a bridge. Illinois has closed the New Harmony Wabash River Bridge rather than fix it. And other truss bridges were removed after completely new bridges were built.) Flash Earth shows that the four trusses of this bridge are still intact.
Looking at my 1928 Railroad Atlas, the Big Four route went from Evansville, IN across the Wabash River to Mt. Carmel, IL. There it joined the "Egyptian route" from Cairo, IL. The joint route then continued north to St. Francisville, IL and north to the Chicago area. At st. Francisville, a branch went across the Wabash using this bridge to Vincennes, IN, where it terminated. (Big Four had another route that went from Evansville to Terre Haute, but it passed through Washington, IN.) So within a rather short distance, the route from Evansville to Vincennes crosses the Wabash River twice! My 1976 RR Atlas shows the segment from St. Francisville to Vincennes is gone.
I just checked my list of bridges across the Wabash to verify that I missed this one. I need to do some work on that list.
Update:
 |
| vuTrailblazerNews (source), Photo by Maber Morris Exploring Local Legends: The Wabash Cannonball Bridge |
(new window) The state has bought and refurbished it so that you can drive across it for a dollar. So the middle of the video includes a drive over. Near the end of the drive, look at all of the driftwood piled on the shore left of the bridge. (Update: when I visited in 2016, there was no toll.)
 |
| Chuck Oswald (Update: this group is evidently gone, the links don't work) -> Lookin at the WORLD thru a Windshield |
 |
| Joseph Bullard posted From St. Francisville, IL to Indiana you can pay a dollar and drive on a section of the old Big Four Route. I decided it was a worthy detour when I was working out that way. http://wthi.web.franklyinc.com/.../the-cannonball-bridge... |
 |
| Richard Mead posted Wabash St. Francisville bridge between Illinois and Indiana. |
Jeff Gueisewite Inc. posted six photos with the comment: "A little work on the wabash cannonball bridge in St. Francisville."
Danny Seibert Can't believe no one made you mat the bridge.
Jeff Guisewite Inc. Machine was only 55k, it would have less psi than a loaded semi.
Danny Seibert Jeff oh that's a baby machine then...looked bigger than that.
Bill Lancaster Semi trucks cross it on a regular basis with 85,000.
Andrew Rauch Crossed it in a semi several years ago loaded with corn. Didnt like hearing the bridge making a pinging noise..
Don Wagoner shared
Mike G Crain NS should have taken notes on how and when to pull drift. Brunswick Missouri bridge would have still been there.
[I don't think a bigger excavator would have fit on the bridge.]
Carlton Crasher commented on a posting:
(Facebooked1, Facebooked2, Facebooked3)
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 [This shot show how high up on the pier the water level is.] |
 |
| 3 |
 |
| 4 |
 |
| 5 |
 |
| 6 [Another shot that catches a pier.] |
 |
| John Sandfrey commented on Jeff's post |
 |
| Jordan Sayge commented on the third photo posted by Jeff [I wonder if the excavator did this or if the damage was already done.] |
 |
| safe_image for post by Forgotten Railways, Roads, and Places for: Wabash Cannonball Bridge: a single-lane bridge pretty narrowCarlton Crasher I don't believe the first part is true. It was the Cairo to Vincennes Railroad. The first train crossed into Vincennes in December of 1872 found in the archives of the Western Sun Vincennes newspaper. You can Google the locomotive as well used. |
Originally the bridge was built in the 1880s and moved in 1905 to the current location in St. Francisville. The rail line on rail maps was active as of 1872. So I wonder 30 years before that what bridge sat there possibly on the same piers.Stephanie Winkler posted a B&W photo with the comment:
The Cannonball Bridge connects Saint Francesville IL to Vincennes IN. The railroad bridge was built in 1897 and was abandoned in 1965, but it shortly found new life as a one lane toll road for vehicles crossing the Wabash River. Locals sometimes refer to it as the Purple Head Bridge because of its haunted history. Stories vary from an unfortunate hanging mistake that resulted in decapitation, to supposed hangings conducted by the KKK, to a Native American shaman beheaded during the French and Indian War. Regardless of the origin of the ghost, many witnesses have claimed to spotted a floating purple head while crossing the bridge late at night. Those brave enough are encouraged by lore to visit at midnight, stop their car midway, and wait for the ghost to appear. Don't wait too long because this 1441 ft bridge is open to traffic from both directions and there are no traffic signals to prevent oncoming cars from entering while the bridge is occupied. Personally, I think the scariest part is driving across this rickety old thing!
 |
| Satolli Glassmeyer posted Do You Have What It Takes To Drive Across This Haunted Illinois Bridge??? The story about the bridge is in the comments below. Satolli Glassmeyer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRmhKvZyhOc [I didn't watch it. I don't waste my time on ghosts.] |
No comments:
Post a Comment