Industrial History: 1909+1926 NS/PRR Panhandle Bridge over Ohio River between Steubenville and Weirton

Sunday, June 5, 2016

1909+1926 NS/PRR Panhandle Bridge over Ohio River between Steubenville and Weirton

1909: (Bridge Hunter)

1926: (Archived Bridge Hunter (this says 1936 replacing 1865), Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges, 3D Satellite, Streetview, too long for Birds-Eye View to handle correctly)

Street View

Jesse Svoboda posted
Early 2000, and while this is technically an NS train, it's mostly old Conrail power, I caught this sizeable transfer pulling from Weirton, WV to Mingo Jct. going over the massive circa-1926 Ohio River bridge.

I didn't think too much about this picture until I realized how small the train looked compared to the trusses. Those trusses are really deep! Given the water lines on the piers and the train for scale, it looks like the river level can go up 40' in this area during heavy rains.

This was the predecessor bridge.

Historic Fort Steuben posted

🌉 The Panhandle Bridge – Steubenville, Ohio

The Panhandle Bridge at Steubenville was originally built in the mid-1800s to carry the Pennsylvania Railroad’s “Panhandle Route” across the Ohio River, linking eastern Ohio with West Virginia and the industrial Midwest.

Rebuilt several times, the present steel truss structure dates from the 1920s and was designed to handle heavier locomotives and growing rail traffic. It played an important role in transporting coal, steel, and passengers during the Ohio Valley’s industrial peak.

In this image taken during low water, the river appears unusually shallow because this stretch of the Ohio River is not controlled by nearby locks and dams, so levels reflect natural seasonal conditions.

Special thanks to the Steubenville Library’s Archive Department and Steubenville High School’s STEM Academy for restoring these historic images.

Todd Ryan Novacek: The Pennsylvania Railroad's predecessor had to wait until after West Virginia gained independence in 1863 to build the railroad across the state's Panhandle. The state of Virginia owned a significant amount of stock in the competing Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and refused to allow construction. The original routing followed the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, PA, to Beaver, PA, East Liverpool, OH, Toronto, OH, and then on to Steubenville, which is very similar to the route through freight trains use today.

Dan Tassey commented on the above post
- 1926 -

This view of the predecessor bridge also shows an early blast furnace for the steel mill.

Chris P. Bacon posted
P.C. & St. L. Railroad Bridge, Steubenville, Ohio Undated

Excerpt from NS System Map
[That .pdf will test the CPU and memory of your computer :-)]

When I found where it was, my first reaction was that a remnant of the Panhandle still exists. To determine what the remnant was, I studied a Norfolk Southern map. The Panhandle route is not used. Instead a branch Pennsy line that went along the Ohio is used to go down to Century Mine and Ohio Valley Coal 6. According to an 2006 email from Alan Hall posted on Historic Bridges, this bridge is now effectively just part of an industrial spur.

Historic Bridges confirms that this is a continuous truss bridge. Since this bridge was designed in 1926, they did not use computers to compute the stresses in the truss members. Most truss bridges you see BC (Before Computers) have each span terminating on a pier. That is, no forces are transmitted across the piers from one span to another. This simplifies computing the stress in each truss member of the span.

Update:

Old Pictures of Forgotten Ohio posted
Roy McClure shared

Mike Abernethy posted two photos with the comment:
"Pennsylvania Railroads Panhandle Bridge crossing the Ohio at Steubenville. Once dual track with three to four trains an hour. Now just a spur into West Virginia

more info. https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/…/prr-panhandle-bridge-at-mp-…"

Metrotrails posted

Steubenville Railroad Bridge over the Ohio River  from Weirton West Virginia, completed 1926 on the same site as its 1865 predecessor. 

The bridge was completed in the phases, starting with the approaches in 1909. The new bridge was built around the old one so there would be no interference with traffic on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Panhandle Line. It was closed only one day for change over!

It remains in service as an Industrial spur today.

M'ke Helbing shared

Mike Maddog Madigan posted
Wheeling Pitt North Plant south to north, Steubenville Ohio , the Bridge goes to the Coke Plant in Follansbee WV, You can see the BFs to the left.

M'ke Helbing shared a Metrotrails photo

Steubenville Railroad Bridge over the Ohio River  from Weirton West Virginia, completed 1926 on the same site as its 1865 predecessor. 

The bridge was completed in the phases, starting with the approaches in 1909. The new bridge was built around the old one so there would be no interference with traffic on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Panhandle Line. It was closed only one day for change over!

It remains in service as an Industrial spur today.

[Another example of an expensive industrial spur.]

M'ke Helbing shared

James Torgeson commented on his post
The former PRR Panhandle bridge between Weirton and Steubenville.

Dave Kuntz posted four photos with the comment: "Looking for some info on this bridge and the surrounding mills that span the Ohio River near Weirton, WV. What was the bridge named? Was something dumped out of train cars on one end? There looks to be some special track. When was it last used? Thank you."

Keith Moffat: Wheeling Pitt coke bridge. Used to be two blast furnaces on the Ohio side so much ore, coke and stone was dumped.

Ian Flaherty: Also the movie THE DEER HUNTER was filmed there.