Aban/CR/Big4 Bridge over Embarras River near Charleston, IL

(Bridge Hunter, Satellite)

I discovered that the town and township Emrarrass is spelled with two s's, but the river is spelled with one s.

Matt Davis posted
Westbound New York Central Railroad Southwestern Limited passenger train speeds across Embarras River near Charleston, Illinois, in June 1959. Photograph by J. Parker Lamb
Only thing left is the bridge piers, just north of Route 16
Victor Jugo Tao shared
Lisa Ruble posted

NYC, Charleston, Illinois, 1959

Westbound New York Central Railroad Southwestern Limited passenger train speeds across the Embarras River near Charleston (Coles County Illinois) in June 1959.

See a photo I took in October 2020 in the comments.

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1959 Photo Credit: J. Parker Lamb, Center For Railroad Photography and Art.

Kristopher Isaac Barrington shared

Bill Edrington: Great picture, although if it was taken in 1959, that’s No. 341, the westbound Knickerbocker. The westbound Southwestern was discontinued in 1958. 341 was due at Mattoon in late morning, which corresponds to the angle of the sun in this shot.

Lisa's photo

You can see by the transition from stone to concrete in some of the piers that this steel girder bridge probably replaced a deck truss bridge.

Street View

Steve Lawyer shared two images with the comment: "Railroad bridge over the Embarras River then and now."
Dennis DeBruler It was the Big Four and abandoned by Conrail. Judging by the concrete extension on top of a cut stone pier, it was originally a deck truss bridge. When they rebuilt with steel girders, they added additional concrete piers next to the cut-stone pier.
https://bridgehunter.com/il/coles/pencentrr/

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Steve's share
You can tell by the shadows that it had been rebuilt by the time this 1938 aerial photo was taken.