Industrial History: 1871,1913,1993 NS/NW/Wabash Bridges over Mississippi River at Hannibal, MO

Bridge: (Bridge Hunter, Bridge Hunter Tunnel, no Historic Bridges, Satellite)

The 1880 predecessor bridge.

Lisa Ruble posted
Iron Bridge at Pike County, Illinois, and Hannibal, Missouri. Looking across the Mississippi River from Pike County toward Hannibal.

Richard Fiedler: this is the old wrought iron bridge from 1880 built by the Wabash railroad.

[Note that the name "Iron Bridge" is appropriate because it was made with iron instead of steel.]

Terry Schwartzwalder posted
Wabash Mississippi River bridge at Hannibal, MO.
[Note the bins for the Bunge elevator under the lift span.]

MP Rail Photography posted

NS 252 crosses the Mississippi River in Hannibal as the TripleCrown train heads eastbound on the Springfield-Hannibal District.

August 31, 2024

Hannibal, Missouri

Power:

NS 9936 - C44-9W

Michael E. Bond: ... and there's also the tunnel just west of the BNSF crossing. Great photo!

Lisa Ruble posted four photos with the comment:

In September 1913 the Wabash railroad (built 1870-71) that crosses the Mississippi River between Pike County Illinois and Hannibal Missouri moved the swing span of its Hannibal bridge one pier closer to the Missouri shore (now the Norfolk Southern Railway). The massive project of swapping the two spans of the bridge was accomplished in one day. The two spans were disconnected from the piers and lifted by partially submerging barges underneath the spans, then pumping out the water out so the barges would rise, lifting the spans and then switching them. New piers had been built already to accommodate the new arrangement. The federal government had mandated the change, claiming that the swing span was located in a treacherous part of the river channel, and that moving the swing span one pier closer to shore would make safer passage for boats passing through. The 1913 swing span would be replaced in 1993 with a lift span from an abandoned bridge at Florence, Alabama.
Photos: First photo: 1929, train going west across the railroad bridge. Second photo: 1925, train again going west across the Wabash railroad bridge from Pike County Illinois to Hannibal, Missouri. Third photo: 1929, train tunnel near the bridge on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. Built in 1871. The last photo I took in May 2019.
See three September 1913 photos and more in the comments..
Old photos courtesy of Steve Chou..

Richard Fiedler shared

Lisa Ruble commented on her post
September 1913

Lisa Ruble commented on her post, cropped
September 1913

Lisa Ruble commented on her post
September 1913

Lisa Ruble commented on her post
1884.. looking west toward the east tunnel on the Missouri side of the railroad bridge..

Lisa Ruble commented on her post
West Tunnel.. Hannibal, Missouri side.

Lisa Ruble commented on her post
1895.. Missouri approach to the railroad bridge looking east toward Pike County Illinois..

Lisa Ruble commented on her post
Between 1900 and 1905..

Lisa Ruble commented on her post
The lift span that replaced the swing span in 1993 when the lift span was still where it was originally at Florence, Alabama.. Tennessee River.

Lisa Ruble posted five images with the comment:

Wabash Railroad Bridge across the Mississippi River at East Hannibal (Pike County, Illinois), and Hannibal, Missouri in 1915. The view is looking toward Pike County.
September 1870.. Quarrying stone for the piers of the new railroad bridge at Hannibal is in progress.
August 1st 1871.. Hannibal Railroad Bridge was only partially tested yesterday, owing to the absence of the requisite number of engineers. The final test will undoubtedly prove the bridge a Success. The bridge is about 1,500 long, and is arranged both for railroads and carriages.
In September 1913, the swing span was moved one pier closer to the Missouri shore.
The massive project of swapping the two spans of the bridge was accomplished in one day. The two spans were disconnected from the piers and lifted by partially submerging barges underneath the spans, then pumping out the water out so the barges would rise, lifting the spans and then switching them. New piers had been built already to accommodate the new arrangement. The federal government had mandated the change, claiming that the swing span was located in a treacherous part of the river channel, and that moving the swing span one pier closer to shore would make safer passage for boats passing through.
The original swing span was replaced in 1993 with lift span from a rail bridge in Florence, Alabama.
Second photo: Railroad Bridge over the Mississippi River connecting Pike County, Illinois, to Hannibal, Missouri. Photo taken between 1905 and 1910 by Hannibal photographer Anna Schnitzlein.
Third photo: In September 1913 the Wabash railroad that crosses the Mississippi River between Pike County, Illinois, and Hannibal, Missouri, moved the swing span of its Hannibal bridge one pier closer to the Missouri shore. The massive project of swapping the two spans of the bridge was accomplished in one day. The two spans were disconnected from the piers and lifted by partially submerging barges underneath the spans, then pumping out the water out so the barges would rise, lifting the spans and then switching them. New piers had been built already to accommodate the new arrangement. The federal government had mandated the change, claiming that the swing span was located in a treacherous part of the river channel, and that moving the swing span one pier closer to shore would make safer passage for boats passing through.
Fourth photo: Locomotive exiting the west end of the Hannibal railroad tunnel, ca, 1884-85.
Fifth photo: Hannibal side of the Wabash Railroad Bridge around 1879.

David Hahn shared

Lisa Ruble commented on her post

David Webster posted
Tim Chism: Hannibal
[The Mark Twain road bridge is in the background.]

David Webster posted

Andrew Lee Ward: Hannibal RR bridge

We Work the Waterways posted

Marquette Transportation Company'sM/V H.E. BOWLES and tow making the Wabash Bridge connecting Hannibal, Missouri to Pike County, Illinois on the Upper Mississippi River.

Vertical clearance has to be watched closely. On this day the high water gave the BOWLES a mere 4 feet of clearance.

Courtesy of Capt John Vaughn.

[The river has been running high in the Summer of 2024.]

On the west side, it crosses the BNSF/CB&Q tracks then goes through a river bluff tunnel to curve south. Evidently this lift bridge was moved from Florence, AL in 1993 to replace the original 1871 swing span. It doesn't look like it has a very high lift. Since tugs used since 1993 don't have the high smokestacks of the old steamships, maybe the Mississippi River no longer needs a high clearance. Although some historic steamboats are still run as cruise ships. So maybe this is higher than it looks. It is a 406' span. Maybe the length of the span makes the towers look shorter. Once stat I miss from Bridge Hunter is vertical clearance.

From Bridge Hunter

The lift span in Florence, AL, from Bridge Hunter

Lisa Ruble posted
The Flying Eagle hits the train bridge.
[You can see the boat up against the span to the right of the swing span. I wonder if the water appears rather high.]
James Holzmeier shared Lisa's post
Hannibal, MO Wabash bridge looking north. The line in the foreground is the CB&Q K-Line running from St. Louis up to Keokuk.
Robert Andrews The swing span was replaced by a lift bridge in the 90's. Hannibal is also the home of the Wabash's only tunnel. A city park is on the bluff above the tunnel approach, diamond with the BNSF K-Line and the bridge approach. However, my last visit vegetation had taken over and all are hard to view from the "scenic lookout".

Lisa Ruble posted

View of open span of the Wabash railroad bridge from an excursion steamer, about 1905-10. 

Mississippi River, Hannibal, Missouri (seen on the right) and Pike County Illinois.

Photo Credit: Anna Schnitzlein

Tim Shanahan shared

Lisa Ruble posted four photos with the comment: "The Wabash Railroad Station and the approach to the Wabash Railroad Bridge on the Pike County Illinois side of the Mississippi River at East Hannibal to Hannibal, Missouri."

[Some comments discuss the various road crossings here and included some old road maps.]

Richard Fiedler shared

Joey Maurer Long commented on Lisa's post
I have a family story about that bridge (passed down generation to generation) so I am thrilled to see these images of the bridge I have heard about all my life...In the 1920's, when my grandpa was a little boy, his parents loaded up a rickety, make-shift truck with all their possessions, their three children, and the family dog and went to Rocky Ford Colorado to work in the sugar beet fields and factory. Life was unkind to them there and they decided to return to Illinois. So the truck was again loaded up - kids, dog and everything they owned - and they headed back east. At Hannibal, Pappy had to drive the truck over the train bridge. There was no other way over the river. Near the middle of the bridge, the truck broke down...and then they realized a train was on the way...you can imagine the fear (in fact, my granny did not recover from that fear for many months after). At the last minute, they were able to get the truck and all inside driven off the bridge just before the train came.
This is my grandpa on the truck that broke down on the bridge you pictured above.

Danny Cole posted five images with the comment: "The original Hannibal river bridge."

Richard Fiedler shared

1, cropped

2, cropped

3, cropped

4, cropped

5, cropped

Frandy Putman commented on a post

Steve Monroe posted two images with the comment: "Missouri River- Hannibal Bridge"

Robert Daly posted three photos with the comment: "More bridgework--the NS ex-Wabash bridge over the Mississippi at Hannibal, April 12 2013. The view through the woods shows the BNSF line from St Louis to Burlington crossing the NS. The NS enters a tunnel immediately after crossing the BNSF."

I-72 is in the background.

The last photo is looking down at the end of the bridge and the diamond from the trail. The Wabash crossed the CB&Q.

Satellite

And the following post taught me that he is looking down because the Wabash route goes into a tunnel.

The tunnel is rather short because of a long cut.

Satellite plus Paint

Chip Walker posted two photos with the comment: "A couple of my photos of the ex-Wabash bridge over the Mississippi River at Hannibal, Missouri. Photos taken in July, 2018."

MP Rail Photography posted

NS 252, the new TripleCrown Service, crosses over the Mississippi River in East Hannibal, Illinois.

August 31, 2024

East Hannibal, Illinois

Power:

NS 9936 - C44-9W

5 of 7 images posted by John Peterman with the comment: "BNSF/NS diamond Hannibal Mo last summer . Very narrow but public access to this very nice location. Tunnel is for NS crossing the MS river, BNSF runs parallel MS river."

[Comments indicate that the BNSF route along the river was the K-line of the CB&Q.]