CSX/(C&O+L&N) 1929 and 1974 Bailey Bridges over Ohio River at Cincinnati, OH

C&O: (Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, HAER, B&T; 3D Satellite)

Road: (Bridge Hunter; B&T; 3D Satellite)

This bridge replaced a previous truss bridge, but the original piers were used by widening them. [Historic Bridges] When CSX was formed in 1986, the traffic from the former-L&N Bridge was moved to this bridge and the L&N bridge stopped carrying rail traffic in 1987.

Many of the comments talk about trains going to or from Queensgate Yard. That is because CSX opened that yard in 1980 to replace several yards in the area that had been used by B&O, C&O and L&N.

Even though it looks like a cantilever truss and some of the resources call it that, the HAER says it is believed to be the second largest continuous-truss ever built.

1982 Photo from OHIO31-CINT,44--1 from oh0102
1. VIEW LOOKING NORTHEAST, GENERAL ELEVATION WITH. TRAIN - Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Bridge, Spanning Ohio River, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH

Street View from the adjacent Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, US-4

1 of 8 photos posted by Bridges & Tunnels with Sherman Cahal

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Bridge over the Ohio River between Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio has an interesting history.

The original crossing for the bridge for the C&O was completed in 1888; cantilevered automobile lanes were later added to the exterior of the bridge. Planning efforts for a new, stronger bridge with lower grades that could accommodate the C&O’s heaviest locomotives began in the mid-1920s with construction beginning in 1926. The two sides of the cantilevered truss were joined in February 1929 and it opened to railway traffic on April 3.

The circa 1888 bridge was repurposed for automobiles in 1931. Tolls were initially collected from motorists to pay down acquisition and construction costs, which were removed in 1942 after those bonds were paid off. The bridge was structurally neglected and it was rusting apart by the time it closed to automobiles and pedestrians in 1968—especially after a man nearly fell into the Ohio River after the sidewalk he was on had collapsed.

The circa 1888 bridge was demolished in 1970 in preparation for the construction of the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge which opened in 1974 after much delay.

➵ More on the circa 1888 and 1929 bridges for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway: http://bridgestunnels.com/.../chesapeake-ohio-railroad.../

➵ More on the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/location/clay-wade-bailey-bridge/

Ken L. Chamblin posted four photos with the comment:

Crossing the Ohio River towards Queensgate (Cincinnati) and caught a Restricting Signal at OB, good time to take some pics on a bright sunny day running about 7 mph, nothing in view for 25 car lengths or greater. Ah ha, there it is, good place to stop right here short of the steel and watch the boats and cars awhile.

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Ken commented on his posting
Yep, that's my train, still back there!
\Thomas Finger Glad it's still back there. If is wasn't . . . somebody would have to do some explaining somewhere.
Ken L. Chamblin Around Covington, any non-stretched stop, can result in trouble along those sorts.
Dennis DeBruler Ken L. Chamblin Are you saying that thieves would uncouple cars at the end of the train so that they would be left behind so that they would have more time to remove the contents?
Ken L. ChamblinKen and 768 others joined RAILROAD BRIDGES, TRESTLES, TUNNELS AND CUTS within the last two weeks. Give them a warm welcome into your community! Dennis DeBruler no! That’d be pretty hard to get by with these days. At most it’s vandals just messing around or trying to put a train in emergency so they can cross thru it. If the slack is stretched they cannot pull a cut lever to cause separation so that is the safe stop mode.


Ken L. Chamblin Dennis DeBruler no! That’d be pretty hard to get by with these days. At most it’s vandals just messing around or trying to put a train in emergency so they can cross thru it. If the slack is stretched they cannot pull a cut lever to cause separation so that is the safe stop mode.
Dennis DeBruler Ken L. Chamblin I thought cops or others would catch a car being unloaded. I continue to underestimate the mentality of vandals. Thanks for the clarification.
Ken L. Chamblin Cops or passing trains would indeed get an eye & make a call promptly if that were to happen.

Bryan K Porter Are you on the old B&O there?
Dennis DeBruler According to my 2005 SPV Map, he is on the L&N after the C&O has joined it. From the east, the B&O enters Queensgate Yard at the north end; and from the east the B&O follows the river then turns north to enter Queensgate form the south end.

Dennis DeBruler Is Queensgate one of the humps that Hunter Harrison closed?
Ken L. ChamblinKen and 768 others joined RAILROAD BRIDGES, TRESTLES, TUNNELS AND CUTS within the last two weeks. Give them a warm welcome into your community! I think that was his plan. But to my knowledge the backup was so extreme it didn’t last. The guys working in Cincy now can tell u more about the specifics. I retired in April of 2012.

Street View, south approach

Daniel Lewis posted
C&O bridge in Cincinnati.
Massive double-track cantilever, built in 1929. A highway bridge shares the piers, barely visible behind the structure.

Ken L. Chamblin posted two photos with the comment:

These old pics from the 1980's when "the Ditch" was in service. The grade was steep and "feed valve brake application" was highly used is the 24RL brake system days. I was taught that way which was a direct contradiction to the cumberland Engineer School logic which was based on ABD and ABDW rapid release car brake systems. But in this instance, it proved quite efficient, sticking just enough brakes for a smooth decent. Thankfully my RFE didn't ride with me on those days, he probably knew better! But this day, we're on the highline and just looking over the hill at the grade.

David L GillilandDavid and 774 others joined RAILROAD BRIDGES, TRESTLES, TUNNELS AND CUTS within the last two weeks. Give them a warm welcome into your community! Great pics Ken L. Chamblin. Been across Ludlow bridge many times. Had an Engineer, when I was a young Conductor, get a separation on the bridge with no walkway. The Terminal Superintendent came out, we dragged cars to where he could get on, and then rode back made coupling, put us back together! Engineer then almost slung him off the car he was riding when we pulled ahead. Evidently someone on KY side pulled a cut lever on us as we were all bunched coming downhill. We were sitting at signal on west end of the bridge at CUT. Needless to say we called this Engineer Scrapiron cause he was rather rough at times haha.
[This is a case in point concerning vandals in Covington that I discussed with Ken concerning the above photos.]

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Southbound from Cincinnati towards Covington, the Ditch on the right, the Ohio River Bridge just ahead. All these signals you see are long gone now.

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CSX track coming out of Queensgate Terminal in the 1980s and looking at the Ditch on the left, a local track on the bottom and NS Bridge in the far distance.

Ken provided the following three photos as comments on his posting.

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I'm going to add a few more pics that I took this same day and just located. This one is just leaving Tower A and I'm on what is called the Highline.

2\Here I'm still on the Highline but the junction just ahead is CT Jct. which comes from the south end of Queensgate Yard, just south of Yard 2.

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This location has been removed as far as the name goes. Look hard to the left side and you might be able to make out the edge of a 2 story brick building. It was MD Cabin; on the right side the streep track is another view of the Conrail Ditch track, also removed today.

Bill Osborne posted
CSX bridge over the Ohio river, Cincinnati in the background. Taken from the I75 bridge