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| Steven J. Brown posted Chesapeake and Ohio 614 is at Saint Joseph, Michigan - June 21, 1981 at 5:51am. |
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Nick Kozlik posted two photos with the comment: "Not my pictures, but this is the swinging train bridge in my hometown, St. Joseph Michigan."
Mel Raya: Just checked out the area in Google Maps. I'm assuming boats are priority traffic in this corridor?
Nick Kozlik: Mel Raya yes.
Michael Moran: Mel Raya no. Boats and ships often have to wait on trains. Even the big freighters as seen here https://youtu.be/WGCOznfXKJI
I include the Lafarge facility because it captures that some large ships (actually, a cement barge and tugboat in this case) still go upstream of the bridge.
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| Michael Moran commented on Nick's post Always fun to watch a freighter come through the bridge. |
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| John Jaffee posted Bridge workers with ring side seats getting their own close up photos. John Skeeter Oliver: Back in the 50/60s when my dad sailed I can remember the bridge tenders coming out and saying Hi to the Captain and crew by name as they passed 😀, the good days. |
Jodi Smith Barnes posted three photos with the comment: "Historic Railroad Swing Bridge, St Joseph River, St Joseph, MI USA #mittenlove #puremichigan #awesomemitten #southwestmichigan #railroadswingbridge #stjosephmichigan @stjoetoday @pure_michigan_photography @purelakemichigan @puremichigan @puremittenpride @puremichiganders @puremittigan @awesomemitten @michiganawesome"
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| Stan Sienicki posted May 15, 2013 SS ALPENA arrives at St. Joe, MI. as a CSX local crosses the Swing span bridge. Tim Shanahan shared |
Andy Gras posted two photos with the comment: "Here is a couple of pictures of Chessie.s St Joe Michigan swing bridge in 1982. I am shooting from the north bank of the river. The 1st pic shows the bridge in the process of turning. I wanted a shot looking through down the middle, but it turned clockwise on me. So I had to do it again later from the south."
Andy Gras shared
Victor Kulich: I remembered the dude walking across the tracks to get to that little house on the bridge @ shift change, I don't believe they use that any longer & control the bridge from a control house on the south side. We would always wave at him from my Dad's boat when we went out on Lake Michigan to troll for salmon.
Tim Shanahan shared
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| Brian Caswell posted Another perspective as Q326 Rolls through St. Joseph Michigan on its way to Grand Rapids / April 2021 Roger Riblett shared |
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| 1 of 10 photos posted by Michael Moran Calumet is leaving while the G.L. Ostrander+Integrity is unloading at Lafarge North America. |
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| Joe Anstey posted, cropped Swing bridge at the mouth of the St. Joseph river in St. Joseph, Michigan built in 1904 and still in use. It's always been my dream job to run it. |
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| Michael Moran commented on Joe's post I live and work in St. Joe, so I have more pictures. Here is the bridge open with an approach shown |
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| Michael Moran commented on his commentBridge closed with Amtrak. |
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| Michael Moran commented on his comment
Bridge open looking down the track. The bridge tender shack is now the blue building to the right of the tracks. The bridge tender is no longer stationed on the bridge. In 2007 (while on active duty in the Coast Guard) I was dispatched to this bridge to investigate an allision (vessel striking a stationary object) after a commercial freighter got caught in the current and hit the wooden fender system pretty hard.
It gave me an opportunity to climb all over the bridge and to take photos, but unfortunately I didn’t get to keep any of the photos as they were “evidence” in a report no one ever read.
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| TJ Cullerton commented on Michael's comment I took these pictures of the bridge in between train movements in about '07. These are called Connelly Lifts and they connect the swing span rail to the land span rail. Certain limits have to met per FRA Rules in order to lock the bridge. |
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| TJ Cullerton commented on Michael's commentHere's a view from "The Coop," that little grey building you see on the side of the bridge. As Mike mentioned earlier, the operator is no longer stationed in the coop and is in a blue signal bungalow located to the South (West) of the bridge. |
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| TJ Cullerton commented on Joe's post |
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| TJ Cullerton commented on Joe's postWestbound on #1 track to the main. BNSF power, view from the coop. |
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| TJ Cullerton commented on Joe's post "Alpena" inbound to LaFarge dock. |
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| TJ Cullerton commented on Joe's postIt's a tight fit! Need a shoe horn and some dish soap to get er in there. Watch those fenders, please. |
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| TJ Cullerton commented on Joe's postAnother view from the flip side. |
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| TJ Cullerton commented on Joe's postHere's part of the old switching system used to line trains. Normal movement was West off #1 track to the main and East on #2 track main. |
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| TJ Cullerton posted CG MP 87.63 The CSX RR Swing Bridge on the St. Joseph River in St. Joseph, MI. I took this years ago when I was a Bridge Tender. Dave Mosier: Get paid to fish!! That's what I'd have done. 3rd trick best time to catfish. TJ Cullerton: Dave Mosier - frowned upon. I will say that when that bridge spins, the fish go wild. |
I include the Lafarge facility because it captures that some large ships (actually, a cement barge and tugboat in this case) still go upstream of the bridge.
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This bridge is evidently normally open because of a lot of recreational boat activity. Not only does the above Google view capture a small boat moving fast, a Bing view also shows a small boat moving upriver. And Tom's photo demonstrates a lot of recreational boat activity. I found several marinas upstream of this bridge and even a housing development where houses evidently have their own private piers.
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| Tom Carter posted A Chicago-bound CSX freight crosses the St. Joseph River swing bridge in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in June of 1998. Look at all the boats lined up to the left waiting for the bridge to return to its open position! The bridge was built in 1904 for the Pere Marquette Railroad, and is still operating perfectly after 114 years! [If that many boats have accumulated already, imagine how many there will be floating around after the train is done crossing the bridge. It is my experience that trains do not go very fast over a movable bridge.] |
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From Bridge Hunter Overall view in open position, from the northeast in a boat Photo taken by Roger Deschner in April 2016 License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA) |
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| One of some photos and a video posted by Matt McClure Perhaps stretching the geography of "Chicagoland" with photos of the former Pere Marquette 1904 through-truss center-swing bridge in St. Joseph, MI. Bridge is manned 24/7 during boating season. Operator is super-friendly. St. Joseph, MI on July 30, 2021. All photos and video by MKM. Additional details with each photo. [The videos are of a coal train pulled with BNSF power at 15mph. This detail of unlocking the rails is worthy of note.] |
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| Michael Moran posted Good morning everyone. This is in regard to reports the CSX Bridge possibly may be remotely operated in the future. There have been rumors and speculation about this. As many of you know, the bridgetender currently operates the bridge from a small control building located off of Vine Street, south of the bridge, along the railroad track. However, there is still an on-duty bridge operator or drawtender who is tasked with “local” operation of the bridge. The changes that are being rumored could place a remote operator covering several bridges in a centralized location miles away from the bridge itself. After emailing with the Coast Guard’s Bridge Office in Cleveland, I have found that CSX does not currently have a request in to alter the operations of the bridge. Obviously they can prepare and file one at any time, but there is not one right now. Any proposed changes are simply speculation and rumors until one is filed. Below is some information if you like reading things: 33 CFR 117.42 states “117.42 Remotely operated and automated drawbridges. (a) Upon written request by the owner of a drawbridge, the District Commander may authorize a drawbridge to operate under an automated system or from a remote location. (b) If the request is approved, a description of the full operation of the remotely operated or automated drawbridge will be added to subpart B of this part.” (subpart B lists any special requirements for each bridge opening. For example, you can see the opening schedule for the Blossomland and Bicentennial Bridges, the winter hours schedule, etc) Should they decide to remotely operate the bridge, they would need to prove that they are following the rules in this document: https://onlinepubs.trb.org/.../docs/NCHRP20-07Task424.pdf The process of getting a bridge to be remotely operated is quite complicated. It would require cameras on the water and the tracks, it would require a public address system to answer sound signals and address boaters, etc. Once the request is submitted, there is a long process before approval is granted. That includes a period of public comment, which allows for folks to speak out for or against the proposed changes. If CSX does reach that stage, I will provide a link and details where folks can comment. That information would also be found in the weekly Local Notice to Mariners and online for the Regulations docket. The most useful comments would be ones that include data, cite specific instances and details, or have other useful documentation as opposed to simply saying “This sounds like a great idea!” Or “I would rather not see this.” There is a lot more to what would be required and such, and I won’t delve into a step by step guide to the entire process that would need to be followed for approval, but I wanted to give folks an actual update with facts and information. -Mike |
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| Wendy Pitzl-Etheridge commented on Mike's post I hope the workers stay! I had a blast when I was at the river to take photos of the Great Republic. I watched the men on the train bridge work twice...one train going north...then not much later a train going south!! Utterly fascinated me. |
This is the post that motivated Michael's post above. As the first post about remoting the control, this post has a lot of comments. The comments include problems with the current operations.
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| Zach Pfeiffer posted So I'm hearing that the work being done on the train bridge is to make it remotely operated, as opposed to the controller being on the bridge itself. The controls will supposedly be done from CSX's Howell Yard in Evansville Indiana, 336 Miles away! That's all I know right now. Edit: Not on the bridge, but in the shack just south of it. Thanks for the corrections. |
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