WLE = Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway
Evidently it is called Benwood instead of Bellaire because B&O had their yard on the Benwood, WV side. Also, the state line is on the Ohio side of the river, so most of the truss work is in West Virginia.
Note the "ramps" on the upstream side of the piers to breakup ice flows.
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| Photo from HAER WVA,26-BEN,1--1 from wv0122 |
Hetitage Oho posted two photos with the comment:
Congratulations to Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society on their recognition at the Dec 12, 2023 Appalachian Heritage Lunch event.We're grateful to AEP Ohio for their event sponsorship.The Great Stone ViaductFor over 150 years, stone arches have welcomed visitors to Bellaire, in Belmont County. Last October, the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society transformed a 20-arch section of the Great Stone Viaduct into a public walking trail, plaza, and overlook that provides access over the old Baltimore and Ohio railroad line. This project cost $2 million, in which the society was awarded Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation. The Great Stone Viaduct was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Not only does this preserve a part of American history, it attracts more tourists which increases economic success for local businesses. Having the trail also provides a better quality of life for the residents of Belmont County. The society is also working on constructing a four-acre park on the northern end of the viaduct.
Daniel Frizzi shared
I saved a copy of the satellite images because of the nice shadows. I labeled these notes with bridgeArch as well as bridgeTruss because of the 1871 stone arch approach on the Bellaire, OH side. You can get a close look at sandstone arches without getting your feet wet. The route that used this approach has been abandoned.
Dave Kuntz posted four photos with the comment: "Unstoppable: Seems like every time I post a bridge, someone says it's the one from the movie Unstoppable. This time they would be right. This is the B & O Railroad Viaduct in Bellaire, OH. The bridge itself is still in service but the magnificent stone arch wye is now a short walking trail and viewing platform."
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| Satellite |
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| Satellite |
Wheeling and Lake Erie now has the former B&O assets in Bellaire, OH. If you look at a Google Photo, you can see the piers of the truss bridge are tall. This was probably not done for shipping but to maintain a level route from one river bank to the other. To maintain a level route, a viaduct had to carry the track across Bellaire, which is down in the river valley. (Update: I'm wrong about the shipping requirement. A Jul 14, 1862, Act of Congress required a vertical clearance of 90' over the low water mark. [AbandonedOnline])
[Several comments discuss the Unstoppable movie. The bridge played the "Stanton Curve" in the move.]
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| Elmi Yati posted A view of a train coming across the train bridge in Bellaire Ohio during the 50'& 60's. |
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| Mike Czeck commented Elmi's post The Great Stone Viaduct is a cool place to visit. |
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| Street View |
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| Street View |
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| C Hanchey, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) |
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| Carl Venzke posted Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Benwood Bridge, Benwood, Marshall County, WV Historic American Engineering Record c1968 John Slowikowski Also made Hollywood famous in the movie Unstoppable |
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| John Weber posted Driving from Minnesota along the Ohio River and came across this cool viaduct in Belaire Ohio. Lots of old trestles cross the Ohio River. |
Donald Burden posted six photos of that viaduct with the comment:
Baltimore & Ohio's Great Stone Viaduct at Bellaire, Ohio. Built 1867-70, this sandstone structure contains 43 arches on the Ohio side of the river. Each arch ring contains 37 stones, representing the 37 states that, at that time, comprised the U.S. The eastern half remains active, but the tracks have been removed from the western half. Worth an inspection if you find yourself in the area.The track curing north from the viaduct is still used, so that is why the eastern half is used. The track curving south is abandoned, so that is why the western half is unused. Fortunately, the bridge is still used.
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| Railroad Images of Bygone Days posted [A Google Map search for Belair offers Bellaire.] |
Steam engines bring out the railfans and they stand shoulder-to-shoulder at the good spots.
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| Matt Glumac posted Baltimore & Ohio EM-1 class 2-8-8-4 #674 in Bellaire, OH on May 24th, 1957. Its last year of operation. It was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1945 as #7624. In 1957, #7624 was renumbered #674. The locomotive operated until it was retired in the summer of 1957 and was scrapped. (C) Robert F. Collins Nicholas Clemens: The “Stanton Curve” viaduct from Unstoppable! Nick Bittner shared Martin Perry: An EM-1 was supposed to have been preserved but was scrapped by mistake. Tom Donne shared |
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| Aj Haines commented on Nick's share |
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| Charlie Easton posted I've shared this photo I took a few years ago on Abandoned Rails and a couple other sites. But it does represent a Fascinating Railroad Structure in my mind. B&O Viaduct, Bellaire OH. (Think "Unstoppable") [Facebooked] |
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| Charlie Easton posted One of my favorite shots. Sometimes you work to compose the shot. Sometimes, (like this one) you lean out the car window and snap away! Haha. But I have always been enthralled with stone viaducts. Charlie Easton  Bellaire. To the left was the tank farm in Unstoppable. All cg.Charlie Easton posted One of my favorite photos. Bellaire viaduct. Think “Unstoppable”. Not sure if I posted this before but I’m ok with a repeat. Author Aaron Grace , I think I've got the Bellaire history right. B&O came through. Central Ohio (later absorbed by B&O) went from Bellaire to Columbus. Pennsylvania came in later and shared the Ohio River crossing. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Charlie's post HAER: http://loc.gov/pictures/item/WV0122/ |
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| Robert Oxley posted Nice old pick some one posted locally here in Bellaire from 1957. I was born in 58. Robert Oxley This the span that parts of the 2010 film Unstoppable was shot on. |
The trusses we see today are from a reconstruction completed in 1905.
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| Plate XII |
I learned while studying the RR bridge at Metropolis, IL that the river men wanted a 700' navigation channel. The War Department wanted that width here, which would have required a 730' truss. The War Department would probably have agreed to the span of 589.48' that was obtainable by removing pier 11 and lengthening piers 10 and 12 per Fig 1. That option would have cost $253,500 (1905 dollars) more than using the existing masonry.
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| Fig 1 |
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| Fig 2 |
- neither the War Department nor the shipping interests would help with the extra cost
- the railroad was already running heavier locomotives and freight cars on both sides of the river and their investment in the other spans was currently being wasted
- a July 14, 1862 Act of Congress approved the current pier locations
the railroad built trusses using the existing piers.
I wonder if this 300' navigation channel is now the skinniest on the Ohio River. The locks on the river have the standard width of 110'. It would seem that two-way traffic is still possible even with a narrow primary channel because the adjacent span was charted to be at least 220' wide.
I wonder if this 300' navigation channel is now the skinniest on the Ohio River. The locks on the river have the standard width of 110'. It would seem that two-way traffic is still possible even with a narrow primary channel because the adjacent span was charted to be at least 220' wide.
They were allowed to use falsework under Span 12, but not under Span 11. So they built Span 11 as a cantilever span. Span 12 was designed to handle the stresses of being a dead-load shore arm for Span 11 during construction as well as a live-load simple truss after construction. After the falsework was constructed under Span 12, the old span was removed and the live-load was carried by the falsework. This kept vibrations out of Span 12 and the west half of Span 11 during construction. Span 10 was not strong enough to function as a shore arm. So they built an additional truss on the outside of Span 10 to function as the shore arm. The weight of Span 12 was more than enough to offset the weight of half of Span 11. But the temporary shore arm truss around Span 10 too light, so they added counterweights to the Pier 9 end of the temporary truss.
The top cord of the old Span 11 truss was used to hold a 40-ton traveler. Before the traveler lifted members from a barge below, they would lock it down in a strong position on the old truss. Even so, they had to add temporary wooden braces to ensure that strains in the old truss members did not exceed 16,000 lb. per sq. in. I added red rectangles to the construction figure below to highlight the tie bars that were added between the top cords of the trusses so that the shore arms could hold up their halves of Span 11 until the halves were joined in the center. The new Span 11 was built around the old span so that only a dead load was supported during construction.
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| Plate XIV plus Paint |
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| Helen Custer Millhouse posted |
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| Charlie Easton posted The skills and engineering of 150 years ago never cease to amaze me. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Charlie's post I'll bite. Is this part of the Great Stone Viaduct in Bellaire, OH? https://goo.gl/maps/d9bxRCuFQMNd2aCx7 Charlie Easton: Dennis DeBruler Good spot. |
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| Craig Myers posted First time there. Benwood to Bellaire bridge. |
Obviously, the above photo was taken down by Guernsey Street.
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| Street View, Jun 2023 |
Traveling around Ohio posted four photos with the comment: "This amazing railroad viaduct from 1871 is still standing in Bellaire, Ohio."
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| safe_image for 35:44 video Great Stone Viaduct Plaza & Trail Dedication [I didn't watch the video. The fact that it is opened as a trail is all of the information I need.] |
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