 |
| Photo from HAER ORE,26-PORT,14--14 (CT) from or0291 GENERAL VIEW FROM BROADWAY BRIDGE TO THE NORTH |
The 1888 predecessor bridge:
 |
| Old Oregon Photos posted First Steel Bridge, Portland - circa 1888. This is Portland's first steel bridge, from a photo taken shortly after its completion in 1888. It was the first railroad bridge across the Willamette in Portland. Like the current Steel Bridge that replaced it in 1912, it was a two layer bridge, with railroad tracks on the lower level and pedestrians and carriages on the upper level. Unlike the current bridge, this one was a swing-span design, meaning the center section pivoted to allow river traffic to pass by. Note the shadow of the photographer in the lower right corner. George Alderson shared |
The 1912 Steel Bridge is significant for its vertical lift design. This is a double-decked bridge; the lower deck is a railroad deck while the upper deck is used for highway and light rail traffic. The two decks may be lifted at the same time, or the lower deck may be raised independently of the upper deck, telescoping into the latter. The Steel Bridge was the first bridge built with this independent lifting system and is the only one of this type existing in the United States today. This type of bridge was designed by J.A.L. Waddell, who engineered the South Halstead Street Bridge inChicago, Illinois, the first significant vertical lift bridge in the United States. [HAER-data]The bridge is normally 26' above low water. When the lower deck is raised, there is 72' of clearance. Raising both decks provides 139' of clearance. [HAER-data]
The first bridge built at this location in 1888 used steel as its main building material, the first such occurrence in Portland, thus the name the Steel Bridge, which remains on the modern bridge. The current Steel Bridge replaced that first one in 1912, and maintained the tradition of innovation in bridge design set by its predecessor. At the time of its opening, the 1912 Steel Bridge claimed to be the largest telescoping bridge in the world. The telescoping, two-stage lift action of the bridge still functions, allowing the lower rail-carrying deck to lift without disturbing traffic on the upper deck. For larger vessels, both decks can be raised, giving a maximum clearance of 163-ft. [Historic Bridges]The ABS Bridge also can raise the lower deck up into the upper deck, but the upper deck is fixed. This is the only bridge in the United States that can raise both decks.
 |
| Photo from HAER ORE,26-PORT,14--24 (CT) from or0291 |
 |
| Photo from HAER ORE,26-PORT,14--22 (CT) from or0291 |
 |
| Railway Review, p137 [This is a reminder that the reason lift bridges needed such tall towers at the interesting turn of the century is that sailing ships were still common. And we can see that tugboats that are travelling "light" need just the lower deck raised even though they are steam powered and have a tall smokestack.] |
 |
| Mark Mldr posted Chris Pontani I couldn’t get the concept of the independent double lift until I looked it up. |
 |
| LC-DIG-highsm- 51223 Credit line: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Carol M. Highsmith's photographs are in the public domain. |
 |
| LC-DIG-highsm- 51345 Credit line: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Carol M. Highsmith's photographs are in the public domain. |
 |
| Bridges Now and Then posted Portland, Oregon's Steel Bridge, Spring, 1998. (James Norman for HAER) Dave Porter: I’m not clear on what is happening with the middle section of the bridge? Is that raised or will it go higher when needed? Justin McDonald: Dave Porter it’s a double lift span. Lower is for railroad use only. It’s usually kept up for river traffic. Then together they both lift for big ships. I believe one of the only in the world. (At one time). Might be more now. It’s an amazing structure. |
 |
| Corin Wilder commented on the above post Home! 2024 |
Marcus Smith posted two photos with the comment: "Steel Bridge, Portland. The original in 1888 and the 'new' one in 1912 for which we have Henry Pittock to thank I think. The 'new' photo is only 15 - 20 years old. Second ever bridge over the Willamette and first multi-vehicle bridge."
Doug Wedul *Waddell & Harrington, were the designers/engineers. Out of KC, MO. 1912.
Thom Small shared.
Doug Wedul *Waddell & Harrington, were the designers/engineers. Out of KC, MO. 1912.
Thom Small shared.
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
 |
| Beill Neill shared a NOLA Rails post SP trein #2 the Cascade at Portland OR, 1964. Norm Anderson You can see the tower of Portland Union Station through the girders of the bridge. Some of the passengers are already gathering their belongings, preparing to detrain. |
 |
| Steven J. Brown posted Amtrak Coast Starlight #11 crosses the Willamette River on the Steel Bridge in Portland, Oregon - December 31, 2016. |
 |
| Marty Bernard posted this Flickr photo from an album of 11 photos in sequence The power consist was 4302 (SD9), 4434 (SD9), 3873 (GP9), 3846 (GP9), and 4382 (SD9). |
 |
| Drawing from HAER ORE,26-PORT,14- (sheet 1 of 3) from or0291 |
 |
| Drawing from HAER ORE,26-PORT,14- (sheet 2 of 3) from or0291 |
 |
| Drawing from HAER ORE,26-PORT,14- (sheet 3 of 3) from or0291 |
 |
| Railway Review, p138 [The sheaves for this bridge are 14' in diameter. Developing bearings that could hold the weight of the counterweights and half the spans was one of the major engineering issues Waddell had to solve when designing the lift bridge, for which he obtained the patents.] |
 |
| HeavyMovableStructures |
 |
| HeavyMovableStructures |
 |
| [Bridge Engineering by J. A. L. Waddell, Digitized by Google, p732] |
 |
| Charlie Easton posted
I think Steel Bridge in Portland is a worthy candidate for really awesome and fascinating railroad structures. While the lift bridge on my layout isn't a model, this bridge served as the inspiration. I needed a double deck rail bridge and this bridge had class 1 on the lower level and light rail and vehicular traffic on the top.
As I studied this I was amazed to discover that in the early 1900s when built, this bridge had some amazing design features, The lower deck can be raised independently of the upper deck for 72 vertical feet. Then for the really big ships, the whole thing can be lifted some 163 feet, Not bad for well over 100 years ago.
Dennis DeBruler The government has documented this bridge: http://loc.gov/pictures/item/or0291/ |
Historic Bridges had this reference of other Portland bridges included with this bridge. For now at least, I'm going to note it here.
 |
| or0316, this document has several more Portland bridge diagrams |
While I'm using these notes as a placeholder for Portland bridges, here is another overview of the bridges on a T-shirt that my daughter bought me the year she was a coach at Oregon State University.
 |
| 20190503 7975c |
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
 |
| Jim Taylor posted Came across this ugly scene. Paddlewheel towboat Jean, I'm sure somebody will remember the bridge, maybe even the incident, wonder about the wheelman? Richard Ackroyd: Steel Bridge. She had 2 stern wheels that operated independently from each other. Western Transportation Co. Portland OR. Willamette RiverDennis DeBruler Richard Ackroyd Thanks. It appears that a road deck has been added since that accident. |
 |
| safe_image for UP train derails on key Portland, Ore., bridge (updated) Ed Cobean: Stop putting empty lumber T cars ahead of any loads! RR 101! 🤦♂️🤦♂️that will prevent string lining!! "Steel Bridge is used by freight, light rail, Amtrak, vehicles...The derailment also meant the vertical lift portion of the bridge could not be raised, impacting ship traffic on the Willamette River." Keive Spare posted Matthew Kampa: Empty lumber cars again. They seem to cause lots of problems. [Another comment indicates that the long length of centerbeam cars aggravates the problem. This is evidently a popular curve for UP to stringline them on because someone thought this was an old photo.] |
Randall Perkinson Photography posted four photos with the comment:
Steel Bridge over the Willamette RiverPortland, Oregon, USAThis vertical lift bridge carries light rail, cars and trucks, and pedestrians on its upper deck and heavy rail and pedestrians on the lower deck. The lower deck can be raised by itself or it and the upper deck can both be raised at the same time to maximize clearance.
.jpg) |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
 |
| 3 |
 |
| 4 |
No comments:
Post a Comment