Industrial History: First all steel bridge in world: 1879 C&A Bridge over Missouri River in Glasgow, MO

1900: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; John Marvig; Satellite)

C&A = Chicago and Alton Railroad, which became the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio. KCS owns it now, but the had several corporate owners between GM&O and KCS. And CN now wishes that ICG never got rid of it.

kchistory has a nice photo of the bridge.

HABS MO,45-GLASG,4A--1
Photocopy of photograph made ca. 1880: GENERAL VIEW - Chicago & Alton Railway Bridge, Glasgow, Howard County, MO
HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION
The following information was recorded by Alexander Piaget and Charles van Ravenswaay at the time the photograph was taken: Built 1878-1879, this was the first all-steel railway bridge in the world. Built under the supervision of General William Sooy Smith. Destroyed 1922.

"A swing bridge of steel was erected in Chicago in the same year." (The Kinzie Street Bridge documented by Historic Bridges is a replacement bridge.)

Photo by John Marvig via Bridge Hunter

The replacement bridge is now owned by KCS. The shortline Gateway Western Railway used to own it. GW bought it from Chicago, Missouri & Western when it went bankrupt. I knew CM&W bought the GM&O route from Chicago to St. Louis when ICG was dumping most of its trackage in the 1980s. And MoPac bought that segment when CM&W went bankrupt. Now I have insight as to what was west of St. Louis.

Street View

Falsework was built to hold a travelling gantry that obviously helped convert the bridge one span at a time.

1879 Bridge Hunter

This was the post that motivated my research.

LongView HD Photo Restoration posted
Circa 1880 photo showing the Glasgow-Chicago and Alton Railroad Bridge over the Missouri River between Howard County, Missouri and Saline County, Missouri. The bridge, built in 1878, was first all-steel bridge in the world. In 1900 it was rebuilt with Parker truss spans and is still in use. Photo by J.C. Macurdy. Restoration by LongView HD. Repository: The State Historical Society of Missouri Photograph Collection.

LongView HD Photo Restoration shared

Robert Daly posted four photos with the comment: "The former Alton/GM&O bridge over the Mississippi at Louisiana MO, April 12 2013. Illinois is to the the left in the distant photos so I hope this is appropriate for this site!"

Rob Meyer: CSX [I presume it is really KCS.] Runs to Roodhouse, IL from Louisiana, MO.

Todd Pendleton: KCS Roodhouse Subdivision.

Robert Daly: The river was approaching flood stage at the time.

1, cropped

1 of 11 photos posted by Ted Hazelton
This is in Glasgow, Missouri along State Highway 240. The Kansas City Southern Railway operates over it today, but on the ends of the bridge in metal lattice work, is a C&A. (Chicago & Alton Railway) Also, a "Western Gateway" is painted on it as well.
Ted Hazelton shared
Fred Rick: C&A, GM&O, ICG, C&MW, GW and now to be part of the CP? That ole bridge has been around for a good while.
Virginia A Jenner: This is on the Bloomington - Kansas City route that Canadian National is demanding the STB require that the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern have this line sold to CN. HA!