1913 Amtrak/Pennsy Bridge over Gunpowder River at Chase, MD

(Archive Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite)

Pennsy's Northeast Corridor had some long bridges. I already knew about the Havre de Grace Bridge over the Susquehanna River. The Gunpowder River has an even bigger mouth at the Chesapeake Bay. Like the Havre de Grace Bridge, plans are being made to replace this bridge.

 

This 4,853' (1.5km, 0.9 mile) long bridge was designed by Gustave Lindenthal and built by Strauss Bascule Bridge using concrete girder spans. [ArchivedBridgeHunter]

Concrete girders must have been a bleeding edge design in the 1910s.

HAER MD,4-BALT,147-
Gunpowder River Bridge. Harewood, Baltimore Co., MD. Sec. 1201, MP 78.86. - Northeast Railroad Corridor, Amtrak route between District of Columbia/Maryland state line & Maryland/Delaware state line, Baltimore, Baltimore (Independent City), MD Photos from Survey HAER MD-45

HAER MD,4-BALT,147-
Gunpowder River Bridge. Harewood, Baltimore Co., MD. Sec. 1201, MP 78.86.

The draw span has been removed so the vertical and horizontal clearances are now 12' (3.7m) and 15' (4.6m), respectively. [WaterwayGuide]

HAER MD,4-BALT,147-
Gunpowder River Bridge drawspan. Harewood, Baltimore Co., MD. Sec. 1201, MP 78.86.

Doug Lilly posted

Future Disaster Scene 

A southbound Amtrak train lead by AEM7 936 crosses the Gunpowder River at Chase, Maryland on April 26, 1986. In just over eight months, this quiet location would become nationally known thanks to a pothead named Ricky Gates.

Doug Lilly shared

Wikipedia

"On January 4, 1987, two trains collided on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor main line near Chase, Maryland, United States, at Gunpow Interlocking. Amtrak train 94, the Colonial, (now part of the Northeast Regional) traveling north from Washington, D.C., to Boston, crashed at over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) into a set of Conrail locomotives running light (without freight cars) which had fouled the mainline. Fourteen passengers on the Amtrak train died, as well as the Amtrak engineer and lounge car attendant. 

The Conrail locomotive crew failed to stop at the signals before Gunpow Interlocking, and it was determined that the accident would have been avoided had they done so. Additionally, they tested positive for cannabis. The engineer served four years in a Maryland prison for his role in the crash. [report]"

AmtrakNewEra
The replacement bridge will increase the speed limit from 125mph to 145mph or higher.

Terwillegar Park Footbridge over North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, AB

(Satellite)

A stressed ribbon bridge is a very shallow suspension bridge because the suspension cables are built into the deck. The bridge abutments have to handle a large lateral force.

Tanweer Malik posted four photos with the comment: "A stressed ribbon pedestrian bridge over North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Canada. This is world’s second longest stress ribbon bridge (262 m)."

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Adam

1908 Milwaukee Blacktail Trestle and #11 (Pipestone Pass, the summit), #12 & #13 Tunnels

#11: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite: West Portal, East Portal) Pipestone Pass Tunnel, this is the summit at the Continental Divide.  Length: 2290' (698m)

Trestle: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

#12: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite, the trail is a dashed line.) Blacktail #1 Tunnel  Length: 1171' (357m)

#13: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite: North (TC West) Portal, South (TC East) Portal) Blacktail #2 Tunnel  Length: ?

The girders across the towers are as thick as those between the towers.

Street View, Aug 2019

Trestle are common in the West, so I quit noting every one I saw. But the two generations of electric locomotives are worth noting since John made it easy to location the trestle.

John Harker posted three images with the comment: "George Horna captured this Milw west bound extra on the Blacktail Viaduct near Penfield, Montana on May 25, 1973.  Penfield was a Milw location just west of Pipestone Pass.  The Blacktail Viaduct bridged Blacktail Creek and Roosevelt Drive.  Two Joes were up front with box cabs following.  It looks like the pans were down on what I can see of the box cabs.  As an extra would this be a “dead” or non-time sensitive freight?  Attached for reference are a 1970 track chart and a 1963 topo map segment of the area.  I scanned and edited this image from an original Kodak process Kodachrome slide.  John Harker collection."

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#11, Pipestone Pass Tunnel

 

Kjmoss1 from BridgeHunter from Wikipedia, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

#13, Blacktail #2 Tunnel

 

montanatom50 photo from BridgeHunter from Flickr

The Trestle and the Three Tunnels

I got my own topo map excerpt to include Tunnel #13 in the upper-left corner.

1963/66 Homestake and Pipestone Pass Quads @ 24,000

1972 CN/GM&O Bridge over Kaskaskia River near Baldwin, IL

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2023

Of the street views that were available, this was the lowest river level that I could find.

Street View, Oct 2021

Christopher Bodkin posted 20 photos with the comment: "Drone photography of the GM&O (now CN) bridge over the Kaskaskia River at Baldwin, IL April 6, 2025."

Jeff Shook: How many trains run on this line?

Scott Nauert: Jeff Shook Tuesday & Friday L588 on this end.

Christopher Bodkin: L588 which services Kaskaskia Dock #2 just past the western approach. Hence why CN still utilizes this bridge.

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Looking towards Red Bud and the end of track

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Looking south towards highway 154

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Looking south

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Looking south, towards highway 154

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East approach

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West approach

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Again looking towards Red Bud at the west approach

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Looking east towards Sparta at the east approach

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Looking north

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Looking north

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Looking at the west approach

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Looking at the east approach

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Looking at the top of the span

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Another look at the top of the span and west approach

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Another look at the top of the span and east approach

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Looking at the east approach towards Sparta

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Looking at the west approach towards Red Bud and end of track

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POV as a NB train would see

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POV as a NB train would see

1940 Delmarva Central/NS/Pennsy Bridge over Pocomoke Riverat Pocomoke City, MD and Cassatt Tower

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2023

A tree is hiding the open swing span.

Street View, Jun 2023

Al Tillotson posted four photos with the comment:

Still standing - former PRR CASSATT tower overlooks the Pocomoke River movable bridge in Pocomoke City MD, trackage now operated by Delmarva Central RR.

Views from Tuesday afternoon April 1, 2025.  Train is DCR’s SE-2 returning north to Seaford DE.

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2018 photo by Timothy and Joann Phillips via BridgeHunter

1950s Gross Dam and its Expansion

(Satellite)

Mary Lahmann, Apr 2020

anderson amaya, Sep 2020

Oliver Novi, Oct 2020

R B, Feb 2018

CivilGEO Inc. Software posted, Photo courtesy Denver Water

Judge Halts $531M Gross Dam Expansion in Colorado

A federal judge has ordered a stop to Denver Water’s $531M Gross Dam expansion, citing improper permitting by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. With the project 60% complete, the ruling threatens water security for 1.5M people and underscores the growing challenges of building critical infrastructure amid environmental litigation.

Read more: https://www.enr.com/.../59980-judge-halts-construction-on... [the link took me to a different article]

DenverWater
When the dam was designed in the 1950s, it was designed to have additional phases of added capacity. They are now implementing those plans for expansion. "The project will raise the height of the existing dam by 131 feet [40m]. This will almost triple Gross Reservoir’s capacity, from approximately 42,000 acre-feet to 119,000 acre-feet."