Saturday, March 14, 2026

1882-1960s Pennsy Tuttletown Bridge over Allegheny River that was engulfed by Kinzua Dam

(Satellite, see Images "w" and "ac" below.)

30 of the 55 images posted by Bob Schmid with the comment:
The "Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge", that was also years ago referred to as the "Tuttletown Bridge" that carried the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks over the Allegheny River.
Construction was completed for this 4 span steel Railroad Bridge over the Allegheny River, back in March of 1882.  This 4 span RR bridge  was 600 feet long, with each of the 4 spans measuring 150 feet in length.
   Due to a big Railroad Train Wreck on the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, that is also known as the "Tuttletown Bridge", over the Allegheny River, that occurred on Tuesday, March 10, 1908, which is when the 4th(and last RR bridge span that was located on the eastern side of the Allegheny River) was smashed and crumbled into the river along with the RR tracks from this last span. This is the reason when you do see photographs of this RR bridge, it only has 3 spans on it.  "Tuttletown Bridge” was at one time located in the tiny community named Tuttletown, Pa., a slight distance from the community named “Big Bend”, which is where the sharp curve in the Allegheny River was at.
 Back in March of 1882, when this RR bridge was completed, the railroad line that was in service using this railroad bridge, was the "Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western" from Warren, Pa. to Salamanca, NY.  It later became the Pennsylvania Railroad that was in use, till it ended its Final Run on October 22, 1960. At that point, is when this railroad tracks & this particular railroad bridge, were then used in conjunction of the construction of the Kinzua Dam Project, used in hauling in landfill, gravel, machinery, equipment, supplies & materials to the Dam Site. This old Railroad bridge that spanned the Allegheny River for all of those years, was torn down in March of 1966, after the construction of the Kinzua Dam was completed.
[The images also included a lot of newspaper clippings that I did not copy. You can click the "posted" link to access them.]
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[I see gusset plates in this photo. Most bridges in 1882 would still be pin connected.]

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By overlaying the 1966 map over the 1941 map with about 40% transparency, we can see the black line of the Pennsy bridge & tracks and the light blue extent of the Kinzua Lake.
1941/41 Kinzua @ 62,500 overlaid by 40% transparent 1966/68 Cornplanter Bridge @ 24,000

Friday, March 13, 2026

1970 810mw Little Goose Lock and Dam and Lake Bryan on Snake River near nothing in WA

(Satellite)

USACE
The dam "is 3,200 feet [975m] long with an effective height of about 100 feet [30m]. It is a concrete gravity dam with an earthfill abutment embankment."

USACE_article
This USACE page specifies a length of 2,655' (809m) and a height of 149' (45m).
The powerhouse has six units of 135mw each. The hydraulic capacity is 130kcfs, and the spillway capacity is 850kcfs.
"In 2015, more than 1.9 million tons of cargo passed through the Little Goose lock."

USACE_photo, cropped
"The dam is 2,655 feet long with an effective height of about 100 feet. It is located on the Snake River near Starbuck, Wash., and upstream of Lake West, the reservoir formed by Lower Monumental Dam. It is a concrete gravity dam with an earthfill abutment embankment. It includes a navigation lock and eight-bay spillway 512 feet long, which has eight 50 feet by 60 feet tainter gates."

Union Canal Lock #47 northwest of Reading, PA

(Satellite)

ReadingEagle
"Daniel Roe, historic resource supervisor for the Berks County Parks and Recreation Department, looks over the completed stonework rehabilitation at Lock 47 along the Union Canal Towpath. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)"

ReadingEagle, BILL UHRICH - READING EAGLE
The lock was restored in 1976. I could not find a date for this article about its rehabilitation.

ReadingEagle, Courtesy of Berks County Parks
"The original restoration of Lock 47 occurred in 1976. Crews work on the large, wooden lock gates. (Courtesy of Berks County Parks)"

ReadingEagle, BILL UHRICH - READING EAGLE
"The wooden lock gates had deteriorated by early 2020."
The removed the vegitation and reset some of the large stones. They did not have enough money for the project to build new wood gates.

esreading
This page has a date of Oct 24, 2023. A major part of the rehabilitation was relocating the wildlife that lived in and near the lock. There were many turtles in the area.

This video was made before the rehabilitation work was done.
Facebook Reel


Thursday, March 12, 2026

1896 Rude Bridge over Wheeling Creek in Marshall Country, WV

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; B&T; Satellite)

HistoricBridges
"The bridge is noteworthy for its slight skew, which is uncommon among pin-connected highway truss bridges."

Bridges & Tunnels by Sherman Cahal posted 11 photos with the comment:
These photos, supplied by the West Virginia Department of Transportation, document the Rude Bridge in 2013.
The Whipple trapezoidal (double-intersection Pratt) through truss was erected by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company in 1896. Although it underwent several alterations and repairs over the years, the structure retained much of its historic integrity. Its deteriorated structural condition ultimately necessitated replacement.
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The next available image is Oct 2019, and the replacement concrete slab bridge is done.
Google Maps, Oct 2017

The Oct 2019 Goggle Earth image shows this replacement bridge.
Satellite