1905(Page Design!)+1933 3rd Street (Lefty O'Doul) Bridges over China Basin in San Francisco, CA

1905: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter)

1933:  (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Boat View, Nov 2014

1905 Page Design Bridge

BridgeHunter_1905
"A bascule bridge is a Page type designed by John W Page he worked with Shnable and Strauss on Trunnion bascule bridges, few of the types were constructed."

The Page design was indeed rare. Because the Monon Bridge was illegally scrapped, the GM&O Bridge is the only one left in the USA.

BridgeHunter_1905 and Bridges Now and Then posted
Looking south at San Francisco's Third Street Bridge, September 17, 1921. (Horace Chaffee, photographer/SF Department of Public Works)

1938 Straus Heel Trunnion Bridge

Street View, Mar 2025

lll

Bridges Now and Then posted
San Francisco's Third Street Bridge, May 6, 1933. (OpenSFHistory)

Kenneth Dotson commented on the above post
Working great for 92 years and counting. Not even affected by the '89 quake.

Kenneth Dotson commented on the above post

2018 Photo by Geoff Hubbs from AT&T Park via BridgeHunter_1933

HistoricBridges
"This particular example is unusual because it has a roadway that not only occupies the space between truss lines, but also has a roadway that is cantilevered out from the western truss line."

sfpublicworks

When I saw the Santa Fe sign, I checked out the railroad activity in this area. SP was on the northwest side, and Santa Fe was on the southeast side.

1950/50 San Francisco North @ 24,000

But when this bridge was built, it did accommodate steam locomotives. Note that the cantilevered road was added later.

 BridgeHunter_1933, Credit San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library
Bridge opening May 12, 1933

1915 NS/NYC/LS&MS Bridge over Portage River at Port Clinton, OH

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, May 2024

Craig Hensley Photography posted

Scenes from the Railroad. This railroad bridge in Port Clinton was on my list of cool things to check out on my way back from Vermilion. I figured some afternoon sun would be ideal and it sure did look good with the Lake Erie in the background. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side, and I didn’t managed to see any trains at this cool spot. Still, it’s a neat location that I’ll have to revisit at another time. 

Port Clinton, OH - March 2025

Dennis DeBruler: Historic Bridges, https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=ohio/portclintonrr/, explains why there are plate girders on the sides of the movable span. There used to be four tracks on the embankment.

Keith Conte commented on Craig's post
What a cool picture and vantage point of the "Jacknife Bridge" as we locals call it. I look at this bridge every day from my shop on the other side of the river (Lakecraft Corporation). I was fortunate enough in 2022 to have the opportunity to fabricate some weldments and do some machining work on the locking pin mechanisms. We also machined countless adapter parts for the upgrade to the lift motors and gear reducers. The original 1913 motors were replaced with "modern" refurbished motors from the 1960s, since nothing on the current market even comes close to working in this antique bridge. Grabbed this picture one of the many trips up there during the project. It was definitely one of the most unique, once-in-a-lifetime jobs ever. The original equipment lasted over 100 years, so it stands to reason the newly installed 1960s stuff will outlast me. They sure don't build stuff the way they used to.

HistoricBridges

Please read Historic Bridges as to why the movable span is so wide. We can see the plate girders he describes in Craig's photo.

Satellite

1917 Pennsy and Reading SOC Bridges over Darby Creek at Essington, PA

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

SOC = Strauss Overhead Counterweight Bridge

Street View, Oct 2018

"Significance: "Because Pennsylvania has few low-lying areas, the Darby River Bridge is one of a limited number of movable railroad structures in the state, and even more rare as an overhead-counterweight bascule bridge." [HAER_data]

HAER PA,23-EDDY,1--1
1. View looking south-southeast by 160 degrees, toward Delaware River. Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge in foreground, Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge behind. - Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad, Darby River Bridge, Spanning Darby Creek, South of Essington Avenue (State Route 291), Eddystone, Delaware County, PA

HAER PA,23-EDDY,1--2
2. View looking due east along Pennsylvania railroad, with bascule spans raised.

HAER PA,23-EDDY,1--3
3. View looking due east along Pennsylvania Railroad, showing underside of bascule leaf. Note that reduction gears and pinion operate rack mounted to bottom of girders.

Digitally Zoomed

HAER PA,23-EDDY,1--4
4. Perspective view, looking north-northwest at Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge.

HAER PA,23-EDDY,1--5
5. Perspective view showing counterweights of both bridges and operator's house for Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, looking southwest by 230 degrees. 

HAER PA,23-EDDY,1--6
6. Detail view, looking north-northwest, showing underside of counterweight and main trunnion bearing for bascule leaf of Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge.

HAER PA,23-EDDY,1--7
7. Elevation view, looking south-southwest, showing bascule leaf, counterweight, and operator's house for Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge. 

Jonathan Konopka posted on Aug 28, 2022
These are the Darby Creek Railroad Bridges in Greater Philadelphia, PA.  They are a pair of bascule bridges that were built in 1917 and carry former PRR railroad lines over Darby Creek.  Photo is courtesy of HistoricBridges.org.
[Actually, the northern bridge carried the Reading Railroad.]

I got another Historic Bridges photo since Elaine Deutsch caught the Pennsy bridge in the closed position on Nov 3, 2014. Since there is more boat traffic than train traffic here, most photos catch the Pennsy bridge in the open position. Conrail abandoned the Reading route east of Eddystone, so that bridge is always up.

Photo via HistoricBridges (link at the top of the page)

Pennsy was north of Reading at Ridley Creek, but south of Reading at Darby Creek. 

1953/55 Bridgeport Quad @ 24,000

8th of 26 photos in B&T (link at the top of the page)

B&T (link at the top of the page), this webpage has a nice history as well as 26 overview photos.

Since the Reading bridge was abandoned soon after Conrail was formed in 1976, it still has its original interlocking machine and signaling pipelines. (The Pennsy bridge was converted to remote control in 2005.) The position-light blog has a lot of photos of the details of the Reading signaling equipment including these three photos.

a
The interlocking frame.

b
The guts of the interlocking frame.

c
Signalling pipelines controlling the rail locks.

Abandoned posted five photos with the comment:

The Darby Creek Bridges consist of two bascule spans crossing Darby Creek near Chester, Pennsylvania. Built in 1917, one bridge carried the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad (later the Reading Company) on its Philadelphia & Chester Branch, while the other served the Pennsylvania Railroad's Chester & Philadelphia Branch.

Today, one bridge remains in use by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway. The other was abandoned in 1976 following the formation of Conrail.

🔖 History + photos: https://abandonedonline.net/location/darby-creek-bridges/

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Joe Brown posted five photos with the comment:

Known by the locals as fat Man's bridge 

In the 90s people used to jump off of it 

I think more recently people are just soft.lol or smart .

Delaware County Pennsylvania

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A nice view of the closer overhead weight.

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NYNH&H Bridge over North River in Marshfield, MA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

NYNH&H = New York, New Haven & Hartford

Douglas Butler posted on Nov 14, 2022
From books.google.com NH Railroad Strauss Overhead Counterweight Bascule Bridge is removed in Marshfield, MA crossing the North River.

Douglas Butler posted
Source of Railway Gazette: NYNH&H RR Strauss Overhead Counterweight Trunnion Bascule Bridge in Marshfield, MA crossing the North River was removed.

Amtrak Bush River SUC Bridge at Perryman, MD

(Archived Bridge Hunter was broke, no Historic Bridges; Satellite, 61 photos)

SUC = Strauss Underneath Counterweight

 

Douglas Butler posted
This Railroad Bascule Bridge is a Strauss Type located in Perryman, MD crossing the Bush River used by Amtrak and Northeast Corridor source: Tidal Fish.

Douglas Butler: Dennis DeBruler This is a Strauss Underneath Counterweight Bascule Bridge with a curved rack.

Douglas commented on his post
The Bridge in the Lowered position

Douglas commented on his post
This is the Patent of this bridge

1912-1955 SP+PE Strauss Bascule Bridge over West Basin in San Pedro, Los Angeles, CA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite, there has been a lot of landfill. See topo below.)

PE = Pacific Electric, one of the tracks was electrified.

Metro Library and Archive Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) via BridgeHunter

PERy Car 315 Southbound At San Pedro

July 14, 1953

Photographer: Alan Weeks

This is the West Basin Bascule Draw Bridge. A few years after this picture was taken the draw bridge was raised to let a ship pass through. For some unknown reason a ship rammed the side where the Bridge was hinged. It was never lowered again until years later when it was cut up for scrap. So from that time until the end of passenger service in 1958 service to San Pedro could only reach San Pedro via the longer West Basin line. Making the trip approximately 8-10 minutes longer.

Metro Library and Archive Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) via BridgeHunter

Bascule Bridge

This photograph depicts Pacific Electric Railway Company's car no. 1602 on the Bascule Bridge heading towards San Pedro, circa 1945.

Metro Library and Archive Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) via BridgeHunter
PE - Bascule Bridge, Wilmington MTA_0906

Metro Library and Archive Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) via BridgeHunter

PE - Bascule Bridge, Wilmington MTA_0905

PE - Bascule Bridge, Wilmington. San Pedro via Dominguez Line. Bridge built in 1911. Southern Pacific bascule bridge in "up" position. Looking north. One track was electrified & used by PE cars to reach San Pedro. Hit & damaged in 1955. Until the end of the San Pedro rail service (12/7/1958) used West Basin route between Wilmington and San Pedro. c. 1940s.

eBook

Douglas Butler posted
From ebay.com Pacific Electric Railroad Strauss Heel Trunnion Bascule Bridge in San Pedro, CA crossing the West Basin is similar to the B&O Calumet River South Chicago bridge fabricated by the King Bridge Co.

lll

Douglas Butler posted
Uknown source: PE West Basin Railroad Strauss Heel Trunnion Bascule Bridge is located in San Pedro, CA was removed in 1955.

I included the detour route around the West Basin as well.

1951/53 Torrence and San Pedro Quads @ 24,000