Aban/Pennsy/WB&T Top Mill & Mount Wood Tunnels and Bridge over Wheeling Creek in Wheeling, WV

Top Mill, North Portal: (Satellite)

Top Mill, South Portal: (Satellite)

Mount Wood, North Portal: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

Mount Wood, South Portal: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

Bridge: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Flickr; Satellite)

WB&T = Wheeling Bridge & Terminal Railway [ArchivedBridgeHunter_bridge]

The route was built in 1888 and abandoned in 1982. [Archived Bridge Hunter County Index]

The bridge that was the namesake for the WB&T was probably the one over the Ohio River, not this one.

1956/58 Wheeling Quad @ 24,000

The 1994 topo map shows that the route was abandoned, but the Ohio River Bridge was still standing.

1994/98 Wheeling quad @ 24,000

But a 1994 satellite image shows the Ohio River Bridge is gone. I've noticed a trend that topo maps are quicker to add new things than to remove old things.

Google Earth, Mar 1994

Dave Kuntz Drone Photos posted photos with the comment: "The ground around the Mount Wood Tunnel in Wheeling WV is also being raised, hence you can look down on it from the landfill that will someday bury it."

[I presume this is the north portal because I can't imagine them building a landfill on McColloch Street. It appears they are filling the valley between Top Hill and Mount Wood with trash. Even though there was a ceiling collapse in the middle of this tunnel, people were talking about the WB&T becoming the Wheeling Heritage Trail. If they are covering the tunnel portal with trash, I presume they gave up on the trail.]

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The south portal of the Mount Wood Tunnel connects with the north end of the bridge.

2009 photo by Joshua Collins via BridgeHunter_mount_wood_south_portal

The south portal is in the trees on the left.

Street View, Jul 2019

Dave Kuntz Drone Photos posted five photos with the comment: "Look carefully - there is a tunnel at the edge of this bridge.  This structure in Wheeling WV goes straight into the Mount Wood tunnel in the left of the second photo but is so overgrown it can barely be seen."

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For the Mount Wood Tunnel, BridgeHunter_north_portal specifies a length of 537' (164m), but BridgeHunter_south_portal specifies 1203' (367m). I included the scale in this map excerpt that has all four tunnel portals labelled. The 1203' length looks more correct. Actually, 537' is probably the length of the Top Mill Tunnel.

Satellite

Photo via Bridge & Tunnels and BridgeHunter_mount_wood_north_portal
B&T specifies lengths of 1,226' and 587' with a reference to a plaque.

SteamPhotos has lengths of 1203' and 587'.

1925,1978 Carson St. and PC&Y(Pennsy+P&LE) Bridges over Chartiers Creek at McKees Rocks, PA

Carson: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter returns 403; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

PC&Y: (Archived Bridge Hunter is a mess; Bridge Hunter returns 403; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Pittsburgh, Chartiers and Youghiogheny Railways (PC&Y) was jointly owned by the Pennsylvania RR and Pittsburgh and Lake Erie RR. [Jim Donehoo comment via Dennis DeBruler]

The above described shared ownership of the railroad bridges explains the ArchivedBridgeHunter_PC&Y mess. I think there are six entries for the two bridges. It is hard to tell because I kept getting 429s and had to translate archived Google Maps links to real links. I think they have an entry for PC&Y, PL&E and Pennsy for each of the trusses. BridgeHunter being totally broke didn't help. Fortunately, HistoricBridges has entries for the road and railroad bridges.

The blue pony truss bridge is the road bridge and the dark through trusses are the railroad bridge.

Street View, Apr 2025

Two of the four tracks are still in service and are now owned by CSX.

Street View, Apr 2024

HistoricBridges_Carson
"The Carson Street Bridge was originally built as a pony truss, and in 1978 overhead bracing was added. The braces clearly look out of place and context on the structure, however, it is worth noting that imagining the bridge without those braces one realizes this was one tall pony truss. Given this information, the bridge could perhaps be viewed as a historically significant structure that pushed the limits of the truss bridge, building the largest possible pony truss. Clearly, these limits were pushed too far for the comfort of 1970s engineers."

Dave Kuntz Drone Photos posted five photos with the comment: "In McKees Rocks, PA, in sight of the Pittsburgh Skyline, Chartiers Creek dumps into the mighty Ohio River.  Here we see 4 tracks have been reduced to 2, leaving an entirely unused span sandwiched between the active tracks and a road bridge."

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Dennis DeBruler: That is a nice view of the NS/PRR Ohio Connecting Bridge.

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CN/D&TS and 1910+2015 NS/MC Bridges Brover Raisin River in Monroe, MI

D&TS: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

1910 Michigan Central: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges, this includes demolition photos.)

2015 NS: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

D&TS = Detroit and Toledo Shoreline

1910 MC Bridge

ArchivedBridgeHunter_1910

2015 NS Bridge

Street View, Jul 2016

CN/D&TS Bridge    The 1910 MC bridge is in the right background

BridgeHunter_CN

CN on the left and MC in the right background.

Matthew Pollzzie, Aug 2014

The NS Bridge is in the foreground, and the CN bridge is in the background. To the left of the light post in the distant background is the Monroe Power Plant.

Street View, Nov 2021

Street View, Jul 2015

The 1910 bridge was pin connected.

Street View, Jul 2014

CN Bridge

Chuck Hildebrandt posted
Monroe, MI

1912/12 Monroe Quad @ 62,500

1917+2002 Tomlinson and 1958+2015 I-95 Q Bridges over Quinnipiac River in New Haven, CT

2927 Tomlinson: (Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER)

2002 Tomlinson: (Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite, 76 photos)

Q: (no Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite, 227 photos) The formal name is Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge

Street View, Aug 2022
This lift bridge carries the Providence & Worcester Railroad as well as four lanes of traffic for US-1. 

Street View, Aug 2022

Street View, Oct 2016

This 2010 photo captured the previous i_95 Bridge.

Emporostheoros via Wikipedia

 

Gregory Grice posted
"CT-1 Crosses the Tomlinson Bridge"
On the afternoon of August 4th, 2024, Providence & Worcester's "CT-1", led by a trio of GEs, crosses the Tomlinson Bridge on the Belle Dock Branch in New Haven, Connecticut. Photo Link: https://flic.kr/p/2qh9Vu7

It took over a half-decade to lay track along the east side of the river so that the bridge track could be used. 40% of the bridge cost was to make it strong enough to carry rail traffic, and that cost was $40m. [nhregister]

ebay
"The original Tomlinson bascule-type drawbridge, along with central railroad tracks dating to 1917, had to be replaced after a runaway barge smashed into one of the old bridge's piers in 1995." [nhregister] 

Note in these photos that the center part of the span has no cables. It must be a suspended span so this bridge is also a cantilever bridge.

CDOT photo via asbi-assoc
"With a span of 515 feet [157m], the main span unit of the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge (PHMB) is the first extradosed cable-stayed bridge constructed in the United States, fully utilizing extradosed pre-stressed cable-stayed technology....The new bridge replaces the previous 1958 structure that was designed for 40,000 vehicles per day; adding critical capacity to accommodate the more than 140,000 vehicles per day."
It replaced a 6-lane bridge with 10 lanes and full shoulder widths.

wsp
The bridge opened Sep 19, 2015.

aecom
"The extradosed system is a hybrid design that is a marriage between a concrete cable stressed girder bridge and a cable stayed bridge. Extradosed type bridges have been successfully constructed in Europe and in the Far East, but the new Q-Bridge will be the first extradosed cable stayed bridge built in the U.S."

The 1917 and 1958 bridges

HAER CONN,5-NEWHA,54--4, cropped
4. View north, bridge partially raised - Tomlinson Bridge, Spanning Quinnipiac River at Forbes Street (U.S. Route 1), New Haven, New Haven County, CT

 

It looks like a trunnion bascule bridge rather than a rolling bascule bridge.

HAER CONN,5-NEWHA,54--14
14. View north of 1976 control house and western leaf in closed position 

HAER_grid

1915 NS/CP/D&H/WBCRR Gauntlet (Plains) Bridge over Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre, PA

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

WBCRR = Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad

The is railroad also cross the Susquehanna River on the other end of town with the Black Diamond Bridge.  But the building in the background in this photo makes me confidant that this is the Gauntlet Bridge.

Sebastian Segiel posted
NS #8005 and #9849 crossing the Susquehanna River
Raymond Bozek: 11Z-13
Erik Vince: Damn that river is still high

Hank Rogers Flickr

Wilkes-Barre Connecting RR bridge

A shot of The Gauntlet bridge, connecting Kingston and Wilkes-Barre, PA. Milepost 688 on CP's Sunbury Sub. The old Laurel Line bridge over Mill Creek can be seen as well, on the riverbank to the right of the bridge. March 30, 2013.

Sebastian Segiel posted
Norfolk Southern 1074 on her 'home' turf.

It has a long approach viaduct on the west side.

Street View, Dec 2022

ModelTrainForum, 1 of several photos

Note the concrete structure to the right of the middle of this photo. One set of tracks ended there. A comment on this photo speculates that a coal unloading trestle used to be here.

Street View, Apr 2012

This is a view of the east side of that concrete structure.

ViewOfTheBlue, 1 of several photos of the bridge. This webpage also has a history of the Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad. The WBCRR was a joint effort by D&H and Pennsy, which was incorporated in 1912. "The entire line of 6.641 miles was completed and placed in operation on March 29, 1915."

I could not find the location of this bridge, but the photo shows how high the river got during the Hurricane Agnes Flood.

The United States National Guard, “Wilkes-Barre, Pa - Military Helicopter Aerial Of Railroad Bridge Over The Susquehanna River And Hurricane Agnes Flood”. Wilkes University, Wilkes University - Hurricane Agnes Flood photographs, July 1970. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3A114929.

Photo from Frank's Photography Site via BridgeHunter

I don't think this photo is of this bridge. The piers are different and the truss is not on one side of the piers. The truss is line is very similar. Fortunately, I seldom encounter errors on Bridge Hunter. 

BridgeHutner