1909-1970s Lost/N&W/Virginia Bridge over New River in Glen Lyn, VA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

Technically, the label should not be rrNaW because this route was still the Virginia Railway in 1928. But rrNaW is much more informative than rrMisc. The N&W mainline used to go under the bridge and it is still intact.

The deck is 120' (37m) high and the bridge is 2,155' (657m) long. [TheTracksidePhotographer]

Doug Bess posted
This is my photo of the former Virginian Railway bridge over New River and the former Norfolk & Western at Glen Lyn, VA taken in the spring of 1968. Approximately four years later the bridge was removed due to the US 460 widening project. Only the concrete piers in the river remain today.
Jason Downard: Doug Bess do you have any pictures of the line between Glen Lyn and Kellysville before 460 was built?
Doug Bess: Jason Downard there is one on my blog. The link is https://wvrails.net/?p=1130 Also there is a photo of the VGN powerhouse at Narrows.
"The VGN was in existence for a short 50 years. The many impressive bridges and tunnels (mostly in West Virginia) enabled the VGN to provide a superior gradient for hauling coal especially over that of N&W’s parallel route between Kelleysville, WV (east of Bluefield,WV) to Roanoke, VA and on to Norfolk....The electrified portion of the railroad between Mullens and Roanoke was dismantled in the last half of 1962."
Jason Downard: Doug Bess what I was really wanting to know is if there was a tunnel between Glen Lyn and Kellysville where 460 is now... Hales Gap Tunnel?
Doug Bess: Jason Downard yes there was. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It was right behind me in the photo of the coal train.

Jason Downard commented on Doug's post
Ted Gregory posted

Giant Virginian Railway Electrics over

massive New River/ Glen Lyn (WV[VA]) Trestle.

Correction: This bridge was demolished in 1972

VGN EL2-B 126 wb

June 12 1956

R J Cook

Ted Gregory shared

Jason Downard commented on Doug's post
Collection of Tracy Walker, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)

 

Center for Railroad Photography & Art posted

Three Virginian-painted EL-Cs --230, 237, and 231 -- lead an eastbound Norfolk & Western coal train over the New River at Glen Lyn, Virginia, in December 1961. The Virginian had merged with the N&W in December 1959, and electrification would be shut down in June 1962. Photo by J. Parker Lamb (Lamb-01-091-03).

*For more of Lamb's photography, see comments for a link to the Center’s book.

Center for Railroad Photography & Art: See more of J. Parker Lamb’s outstanding railroad photography in the Center’s book: https://railphoto-art.org/lamb-book/

Robert Graham: The 12 VGN EL-C rectifier electrics, except for 1 converted by N&W to a road slug and 1 (235 got full N&W livery) remained in VGN livery until retired and sold to Hew Haven. The N&W renumbered the 12 by 100 and applied the road number to the cab side. VGN did not put road numbers on their locomotives, just using the number boards. So, seeing a road number on the cab definiteky marks this fine shot as an N&W-era x-VGN electric operation.

Curtis Tate: Only the concrete piers left. U.S. 460 was built on the grade.

Ron Flanary posted
This is a painting I did for the Bluefield chapter of the NRHS in 1984. They had limited edition prints made of it. At their request, the location was Glen Lyn, Va., where the former Virginian crossed New River as the N&W's main passed beneath. I worked from several different photos to include the necessary elements, particularly the Virginia jackshaft "square head" electrics (pulling "battleship" gons with six-wheel trucks). The N&W coal train was pulled by a Y6a 2-8-8-2 (I think they requested that specific locomotive). The old automobile was added because the gentleman who owned it (restored) offered to purchase the original painting from the NRHS group if I included it in the scene. I suppose it's okay, but I wouldn't have done it otherwise. The distant bridge is old US 460. The ultimate disposition of the former Virginian between Kellysville and Narrows is another topic for another day, but those tall bridge piers are still there today. The Appalachian Power coal-fired power plant closed several years ago.
Jason Jordan shared

Ed Painter posted four photos with the comment:

Glen Lyn, Virginia (on the West Virginia border) where we moved when I was 4 (1955) and lived until moving to Narrows, VA following my 4th grade year.  We lived in a Company house (a Sears Roebuck house) on the hill behind the plant.  The town was centered around Appalachian Power Co.'s Glen Lyn coal fired power plant where my Dad worked in management.   The plant had 6 units having been built in 1918 (4), 1944 (1), and 1957 (1).  The plant was shut down in 2014.  Glen Lyn was a grand place to live for a little boy that loved trains.  The town was literally surrounded by the N&W and Virginian Ry mainlines  (N&W steam that transitioned to diesel and the Electrified locomotives of the Virginian) and you couldn't leave town without crossing either one or both of them.  The mainlines were also very close to our house and right of ways made great areas play on and watch trains from .  Both mainlines served the plant.  The area was also truly beautiful.  At Glen Lyn the East River flows into the New River.  At Glen Lyn the New River Valley is surrounded by significantly high mountains deep within the Appalachians.  I enjoyed my time living there!

Randall Hampton shared with the comment: "Former crossing of N&W and Virginian."

1

2

3

4

Ted Gregory posted
A rare pre-electrification era shot of the Virginian Glen Lyn bridge from the N&W HS. This train meet will never be repeated. This masterpiece of a bridge was demo'd, along with several miles of VGN mainline as part of a project to make even more room for US 460 thru the Narrows in VA around 1972. That is a Virginian Rwy passenger train soaring over the New River and an N&W train. Note the cool raw material loads in the gons in the foreground.
Doug Bess: The former Virginian right of way was utilized either side of the New River bridge and sister bridge over East River for the US 460 widening. The bridges became isolated which is why they they were removed. Also Hales Gap Tunnel was filled in.
Rob Nichols: From the Google overheads it looks as if the westbound lanes of US 460 east of the former bridge must have been built on the original VGN right of way for several miles. It's a safe bet that at least half the ton miles hauled through that gap today use the highway, with the NS line getting the remainder.
Doug Bess: Rob Nichols it is the eastbound lanes of US 460 that were built on the former Virginian right of way as far as Narrows

eBook via Bridge Hunter

safe_image for Demise of the New River Bridge
[This includes a nice history of the VGN route.
The piers are 90' above water level and the rails are at 120'. The bridge is 2,155' long.]

The piers are still standing.

Satellite

Doug Bess commented on a post
Here is another view of the New River Bridge I took in 1968 looking eastbound. It was quite an impressive structure. I got word that the US 460 widening project would result in the removal of the bridge so I went with a railfan friend at the time to Glen Lyn, VA from the Charleston, WV area to photograph it.

Doug Bess commented on a post
not a good shot but here is a coal train going across the bridge at Glen Lyn, VA in 1968.
Ted Gregory: Wow that's awesome. 6 units!

Ted Gregory posted
What a sad difference 50 years makes.
Glen Lyn, VA
Ted Gregory posted

Then and now.

The massive Virginian Railway New River Trestle in Glen Lyn, VA.

The top pic is from the Collection of Tracy Walker. (way b4 my time)

The lower pic of the remnant piers is my pic from 7-27-2021.

Ted sent me his original photo

safe_image for Demise of the New river Bridge

Road Bridges over Great Egg Harbor at Beesleys Point, NJ

1928: (Bridge Hunter; see below for satellite)

1954: (Bridge Hunter; Satellite, eastern (northbound) lanes)

1973: (Bridge Hunter; Satellite, western (southbound) lanes)

2016: (no Bridge Hunter: see below for satellite)

Tom Ensman posted
NJ parkway over great egg harbor bay beesleys point NJ.
Ben Stalvey: 2250 and 4100 ringer

Satellite
This excerpt catches the removal of the 1928 bridge on the left and the construction of the 2016 bridge.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Tom's post

The new bridge was done by Oct 2016. It looks like they were still removing the 1928 bridge. The article indicates that the marine operations were extremely tide-dependent.

https://www.wagman.com/.../garden-state-parkway-over.../

[The new bridge was post-tensioned "in order to increase span lengths, reduce the number of piers, and provide for a wider, unobstructed channel."]

Google Earth, Feb 2013

1927 Guernsey Dam on the North Platte River near Guernsey, WY

(Satellite)

There is an HAER record. But its data file is just captions for the photos. The problem is that none of the photos have been digitized!  

WyoHistory
Guernsey Dam and spillway. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
"Guernsey Dam is a 135-foot-high, diaphragm-type embankment of sluiced clay, sand, and gravel....200 laborers were at the site at the mouth of the small canyon, using steam shovels to gather broken rock for the dam’s embankment. Trains hauled the material to the dam site and dumped it from trestles on each side of the embankment. Completed on July 13, 1927, Guernsey Dam stores water and also controls flow from other dams on the river."
[I wish I better understood where the sluiced material was placed in the dam. I've read that sluiced dams are now considered dangerous. Most of the article explains that Guernsey State Park was a pioneer development of recreation sites.]

The two-generator powerhouse with its surge tank is in the left background, its gatehouse is in the foreground, and I think the two gates in the right background control the input to the powerhouse.

Street View, May 2012

In the satellite image, there is no water flowing in the spillway. But in the street view below we can see they are releasing water in that spillway. That release would explain why we see a gap at the top of the counterweight stack in the above street view.

Street View, May 2012

US Bureau of Reclamation
Spillway Capacity At Elevation: 52,000 cfs at top of active conservation pool of 4420'.
Top of inactive conservation pool: 4370'
Crest Elevation: 4430'
Crest Length: 560'
Auxiliary Spillway: No [more on this later]
Hydraulic Height (Normal Operating Depth at Dam): 96'
Net Generation: 12,108,622 kWh.

Does net generation mean the total during its lifetime of 94 years? I think so because the installed capacity is low.

USBR-power
It was built with 4.8kw. During 1992-94 the generator windings were replaced to provide an installed capacity of 6.4kw. "Guernsey Power Plant is operated on a seasonal basis during the release of irrigation flows to satisfy downstream demands on the North Platte River in Wyoming and Nebraska."
Turbine Type: Francis   Rated head: 70'   Power Factor [Percentage of the year that it runs?] 26.1%
  "An emergency contract was awarded and completed in FY 2003 for stabilization of rock on the hillside above the power plant and transformer deck to prevent a potentially catastrophic rockslide that might have damaged the power plant and transformers and resulted in an oil spill into the North Platte River." 

USBR-production

USBR via NPS

USBR via NPS
The dam and powerhouse under construction. Bureau of Reclamation

USBR-data
* Reservoir is considered "full" when pool elevation is at top of active conservation pool. Percentage is based on total reservoir volume below that level.

This is the second dam I remember seeing with a "trench spillway." I saw the first, Sanford Dam in Texas, just a little over a month ago. I think that dam has the deep spillway because the watershed is in a desert. But the Rocky Mountains are not a desert. I also noticed that they do not specify an elevation for the top of a flood pool. And the conservation pool is within 10' of the crest. The above "triangle diagram" reinforces that there is no flood pool. The following diagram for the Keyhole Reservoir, WY, shows what the "triangle diagram" looks like for a dam that does have a flood pool.

USBR-keyhole

That would explain why Guernsey has a deep spillway with a big sluice gate at the opening. It needs to be able to release a maximum rain event rather than retain some of the water for flood control. And I have concluded that the structure in the satellite view below is the input to the hydropower plant. That means the dam can generate power only when the reservoir is full, which makes sense since it doesn't do flood control.

Satellite

You can tell this is a wilderness area because Global Earth doesn't have a lot of images of the dam. This one has the maximum flow in the spillway. It appears that they are releasing water even though the reservoir is not full. This confused me until I read that the outflow supplies water for irrigation. Obviously, irrigation would be higher power than a little power generation.

Global Earth, Aug 2009

Trail/WICT/IC 1887 Bridge over Sugar River in Belleville, WI and Stewart Tunnel

Bridge: (Bridge Hunter; John Marvig; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Tunnel: (Bridge Hunter; John Marvig; Satellite)

The ICG abandoned the line in 1985, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation decided the line was of critical importance.

The Wisconsin & Calumet was contracted to operated the line, and continued with moderate success until 1993, when the tracks were embargoed.

Between 1993 and 1999, the line was used for motor car enthusiasts, with hope of returned freight service.

This service would never return, and the tracks were removed in 1999, and the state of Wisconsin and Stephenson County purchased the line.

In Wisconsin, the line is currently the Badger State Trail, which heads directly into Madison. One short stub of the old line remains in Madison.

In Illinois, the Jane Addams Trail uses the line between Freeport and the State Line.

09/04/18

[JohnMarvig]

Greg Mross posted
Ex-IC bridge in Belleville, WI, now a really nice bike trail. Even has a tunnel!
[Note the dimensional stone abutment.]

Tim Shannahan shared

I was going to pass on a pin-connected truss until I noticed it was an Illinois Central bridge. This was on an IC branch that went from Freeport, IL, to Madison, WI. 

Street View

John Marvig states that Wisconsin had nine tunnels at one time. That is because tunnels were common in the Driftless Area. The Driftless Area was left untouched by the latest glacier. So some big hills remain because they did not get sliced off by the glacier.

Photo taken by wikipedia user WISkies, License: Public domain: Released by author
[Parts of the tunnel are bare cut limestone.]

1984 Bong Bridge at Duluth, MN

(Bridge Hunter; John A. Weeks III; Satellite) Richard I. Bong Bridge

The information concerning the C Reiss Coal Dock has been moved to here.

The information concerning the BNSF/NP Grassy Point Bridge has been moved to here.

The date of 1985 that is in a lot of sources seems to be a copy of a typo in a Duluth News Tribune article. I'm going with the Oct 25, 2984 date. [Search for the comment by "Eric Holst" below.]

Street View

Street View

Theresa Kautz posted

Cason J. Callaway, passing under the Bong Bridge on her way to the C. Reiss Dock in West Duluth.

6.17.19

Photo By: Theresa Kautz

John Weeks
"The Richard I. Bong Bridge is the longest bridge with at least one end touching the State of Minnesota. In Wisconsin, the Daniel Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee is longer, which makes the Bong Bridge be the second longest bridge with at least one end landing in Wisconsin....With approaches, the total elevated span is approximately 11,800 feet."

John Weeks
"The Bong Bridge is named after WWII hero Richard Ira Bong. Bong lived in nearby Poplar, Wisconsin. He flew the P-38 Lightning fighter plane in the Pacific Theater. He was allowed to retire from combat flying when he broke the record of 26 kills. He later found his way back in combat, and was again pulled from the combat theater after his 40th kill. The military was afraid that Bong was becoming a target, and they didn't want to risk losing their Ace of Aces. Bong relocated to southern California to begin training on jet aircraft. Bong died on August 6, 1945, when his P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter crashed. Some people find it ironic that while Bong fought against the Japanese, and there was a major steel mill located within sight distance of the Bong Bridge, the steel for the arch span of Bong's namesake bridge was imported from Japan."

 

David Schauer posted

No Name...

Quite possibly the consist of the year backs toward their limestone train at No Name Creek in West Duluth this afternoon. Duluth, MN - October 25, 2024

Dennis DeBruler: This is the best photo I have seen for capturing the length of the Bong Bridge.

And this shows the length even more emphatically. 

Sara Safa posted
The Richard I. Bong Bridge carrying U.S. Highway 2 from Duluth, Minnesota to Superior.

James Kolar

It's curved so the tallest part (the center pan) is over the shipping channel, at its deepest point. And, the photo is reversed.

Also, curved because of where the existing interchanges could be built on each side of the border

Corrected

Aaron De Baiso posted
60 degree weather has produced a magnificent Sunday afternoon of weather in the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior.  The 1912 Grassy Point Swing Bridge and the 1985 Bong Bridge embraced the rich afternoon sunshine along with a Canadian Pacific transfer train.  As seen in the bottom right hand corner, a CP transfer train has just completed a transit across the Grassy Point Bridge and is making a turn to head northeast to Rice's Point Yard in Duluth.  Sunday, May 3rd, 2026.

NewsTribuneAttic
[This is the first time I've seen a tied arch built in place. Generally, I've seen them built offshore and then floated into place. But I wonder if this one would have been built in place even now because it is 120' up in the air. And it appears the St. Louis River is wide and shallow here. So the falsework piers would be relatively cheap.
Unfortunately, the traffic that motivated this bridge in the 1960s dried up soon after this bridge was built because the industries disappeared. [John Weeks]]
Bridges Now and Then posted
The Bong Bridge under construction between Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, 1982. (News Tribune file photo)
James Torgeson: [Richard Bong was] the top US ace from WW2, with 40 kills! There's a great museum in Superior that celebrates his life, and it includes a P-38. He was from nearby Poplar, WI.
James Simms: James Torgeson He & Tommy McGuire (McGuire AFB) were neck & neck competing until McGuire was KIA January 1945. Richard Bong was to have an AFB named for him, but construction had barely started when it was cancelled. It’s now a Nature Preserve.

 

The smoke stack in the middle background is the Hibbard Renewable Energy Center. The steam to the left of the arch is coming from a paper mill. It is good to see a paper mill that is still operating.

I like this view of the bridge.

David Schauer posted
The James R. Barker has been at the SMET/MERC coal dock in Superior for an extended period with its bow raised, similar to its status when at the port terminal a few days ago. This was from yesterday and when I drove past this morning her bow was still riding high but the shiploader was in a lowered position but not loading. Gus image. 1/2/2022
John West: Bow thruster issues.
[They are in a race to fix the thruster because the Soo Locks close Jan 15.]

David Schauer posted
There is so much to see in this aerial of the Superior-Duluth harbor. My guess is 1983 given the Bong Bridge is under construction (opened in Oct 1984) and CRH cement silo (opened in 1983). A saltie is loading at Elevator M in the lower left while the elevator on the adjacent dock is being torn down. Lots of older lakers still occupying various slips before being scrapped. Enjoy this Friday Basgen flashback. Basgen Photography
Dave Mikelson: I'd say 1983. Barker's Island Inn is open but not Bong bridge (opened in 1984) still has a way to go.
David Schauer: Dave Mikelson I read the Bong opened in 1985?
Eric Holst: Dave Mikelson I think you're right about 1984. There are two dates published by the Duluth News Tribune about the opening of the Bong Bridge - October 25th, 1984 and October 25th, 1985. My gut says that 1984 is the correct date, and that 1985 is a typo from a more recent article that got propagated to wikipedia and other sources. This is a good history page from the DNT: https://newstribuneattic.wordpress.com/.../a-history-of.../

Chris Mazzella posted
Michigan Trader/Dirk Vanenkevort passing through the Grass Point Bridge after unloading stone at the Reiss Coal Dock in West Duluth.

Digitally Zoomed

David Schauer commented on Dave's comment
I'm going to change it to 1983 based on this shot I made in March 1983. Fits the progress on the Bong.

NewsTribuneAttic
Bong Bridge under construction between Duluth and Superior, 1982 (News Tribune file photo)
"The Bong Bridge extends about 8,395 feet from one side of the St. Louis River to the other — 425 feet longer than the Blatnik Bridge. It’s about 11,800 feet long when approaches are included; in comparison, the Golden Gate Bridge is 8,981 feet long, approaches included. The Bong Bridge gives a clearance of about 120 feet for ships passing beneath the center span....As of 2013, the bridge was seeing an average of about 15,000 vehicles a day."