Burnt Bridge
UP 7032 is on point of Union Pacific Train MSLAS-26 as they pull tonnage out of Union Pacific's Lesperance Street Yard in South St. Louis bound for Alton and Southern's Gateway Yard in East St. Louis. The train is navigating the trackage that makes up the Poplar Street Wye, and passes under the burnt out remains of the Crunden Martin MFG. Company bridge that once served as an employee walkway between buildings in the complex.
Early on the morning of November 28, 2025 a massive inferno broke out in the mostly abandoned complex. It took over 200 firefighters hours to gain control of the 5 alarm blaze. This complex was constructed in the early part of the 20th Century during the height of St. Louis's industrial power in United States. But now all that history is nothing but a charred skeleton of 6 story buildings, shattered bricks, broken glass, and twisted steel.
While severely burned this is the second fire the famous bridge at this complex has mostly survived. The building on the left of the frame had burned previously but the bridge didn't suffer any major cosmetic damage. This most recent fire caused much more extensive damage, both structurally and cosmetically. There's obvious burn damage to the bridge its self and the bridge has a noticeable sag in the middle, but somehow the bridge remains connected between the two buildings. The signage also survived likely due to it being made of porcelain or some other fire resistant material. Who knows how much longer this entire complex and the bridge will stay in this state of destruction before it's inevitably demolished the rest of the way.
This entire complex was the rumored center piece to a multi million dollar revitalization project that aimed to bring more life down to this part of St. Louis and the area just south of the Gateway Arch. Needless to say those plans have been put on hold for a while. And I'm pretty sure it's going to be a while before anyone leases any office or warehouse space in this area, if ever again.
Burnt Bridge
UP 7032 is on point of Union Pacific Train MSLAS-26 as they pull tonnage out of Union Pacific's Lesperance Street Yard in South St. Louis bound for Alton and Southern's Gateway Yard in East St. Louis. The train is navigating the trackage that makes up the Poplar Street Wye, and passes under the burnt out remains of the Crunden Martin MFG. Company bridge that once served as an employee walkway between buildings in the complex.
Early on the morning of November 28, 2025 a massive inferno broke out in the mostly abandoned complex. It took over 200 firefighters hours to gain control of the 5 alarm blaze. This complex was constructed in the early part of the 20th Century during the height of St. Louis's industrial power in United States. But now all that history is nothing but a charred skeleton of 6 story buildings, shattered bricks, broken glass, and twisted steel.
While severely burned this is the second fire the famous bridge at this complex has mostly survived. The building on the left of the frame had burned previously but the bridge didn't suffer any major cosmetic damage. This most recent fire caused much more extensive damage, both structurally and cosmetically. There's obvious burn damage to the bridge its self and the bridge has a noticeable sag in the middle, but somehow the bridge remains connected between the two buildings. The signage also survived likely due to it being made of porcelain or some other fire resistant material. Who knows how much longer this entire complex and the bridge will stay in this state of destruction before it's inevitably demolished the rest of the way.
This entire complex was the rumored center piece to a multi million dollar revitalization project that aimed to bring more life down to this part of St. Louis and the area just south of the Gateway Arch. Needless to say those plans have been put on hold for a while. And I'm pretty sure it's going to be a while before anyone leases any office or warehouse space in this area, if ever again.