Joseph T. Wagner
You Spin Me Right Round
In 1870, building west from Roodhouse, IL to a location across the water know as "Quincy Junction," the St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad met the Louisiana and Missouri River Railroad, who had built east from Mexico, MO three years prior, here, on each of their respective sides of the Mighty Mississippi. Needing to join together, both railroads would ultimately break the barrier the river created between them, constructing a swing bridge here in 1873 that would link the end of the two routes together and allow for an eventual mainline connection between the major cities of East St. Louis and Kansas City. Shortly after, the StLJ&C would soon become fully absorbed by the Chicago & Alton Railroad in 1899, and as the years went by and the line saw its fair share of different owners, in 2001, the Kansas City Southern would fully dissolve the Gateway Western (GWWR), who last had the route from 1990 on, continuing to operate the tracks to this day. The year etched on the bridge's westernmost span reads 1898, a date from when this bridge was fully rebuilt by the Chicago & Alton using the original 1873 piers. Upon completion, it was the largest swing span of its kind in the world, although that stat didn't hold true for much time as it was quickly succeeded by other structural crossings over both this and the Missouri River.
In present day, making landfall onto the Missouri shore, KCS road freight MVNKC 15 navigates westward across the Mississippi's waters from Illinois by means of the over century old bridge's 2,054 feet of steel members, arranged in a mismatched combination of eight Pratt and Warren designs, culminated all into a 446' moveable swing span. Today's assigned pair of EMD SD70MACs exit the bridge and immediately lean into a sharp, right-handed curve as they slowly bring their 46-car train of KC-Knoche bound mixed traffic past the interlocking signal for a diamond with BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, soon entering the town of Louisiana. The aluminum shack located halfway across the swing span is still manned 24-hrs a day by a bridge tender, importantly tasked with spinning and locking the rails of this single track mainline in place for the safe passage of only a small handful of daily train movements that this far northern, back alley route of the KCS railroad system sees.
You Spin Me Right Round
In 1870, building west from Roodhouse, IL to a location across the water know as "Quincy Junction," the St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad met the Louisiana and Missouri River Railroad, who had built east from Mexico, MO three years prior, here, on each of their respective sides of the Mighty Mississippi. Needing to join together, both railroads would ultimately break the barrier the river created between them, constructing a swing bridge here in 1873 that would link the end of the two routes together and allow for an eventual mainline connection between the major cities of East St. Louis and Kansas City. Shortly after, the StLJ&C would soon become fully absorbed by the Chicago & Alton Railroad in 1899, and as the years went by and the line saw its fair share of different owners, in 2001, the Kansas City Southern would fully dissolve the Gateway Western (GWWR), who last had the route from 1990 on, continuing to operate the tracks to this day. The year etched on the bridge's westernmost span reads 1898, a date from when this bridge was fully rebuilt by the Chicago & Alton using the original 1873 piers. Upon completion, it was the largest swing span of its kind in the world, although that stat didn't hold true for much time as it was quickly succeeded by other structural crossings over both this and the Missouri River.
In present day, making landfall onto the Missouri shore, KCS road freight MVNKC 15 navigates westward across the Mississippi's waters from Illinois by means of the over century old bridge's 2,054 feet of steel members, arranged in a mismatched combination of eight Pratt and Warren designs, culminated all into a 446' moveable swing span. Today's assigned pair of EMD SD70MACs exit the bridge and immediately lean into a sharp, right-handed curve as they slowly bring their 46-car train of KC-Knoche bound mixed traffic past the interlocking signal for a diamond with BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, soon entering the town of Louisiana. The aluminum shack located halfway across the swing span is still manned 24-hrs a day by a bridge tender, importantly tasked with spinning and locking the rails of this single track mainline in place for the safe passage of only a small handful of daily train movements that this far northern, back alley route of the KCS railroad system sees.