Rating:
4 votes

NWP - Wingo Lift Bridge

Sonoma County, California
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Photos 

Wingo Drawbridge

Photo taken by Craig Philpott in April 2013

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Map 

Description 

This Scherzer rolling lift bridge was built across Sonoma Creek near the San Pablo Bay. (The slough is only a couple feet deep and dwindles rapidly upstreeam of the bridge, so I'm not sure why they bothered with a lift bridge.) This brigde is manually raised by pulling a chain. Nautical charts still list it as openable and hand chalked dates on the counterweight suggest it was opened as recently at 2007.

Facts 

Overview
Pony/through plate girder bridge over Slough feeding San Pablo Bay on Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP)
Location
Sonoma County, California
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1920 by the Toledo Bridge & Crane Co
Builder
- Toledo Bridge & Crane Co. of Toledo, Ohio
Railroad
- Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP)
Design
Scherzer rolling lift bridge with a plate girder span. Due to its small size, it is raised and lowered manually by pulling a chain. The deck is planked so that it can be used by cars as well as trains.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 62.0 ft.
Total length: 270.0 ft.
Deck width: 16.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+38.20971, -122.42794   (decimal degrees)
38°12'35" N, 122°25'41" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
10/550082/4229238 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Sears Point
Elevation
5 ft. above sea level
Inventory number
BH 55124 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Bascule (1,018)
Beam (11,614)
Built 1920 (893)
Built during 1920s (8,693)
California (2,300)
Girder (7,791)
Movable (2,688)
Northwestern Pacific Railroad (32)
One-lane traffic (7,410)
 Open (36,164)
Owned by railroad (9,672)
Plate girder (5,988)
Sonoma County, California (77)
Span length 50-75 feet (8,810)
Through girder (2,884)
Timber stringer (3,307)
Toledo Bridge & Crane Co. (5)
Total length 250-500 feet (4,547)

Update Log 

  • June 23, 2013: New photos from Craig Philpott
  • April 17, 2013: Updated by Craig Philpott: added photos, updated description
  • January 4, 2013: Updated by Jann Mayer: Added categories "Northwestern Pacific Railroad", "One-lane traffic", "Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co."

Sources 

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Comments 

Wingo Lift Bridge
Posted April 21, 2013, by Craig Philpott (cphilpott [at] puc [dot] edu)

@ Jann, it turns out that Millerick Rd is open and legal, past the Larsen family winery and down to a locked gate in the vineyards with a small parking lot. It is then a mile plus hike across to the bridge. I met one local at the time of my visit who had driven in from the West on the private entrance road. Yes, I have know of this bridge for several years and figured i would never find a way to approach the location. One of my current favorite unusual locations.

Wingo Lift Bridge
Posted April 19, 2013, by Jann Mayer (jannmayer [at] gmail [dot] com)

Great photos, Craig! How did you get to the bridge - I wasn't sure if any of those roads were open to the public?

Wingo Lift Bridge
Posted April 18, 2013, by Mike Goff (michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This certainly is an interesting find Craig, Good Work!

Wingo Lift Bridge
Posted April 17, 2013, by Craig Philpott (cphilpott [at] puc [dot] edu)

A fully manual operate lift bridge on active railroad.