First Cairo Railroad Bridge

Photos 

Book photo: Overview

This photo comes from George S. Morison's 1892 book, "The Cairo Bridge"

Photo archived by the Historic American Engineering Record

Map 

Facts 

Overview

Lost through and deck truss bridge over the Ohio River carrying the Illinois Central Railroad in Cairo

Location

Cairo, Alexander County, Illinois, and Ballard County, Kentucky

Status

Replaced by the current bridge, reusing many of the piers in the process

History

Built 1889 under engineer George S. Morison; replaced 1949-52

Builders

- Alfred Noble of Stockholm, Sweden
- E.L. Corthell
- George S. Morison of New Bedford, Massachusetts
- Union Bridge Co.

Design

From Illinois to Kentucky:
One Pratt deck truss span, 106 ft.
Seventeen Pratt deck truss spans, each 150 ft.
Two pin-connected, 17-panel Whipple through truss spans, each 518.5 ft.
Seven Whipple through truss spans, each 400 ft.
Three Pratt deck truss spans, each 249 ft.
Twenty-one Pratt deck truss spans, each 150 ft.
One Pratt deck truss span, 106 ft.

Dimensions

Length of largest span: 518.5 ft.
Total length: 20,461.0 ft. (3.9 mi.)

Also called

The Grandest Bridge in the World

Approximate latitude, longitude

+37.02302, -89.17532   (decimal degrees)
37°01'23" N, 89°10'31" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")

Approximate UTM coordinates

16/306493/4099639 (zone/easting/northing)

USGS topographic map

Cairo

Inventory number

BH 15012 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Update Log 

• February 21, 2014: New photo from Mark Frazier
• March 13, 2006: Posted new photos

Sources 

• HAER IL-36 - Cairo Railroad Bridge
• HAER NE-2 - (Behemoths: The Great River Bridges of George S. Morison)
• Mark Frazier - mfrazier [at] kc [dot] rr [dot] com

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