Thebes Bridge
Photos
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Overview |
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Side view of one span |
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Pier in river |
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View of Missouri side |
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Train crosses the bridge |
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View from Route 3 roadside park |
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Easternmost concrete arch |
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Westbound train crosses arch |
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Close-up of underside of arch |
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Heading west The world's largest operating steam locomotive crosses Thebes Bridge on Jan. 22, 2004, on its way to the Super Bowl in Houston as part of a Union Pacific promotional tour |
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Approaching the main span |
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Steam cloud on Missouri side |
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East portal This photo taken Mar. 2004 by Brian Frierdich |
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Train Crossing Thebes Bridge Train crossing Westbound over Thebes Bridge into Missouri. Photo taken by David B. Haun in May 2008 |
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Train crossing Thebes Bridge Train crossing Thebes bridge Westbound into Missouri. Photo taken by David B. Haun in May 2008 |
Facts
- Overview
- Cantilevered through truss railroad bridge over the Mississippi River at Thebes
- Status
- Open to railroad traffic on two tracks
- History
- Built 1905 by a consortium of five railroad companies
- Builder
- - Ralph Modjeski
- Design
- Cantilevered through truss
- Dimensions
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Length of largest span: 671.0 ft.
Total length: 2,750.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +37.21649, -89.46682 (decimal degrees)
37°12'59" N, 89°28'01" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/281117/4121739 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Thebes
- Inventory numbers
- IL 002-9910 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 15016 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Average daily traffic (as of 2007)
- 50
Update Log
- June 4, 2008: New photos from David B. Haun
- July 13, 2005: Posted photo from Brian Frierdich showing the east portal
Sources
- Brian Frierdich - railtrekker [at] yahoo [dot] com
- David B. Haun - dbhaun [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
As the cub reporter fresh out of high school, I ended up writing an awful lot of obits for The Southeast Missourian.
One, in particular, stuck out in my mind. The singular most exciting thing in this woman's life was that she was on the first train to cross the Thebes RR bridge. I thought it was sad that that was the high point of her life.
What does it say about the arc of my life and career that I would remember that woman four decades later?
One night about nine years ago a friend and I had walked out on this bridge and were greeted by the Thebes cop when we walked back to my car. He threatend to arrest us but only gave us a ticket to appear in Alexander County court later that month. Anyway, we got out of going to court and I never tresspassed onto railroad property again. The Thebes bridge is massive and will last another 100 years!
I remember my family partying on a sandbar near this bridge quite a few years ago. My father and I walked by the river, underneath the bridge, and found a hammer which must have been lost during construction. I drove to Thebes today to visit my grandfather's grave, and went by the bridge. There wasn't a chance of me driving past the Union Pacific "no trespassing" signs, but that was close enough, anyway. Thank you for the pics!
Hello, I am a 29 year old female that was born and raised in Thebes IL. As a child , I loved to watch the trains pass by and I wondered where they were headed. I am surprised to see that the old bride is still standing. It looks really unsafe, and I was warned to never get too close when I was still living there. The photos brought back many memories of walking underneath the bridge toward Rock Springs. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!!!