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

Map 

Vicinity Map

Vicinity map

Map links:

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
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 

Thebes Bridge
Posted December 21, 2008, by Ken Steinhoff (ken [at] pbbt [dot] org)

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?

Thebes Bridge
Posted September 1, 2008, by Anonymous

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!

Thebes Bridge
Posted May 24, 2006, by Matthew Jones (drivalowrida [at] yahoo [dot] com)

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!

Thebes Bridge
Posted February 21, 2006, by Jamie Prater (jdprater1s [at] yahoo [dot] com)

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!!!