Abandoned NS - NYC Bridge No. 6
Description
The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (LS&MS) Railway bridges over the Calumet River are among four surviving examples of the “span-driven” vertical-lift type in Chicago. Built from patents developed in the early 20th century by the Kansas City-based engineering firm of Waddell and Harrington, this pair of parallel vertical-lift bridges are a dominating visual landmark to the surrounding area and were a popular alternative to the bascule bridge designs available to the railroads at that time.- Comission on Chicago Landmarks, Historic Chicago Railroad Bridges report
Facts
- Overview
- Abandoned warren through truss with all verticals bridge over Calumet River on former Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Ry (later New York Central RR)
- Location
- Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
- Status
- Abandoned prior to 1973
- History
- Built 1912-1915; currently out of use, stored in partially raised position
- Builders
- - Dravo Contracting Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Waddell & Harrington of Kansas City, Missouri
- Railroads
- - Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad (LS&MS)
- New York Central Railroad (NYC)
- Design
- Warren through truss with all verticals
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 210.0 ft.
- Also called
- PC - Calumet River Bridge
LSMS - Calumet River Bridge
Bridge No. 6
NYC - Calumet River Bridge
Conrail - Calumet River Bridge
Bridge #6 - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.71981, -87.54271 (decimal degrees)
41°43'11" N, 87°32'34" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/454857/4618809 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Lake Calumet
- Inventory number
- BH 50919 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- December 6, 2019: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- November 5, 2019: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- January 19, 2019: New photo from Douglas Butler
- January 18, 2016: New Street View added by Douglas Butler
- November 30, 2015: New Street View added by Douglas Butler
- September 25, 2012: Updated by Steve Conro: Added category "Navigable waterway"
- September 23, 2012: New photos from Steve Conro
- August 13, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category "Railroad"
- January 12, 2012: Added by Frank Hicks
Sources
- Frank Hicks
- Steve Conro - sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Douglas Butler
- Geoff Hubbs
Comments
I've been here several times - trains use it daily.
Not sure if it is true but I have heard a rumor from someone that works at Norfolk Southern's Colehour Yard(One mile due east from the bridges) that they MAY be given a new life carrying more train traffic with more main tracks being added. As of now that seems unlikely since freight has fallen but if I remember right supposedly all the Class I(UP,BNSF,CSX,CN,and,CP)railroads are supposed to help fund this project. As for the other Amtrak is supposedly going to use it for their line to try and shift their trains off the NS Chicago Line. Like I said I'm not sure if this is true but if it is we will see how it plays out
These bridges are really cool, esp. the abandoned ones.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/il/cook/bh50919/
Doubtful, seeing as the bridge this entry for is in the raised position with no tracks going to the bridge.