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TP&W - Chatsworth Bridge

Livingston County, Illinois

Photos 

The site is about a 1/2 mile beyond and to the left of the sign

Photo taken by Steve Conro in December 2012

Enlarge

BH Photo #244802

Map 

Description 

This otherwise unremarkable bridge over a culvert was the site of one of the worst railway disasters in U.S. history. Just before midnight on August 10, 1887 a special passenger train from Niagara Falls was headed eastbound. Unbeknownst to the train crew the bridge had caught fire and had been substantially weakened. The first of the two engines made it across but the second engine and the train did not, with the wooden passenger cars being badly telescoped. Over 80 people were killed and over 150 were injured.

Facts 

Overview
Lost Timber stringer bridge over Unnamed creek on Toledo Peoria & Western Railroad
Location
Livingston County, Illinois
Status
Collapsed
History
Site of the Chatsworth Bridge Disaster, 10 August 1887, 81 people killed
Railroad
- Toledo, Peoria, & Western Railroad (TPW)
Design
Timber stringer now just a culvert
Also called
Chatsworth Railroad Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.75583, -88.24318   (decimal degrees)
40°45'21" N, 88°14'35" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/395060/4512395 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Piper City
Inventory number
BH 51126 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Beam (15,814)
Collapsed (394)
Illinois (4,688)
Livingston County, Illinois (105)
Lost (25,021)
Lost 1887 (7)
Lost during 1880s (75)
Railroad (15,612)
Timber stringer (4,031)
Toledo, Peoria, & Western Railroad (29)

Update Log 

  • December 19, 2012: New photos from Steve Conro
  • January 29, 2012: Added by Frank Hicks

Sources 

Comments 

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