CGW Stone Arch

Mr. Manon's picture is lovely. I like seeing the bridge in the field free from surrounding crops.

Alright I see your point, I apologize about removing the category and shall leave it be. I suppose that is what Rail to Trail and Rail to Road are for if the structure was re-purposed anyway right?

Not really something I stress about but my thought on the railroad category is that the original purpose of the bridge is important. It may also aid some of our railfan visitors by helping them search. I suppose this question is similar to the different opinions on which rail to list--builder or current owner. Again, I think the origin of the structure in part defines it and is important enough to note.

Steve, your field work is nice, especially on this one.

Once a railroad bridge...always a railroad bridge.

Even if a rail bridge is re-purposed for pedestrian use it was still built as a rail bridge. I don't see anything wrong with having more than one usage category. There should be (if there isn't already) a category called "Re-purposed".

Steve, I agree completely. I am much more comfortable with adding information to a bridge as opposed to deleting information.

I've said my opinion, to me its still a railroad bridge. Do what you want. As a rule I don't feel right deleting things from others listings without consulting them. Adding is a different story.

Clark, this whole line I'll bet is filled with artifacts like this. I'm going to do more investigating in fall. You wouldn't even see this from a car the corn is too tall. I was on a motorcycle and just caught the top from the road.

If we need to add "Railroad" back in to those 400 bridges, then so be it. It is a small price to pay for accuracy. Please stop removing abandoned railroad bridges from this category. If I do a category search, I want ALL bridges that carried a railroad to appear, not just those that are active.

Climbed all over one of these as a kid in the 1970's.

Not sure if it's still there. You can see the seasonal waterway that it crossed, though. North side of Osage, Iowa

43.297339, -92.812760

Yet I agreed with several people that if we do add Railroad we would need to add them to all 400 or so Abandoned Railroad bridges that people removed the 'Railroad' category from because most were not in use. So for now in compliance with the rest of the site, Railroad is only used for active lines.

This abandoned segment runs from Byron to Dubuque through the Winston Tunnel in near Galena. I wonder how many of these "gems" are buried in the woods along this path.

So, you have to wonder: there's a larger creek bed to the NW a few hundred yards, obscured by trees. Another stone arch there or was this particular location special?

This abandoned segment runs from Byron to Dubuque through the Winston Tunnel in near Galena. I wonder how many of these "gems" are buried in the woods along this path.

Totally agree on the railroad. Once is always. The railroad embankment comes up to the bridge on both sides but tapers off 50-100 before the bridge. This area as a drainage ditch in the field and probably was creek bed before farming in that area. I was surprised how wide it is. There must have been multiple tracks across it. Its probably 60' wide. The hand stone work up close is amazing. Looks just like the stone arches in Dixon IL. same builder perhaps?

Ditto. Once a railroad bridge, always a railroad bridge.

Personally, I think that this bridge, as well as all abandoned railroad bridges should remain in the railroad category. That was, after all, its initial purpose.

It's a railroad bridge over an area that is now a farmer's field

I checked with the Flickr photo. It was taken from the northeast along that grassy patch. The tunnel like structure under the bridge seems to be the long axis of the bridge, running from northeast to southwest. It looks strange from the Google overhead photo. Pity they didn't have the 45-degree projection out here in the country.

Using Google Earth, there appears to be a railroad bed running from German Valley in the northwest to Byron, Ill. in the southwest. This roadbed appears to be at right angles to the axis of the bridge. The apparent roadbed runs through the nearby town of Egan, and is on the path of pictures from the Flickr site.

It was probably a rail bridge over a natural waterway in the field. The raised roadbed has now been levelled off.

I am somewhat confused about this bridge. Did the RR pass under this bridge from northwest to southeast? Was there a farm road over the RR?