Conrail - Sidney Branch Bridge
Description
This small (but heavily built) pony plate girder is a remnant from a long abandoned rail corridor. This line was built as part of the "Shelbyville and Columbus Railroad" in 1853. Later part of the "Jeffersonville Madison and Indianapolis", and "Pennsylvania Railroad" empire. Line connected to "Rushville & Shelbyville RR" which connected to Pennsylvania 'Panhandle' main line at Cambridge City or, after 1910 Dublin, Indiana. It was abandoned in 1977.Facts
- Overview
- Abandoned pony/through plate girder bridge over Sidney Branch Flatrock River on Former railroad
- Location
- Bartholomew County, Indiana
- Status
- Abandoned
- History
- Abandoned 1977
- Railroads
- - Conrail (CR)
- Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad (JMI)
- Penn Central Railroad (PC)
- Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR)
- Shelbyville & Columbus Railroad
- Design
- Pony/through plate girder
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.33386, -85.84262 (decimal degrees)
39°20'02" N, 85°50'33" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/599747/4354465 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Hope
- Inventory number
- BH 44718 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- August 10, 2012: Updated by J.P.: Added categories "Pennsylvania Railroad", "Railroad", "Missing deck"
- April 3, 2010: Updated by Ed Hollowell: Added aditional info and abandonment date.
- April 3, 2010: Updated by James Norwood: Added Railroad info, thanks AD for the hunt.
- April 3, 2010: Added by Anthony Dillon
Sources
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- James Norwood
- Ed Hollowell - erhollowell [at] aol [dot] com
Comments
Not a problem, and with Ed's help we filled in all the blanks. Was the Indy one over the White River by the GM plant? If so, that was probably the Terre Haute Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company. I know there was a road bridge just West of it too. Lot's of abandoned lines in Indiana, many with bridges still intact, including more in Indy. Glad to help and congratulations on making the main page news with the milestone.
You guys are all over it on this railroad stuff! I searched for information on one in Indianapolis and about pulled my hair out doing so!
Thanks James! I figured you would know the "skinny" on this little span. I found it by sheer accident on my way to the Pugh Ford Bridge. Not sure of the date on it, but with cut stone abutments it's obvious an earlier span was there.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/in/bartholomew/bh44718/
Oh this is fun! I've been gathering up information for years and now I have a place to save it. This site is a pleasure to use.
Actually the Columbus & Shelbyville was a part of a line that had its primary function as a bypass route for traffic to and from Louisville and the east coast. The yards in Indianapolis were a bottle-neck in the PRR system and so they took that traffic and sent it east through Shelbyville and Rushville to the main east/west line at Dublin. The Hawthorne Yard in Indy eased traffic problems through Indy starting in about 1912 but it had a lot of traffic in WWII carrying traffic for Camp Atterbury. That was the last time it was really busy. The connection at Dublin was abandoned in the 1950's and grain was likely the only freight after that.