Photos
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Oblique View of Towers The viaduct consists of seventeen 75-foot deck-plate girder spans, alternating with eighteen 40-foot girder tower spans. The viaduct also consists of two 50-foot spans at the west end and two 60-foot and two 45-foot spans at the east end. The weight of all that plus the weight of the track itself, is approximately 2,895 tons. Photo taken by Tom Hall in June 2008 |
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Photo taken by Tom Hall in June 2008 |
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Long View Photo taken by Tom Hall in June 2008 |
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Tower Structures Photo taken by Tom Hall in June 2008 |
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The Deck Photo taken by Tom Hall in June 2008 |
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Footings Photo taken by Tom Hall in June 2008 |
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East Approach Photo taken by Nathan Morton in February 2009 |
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Looking South from middle of bridge span Photo taken by Nathan Morton |
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Looking straight down at my car from bridge deck Photo taken by Nathan Morton |
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West Approach Photo taken by Nathan Morton |
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Postcard Circa 1912 |
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Photo taken in July 1967 |
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Photo taken in October 1988 |
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A Latticework Of Steel Photo taken by Ed Hollowell in July 2004 |
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I Hope She Said Yes Graffiti on the main girder says "Michelle will you marry me?" I'm sure there are several good stories in how it got painted there. Photo taken by Ed Hollowell in July 2004 |
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Tulip Trestle
Written by Tom HallKnown as Richland Creek Viaduct or Tulip Trestle.
It was built in 1906 and is still in use by the Indiana Southern Railroad.
It is the third longest bridge of its type in the world. Its dimensions are one-half mile long, 2,307 feet to be precise, and it stands 157 feet off the ground at its tallest point.
The viaduct consists of seventeen 75-foot deck-plate girder spans, alternating with eighteen 40-foot girder tower spans. The viaduct also consists of two 50-foot spans at the west end and two 60-foot and two 45-foot spans at the east end. The weight of all that plus the weight of the track itself, is approximately 2,895 tons.
The cost of this massive project was about $246,504. A Chicago bridge engineer estimated that to build a bridge the same size today would cost around $10,000 per foot or $20 million.
To construct a bridge the size of the viaduct, a massive coordinated effort had to be organized. The first item that was needed was money. The viaduct was first owned by Indiana Southern Railroad, and Illinois Central Gulf, another railroad company, secretly financed it. Mainly immigrant Italian laborers constructed it.
The steel workers were paid 30 cents an hour and common laborers were paid only 15 cents an hour. Frank Hunt, who was a subcontractor, was reported to have hired 50 teams to work on the railroad. The teams were paid $3.50 per day and the drivers were paid $1.50 per day. This was considered to be above-average wages. However, men and horses were in such demand for this mammoth project that the supply of both became quite low.
Several companies did the rest of the work. The Collier Bridge Company did the concrete work, and the American Bridge Company made the steel frame which was later put together by Strobel Steel Construction Company. In charge of overall construction was Archibald Stuart Baldwin.
Facts
- Overview
- Deck plate girder bridge over Richland Creek and CR 480 E on Indiana Railroad (former Indiana Southern Railroad)
- Location
- Greene County, Indiana
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1906
- Builders
- - American Bridge Co. of New York
- Archibald Stuart Baldwin
- Collier Bridge Co.
- Strobel Steel Construction Co.
- Design
- Deck plate girder
- Dimensions
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Length of largest span: 75 ft.
Total length: 2,307 ft.
- Also called
- Tulip Trestle
Bridge X75-6
Greene County Viaduct - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.07526, -86.85336 (decimal degrees)
39°04'31" N, 86°51'12" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/512684/4325138 (zone/easting/northing)
- Inventory number
- BH 36720 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- April 3, 2010: Updated by Ed Hollowell: Added alternate name
- March 27, 2010: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- March 7, 2009: Updated by Robert Stephenson: GPS
- February 24, 2009: New photos from Nathan Morton
- February 18, 2009: Updated by Harvey Henkelmann
- June 20, 2008: Essay added by J.R. Manning
Sources
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
- Tom Hall
- Tom Hall
- Nathan Morton - morton890 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Robert Stephenson - seinfeld99 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Tulip Trestle
- Jacob P. Bernard
- Ed Hollowell - erhollowell [at] aol [dot] com
Comments
Some high level RR bridges have safety alcoves on them so workers on the bridge can let a train go by, but I don't see any on this bridge. Also, some of these high level bridges have low speed limits for trains, so the train might have time to stop if somebody was on it. Either way, if the engineer sees an unauthorized person on the bridge they will probably call the RR police.
Awesome photos though!
Or grow some wings....and quickly!!
"I always wonder what I would do if the train came while I was in the middle."
Repent?
Here I am hanging from a rope. It gives you an idea of the scale of this bridge.
I have repelled off of this bridge many times and have walked across it several times. Once very early in the morning to go hunting. I always wonder what I would do if the train came while I was in the middle.
I guess you must have felt pretty confident that there weren't any trains coming.........nice shots
Bridge is now owned by the Indiana Rail Road, a class 3 regional railroad. This particular line runs from Indianapolis to Newton, Il with several interchange points (including the Indiana Southern RR near Switz City).