Rating:
3 votes

Air Line Blue River bridge

Jackson County, Missouri
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Photos 

View looking south

Signs indicate Kansas City Southern ownership.

Photo taken by Clark Vance July 2010

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Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Bridge over Big Blue River on abandoned KCS Air Line, just west of I-435
Location
Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri
Status
Rails removed and decked with boards. Open to traffic by tired railroad vehicles.
History
Carried the Air Line in to Independence
Design
Pratt through truss (?)
Approximate latitude, longitude
+39.11805, -94.49195   (decimal degrees)
39°07'05" N, 94°29'31" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/371021/4330936 (zone/easting/northing)
Land survey
T. 50 N., R. 32 W., Sec. 31
Elevation
740 ft. above sea level
USGS topographic map
Independence, MO
Inventory number
BH 44513 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Have street view (9,897)
Jackson County, Missouri (159)
Kansas City Southern Railway (115)
Kansas City, Missouri (95)
Missouri (4,526)
Open (28,315)
 Owned by railroad (4,048)
Pratt through truss (3,166)
Pratt truss (5,660)
Through truss (9,210)
Truss (23,574)

Update Log 

  • August 10, 2012: Updated by Clark Vance: Added category "Kansas City Southern Railway"
  • December 23, 2011: Updated by Clark Vance: Removed from Mystery catagory and added "Air Line" information
  • July 24, 2010: New photos from Clark Vance
  • March 20, 2010: Added by James Baughn

Sources 

  • Clark Vance - cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Air Line Blue River bridge
Posted December 27, 2011, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

I agree--these look like modern beams. IIRC KCS had this line open until the '60s or early '70s serving a couple of small customers. Unless the original bridge was in terrible shape or flood damaged I can't picture why they would feel a need to replace it.

It would help if we could get some KCS "Air Line" history from a railfan.

Air Line Blue River bridge
Posted December 27, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

Based on the design of the built-up beams, the existing bridge appears to be mid-20th Century.

Mystery Railroad Bridge 2
Posted December 22, 2011, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

This bridge was probably built between Jan 1891 and Mar 1892 when the Air Line opened. The Air Line was built by the man who later founded the Kansas City Southern RR, Arthur Stillwell. http://www.arthurstilwell.com/timeline.html

Mystery Railroad Bridge 2
Posted July 22, 2010, by C. Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] co)

Looking at the Independence quad topo map, this might be the crossing for the "Air Line" that ran from downtown Kansas City, near 2nd and Wyandotte, out to Fairmount Park in Independence. Just NW of the bridge there is a label of "Air Line Junction". Few traces of the line are still there but the grade can be seen running along the dam of the lake NW of the intersection of Truman Road and Sterling. The line was a light duty car line that ended a few blocks east of Fairmount Park at what is now a city maintenance facility at Truman Road and Forest. The Kansas City Southern owned the RoW as of the mid '60s when the current topo was drawn up. Info on Fairmount Park and the Air Line here: http://www.oldfairmountpark.com/1893.html

If this is the old Air Line bridge, a lot of people rode across it 100 years ago.