I just wanted to say that I wondered for years what had happened to that old railroad bridge. It was dismantled when I was a child, and I can still remember seeing it when we'd cross O'Neill Bridge. Glad its being put to use instead of scrapped completely. :)
Vertical lift span for this bridge was from the Old Railroad Bridge (circa 1832) spanning the navigable channel of the Tennessee River from Sheffield, AL to Florence, AL - south to north, respectively - and abandoned by Norfolk Southern Railroad Company after ceasing its use in 1988.
In 1992, American Bridge was just beginning the Norfolk & Southern Mississippi River lift span project at Hannibal, MO. This project involved the removal and disassembly a 409 foot, 1,500 ton vertical lift span from a bridge in Florence, AL, relocation to Hannibal, MO, and reassembly of the truss on barges and falsework. In a three-day outage, we removed an existing swing span from the Hannibal bridge, and floated in the vertical lift that was relocated from Florence. The project included the installation of new operating machinery and electrical systems. The conversion widened the navigation clearance by several hundred feet when the swingspan pivot pier was removed. Superintendent was Ugo Del Costello.
Proper name Wabash Bridge built for the Wabash Railroad should be filed as Wabash Bridge for Railroad at Hannibal Missouri.
I added 3 old photos from when the uplift was in Florence. I think we all miss seeing it when we drive by. It was there for 31 years before being relocated to the Wabash Railroad Bridge. I'm sure eventually I'll make it up there to "visit" it. I haven't seen it since I was about 8 years old. Here's a link to the Tennessee River Railroad bridge page.
http://bridgehunter.com/al/lauderdale/old-railroad/