Between 1880 and 1884, virtually the entire superstructure was replaced and upgraded. The Fink deck truss spans are replaced with Whipple through truss spans and the girder approach spans are replaced. The through trusses are replaced. Additional piers are added on the east. No cast iron was used in any of the upgrade.
1884. The steamboat Montana crashed into the piers of the Wabash Railroad Bridge with total loss of the steamboat. The bridge seems to have suffered no damage.
1936. Removed. Functionally replaced by a new bridge erected about 1/2 mile downstream (north).
Sources include: Missouri Railroad and Warehouse Commission, Annual Report 1884
To me, it looks like the superstructure was replaced between 1871 and the 1936 replacement. The late images do not seem to have the same type of compression members as the early images and a lot of other details are different.
Regards,
Art S.
Great video, Thomas Matlock!
I'm surprised this old bridge was still being used in the 1930s for railroad traffic. All of the other bridges over the Missouri River from the 1870s were obsolete and replaced by the 1910s (with the exception of the Fort Leavenworth bridge, which lived on until the 1960s after being converted for pedestrian, wagon and (later) highway traffic). Looking at the video linked in one of the other comments, that looks like the original St. Charles bridge to me.
I believe the train is crossing the First Wabash Bridge at St. Charles in this home movie shot by my grandfather in 1930. http://youtu.be/VaIIyYUwlpQ
I beleive this bridge collapsed.
Art - you are correct. There were effectively two bridges here using the same substructure. Between 1880 and 1884, he early Finks were replaced with Whipple, the Trellis were also replaced, even the girder approach spans were replaced.
In light of that, I edited the details of this page to reflect the post-1884 bridge and put info on the earlier one on this page:
http://bridgehunter.com/mo/st-charles/nm-missouri-river/