Rating:
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DM&E - Sabula Bridge

Jackson County, Iowa, and Carroll County, Illinois

Photos 

Sabula, IA-Savanna, IL Rail Bridge

Photo taken by Ed Ahlf in January 2012

BH Photo #223359

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Mississippi River on IC&E RR (formerly Milwaukee Road)
Location
Sabula, Jackson County, Iowa, and Carroll County, Illinois
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1906
Builder
- Charles Frederick Loweth of Cleveland, Ohio
Railroads
- Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)
- Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (MILW; CMStP&P; CMStP)
- Dakota, Minnesota, & Eastern Railroad (DME)
- Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad (ICE)
Design
Through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 320.0 ft.
Also called
IMRL - Sabula Bridge
MILW - Sabula Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.06419, -90.16595   (decimal degrees)
42°03'51" N, 90°09'57" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/734483/4660789 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Savanna
Inventory number
BH 48601 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Built 1906 (571)
Built during 1900s (6,739)
Canadian Pacific Railway (499)
Carroll County, Illinois (60)
Charles Frederick Loweth (26)
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (944)
Dakota, Minnesota, & Eastern Railroad (317)
Historic Bridge Weekend 2013 (145)
Illinois (4,441)
Iowa (6,173)
Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad (204)
Jackson County, Iowa (73)
Mississippi River (208)
 Movable (2,833)
Navigable waterway (2,090)
Open (38,307)
Owned by railroad (10,953)
Pin-connected (3,675)
Railroad (14,250)
Riveted (2,036)
Sabula, Iowa (6)
Span length 250-500 feet (1,104)
State line crossing (780)
Swing (1,351)
Through truss (13,903)
Truss (31,034)

Update Log 

  • February 5, 2019: New photo from Douglas Butler
  • May 23, 2018: New photo from Luke
  • May 23, 2018: New photos from John Marvig
  • September 16, 2016: Updated by Christopher Finigan: Added categories "Pin-connected", "Riveted"
  • September 16, 2016: New photo from Dave King
  • February 7, 2016: Updated by Luke: Removed builder: Wrong entry
  • November 5, 2015: New photos from Steve Conro
  • June 4, 2015: Updated by Luke: Added Engineer
  • August 24, 2013: New photo from Douglas Butler
  • August 14, 2013: New photos from John Marvig
  • July 26, 2012: Photo imported by Luke Harden
  • March 23, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad", "Iowa, Chicago, and Eastern Railroad", "Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad", "Canadian Pacific Railway", "Navigable waterway"
  • January 17, 2012: New photos from John Imel
  • January 15, 2012: New photo from Ed Ahlf
  • April 12, 2011: Added by Frank Hicks

Related Bridges 

Sources 

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Comments 

Sabula Rail Bridge
Posted February 3, 2013, by Richard Behrens (rfbehrens [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Starting in Feb 1952 I was an operater on this swing bridge, and had this job on and off until 1960. When I first started, when closing the bridge after a boat had passed thru, the operaters had to walk from the cabin to the west end of the bridge, go down a ladder, step on a small platform under the rails just above the river to check to see that a huge round bottom pin had dropped a small distance into a slot, before we went back to the cabin to force the rails all the way down. If we closed the bridge to fast the pin would slip over the slot... I would like to know if that pin was cast iron or steel.... Sometimes when checking this pin location, it could be scary, if it was raining, snowing, and dark outside.

R Behrens