35th Street Overpass
Description
Whipple Truss span relocated from I&M Canal (Bridge #3D) in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Shopton, Iowa in 1934 to be used as a road bridge.Facts
- Overview
- Whipple through truss bridge over BNSF Fort Madison Yard on 35th Street in Fort Madison, Iowa
- Location
- Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1888 in Chicago, Illinois; Relocated Here 1934
- Builder
- - Union Bridge Co. of Buffalo, New York & Athens, Pennsylvania
- Railroads
- - Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (ATSF)
- BNSF Railway (BNSF)
- Design
- 254' pin-connected Whipple through truss
80' pony plate girder - Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 254.0 ft.
- Also called
- ATSF Bridge #235.0A
Shopton Yard Viaduct - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.61841, -91.35791 (decimal degrees)
40°37'06" N, 91°21'28" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/638898/4497694 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Niota
- Inventory numbers
- ATSF 235.0A
BH 51417 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- October 18, 2020: New photos from Lee Smith
- June 24, 2016: New photos from John Marvig
- October 17, 2015: New photo from Steve Conro
- December 21, 2013: New Street View added by Luke Harden
- December 6, 2013: New photo from Luke Harden
- April 23, 2013: New photo from Luke Harden
- January 5, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added photographs.
- October 8, 2012: Photo imported by Luke Harden
- February 25, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Wooden deck", "Pin-connected"
- February 24, 2012: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Overview, Design, and Design description.
- February 23, 2012: Added by Luke Harden
Sources
- Luke
- Flickr
- Flickr
- Flickr
- Flickr
- Robert Elder - robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Steve Conro - sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com
- John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Lee Smith - ljsmith_32 [at] hotmail [dot] com
Comments
I was able to confirm that the main Whipple Through Truss span was located at Chicago, Illinois over the now filled in I&M Canal. It was built in 1888 as an original double track structure on that line. This was the only 254'10" Whipple Through Truss in the entire Santa Fe system. In 1934, it was filled in and relocated and reused as an overpass in Shopton (Fort Madison.)
Known as the Shopton Overpass, this bridge was built in 1930 using recycled railroad pieces (according to ATSF bridge records), however no original erection date or location were provided. I have acquired complete 1916 steel bridge records for the ATSF system, so I should be able to find the original location and date of at least the truss span.
I'd assume that it still exists.
Because the comment that refers to it in the past tense is in 07, and the most recent (the one with the side view) is from 2010.
If I can get down to Fort Madison (or out of bed in general) over spring break I'll have to check it out.
Definitely a Whipple truss.
Is it still in existence? A comment on one of the Flickr photos referred to it in the past tense.
I would call it a Whipple Truss.
So, based on the image in the link (even though it isn't a whole shot of the bridge), what type of truss would this likely be?
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ia/lee/bh51417/
Great work! I have been wondering about this one for a long time, thanks for sharing these excellent research results!