Conrail - Possum Trot Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Abandoned Deck girder bridge over Middle Fork Vermilion River on former Conrail Railroad west of Danville
- Location
- Vermilion County, Illinois
- Status
- Abandoned
- Future prospects
- Bridge is planned to become part of the 24.5 mile Urbana to Danville Kickapoo bike trail and be converted to a pedestrian bridge.
- History
- Built 1921 for the Peoria and Eastern Railroad, abandoned ca. 1990's
- Railroads
- - Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (CCC&StL; Big 4)
- Conrail (CR)
- New York Central Railroad (NYC)
- Penn Central Railroad (PC)
- Peoria & Eastern Railroad (P&E)
- Design
- Deck plate girder
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 100.0 ft.
Total length: 1,280.0 ft.
Deck width: 10.0 ft.
- Also called
- NYC - Possum Trot Bridge
P&E - Possum Trot Bridge
Big Four - Possum Trot Bridge
PC - Possum Trot Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.11865, -87.72849 (decimal degrees)
40°07'07" N, 87°43'43" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/437923/4441180 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Danville SW
- Inventory number
- BH 43972 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- July 24, 2012: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- February 4, 2012: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- February 2, 2012: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- May 12, 2010: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- April 13, 2010: New Street View added by Craig Philpott
- April 13, 2010: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- February 6, 2010: New video from Jacob P. Bernard
- January 30, 2010: Added by Jacob P. Bernard
Related Bridges
- IB&W - Possum Trot Bridge (Predecessor)
Sources
- Jacob P. Bernard
- Craig Philpott - craigphilpott63 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Mike Roegner
- Work could begin this year on rail-trail
Comments
Those belonged to an interurban bridge: https://bridgehunter.com/il/vermilion/bh58970/
While looking at this bridge from US150 on street view I noticed what looked like bases for piers in the river.Was there a bridge located where the bases are?
another photo from Cnty Rd 1180
you can get to this P&E Railroad trestle really easy now on the Northeast side off Cnty. Rd 1180(road to stock car track), they are-have cleared the trees & weeds away for a rail to trail path. Went there April 17th, got some great photos, from the abutment. getting lower under trestle, really hard.
Here's a few pics of what's holding the bridge up. Notice the bracing on the crown of the piers. Also visible is one of several old abutments from an earlier bridge. I can't find any information about the previous bridge. The original bridge at this location was a Howe truss built in 1868 by the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad. The bridge had timber approaches and cut stone abutments. No info though as to whether is was a deck or through truss, or if it was metal or wood construction.
Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.
Here's a photo with a train @ 1970. The bridge was built in 1921 for the Peoria & Eastern Railroad. Last user was Conrail. Current plans are to include the bridge in the Urbana to Danville Kickapoo Bike trail.
Webmaster's note: The photo that was here has been incorporated into the main site.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/il/vermilion/bh43972/
Thanks,Luke.