Rating:
3 votes
NS - Wildcat Creek Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Pratt through truss bridge over Wildcat Creek on former IMC Nickel Plate line
- Location
- Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana
- Status
- Preserved as a landmark while trail on old rail corridor crosses MOB next to it
- Future prospects
- Available for reuse
- History
- Unknown builder, replaced covered bridge formerly at this location. This bridge survived the great flood of 1913 due to Lake Erie and Western Railroad loading bridge down with loaded coal cars.
- Railroads
- - Central Railroad of Indianapolis (CERA)
- Lake Erie & Western Railroad (LE&W)
- New York, Chicago, & St. Louis Railroad (NKP)
- Norfolk & Western Railway (NW)
- Norfolk Southern Railway (NS)
- Design
- Riveted Pratt Through Truss
- Dimensions
-
Span length: 115.0 ft.
Total length: 115.0 ft.
- Also called
- IMC Wildcat Creek bridge, due to line running from Indianapolis to Michigan City for most of it's life, hence IMC initials.
NKP - Wildcat Creek Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.48448, -86.13243 (decimal degrees)
40°29'04" N, 86°07'57" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/573529/4481893 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Kokomo West
- Inventory number
- BH 42182 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- May 16, 2021: New video from Mike Daffron
- January 3, 2021: New photos from Mike Daffron
- September 5, 2013: Updated by Tony Dillon: Updated information
- April 25, 2010: New Street View added by J.P.
- April 27, 2009: Updated by James Norwood
- April 7, 2009: New photo from James Norwood
- April 6, 2009: Updated by James Norwood
- April 5, 2009: Updated by James Norwood
- April 4, 2009: New photos from James Norwood
- April 1, 2009: Added by James Norwood
Sources
- James Norwood
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Mike Daffron - daffmikron [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
Nickel Plate IMC Wildcat Creek Bridge
A unique situation here.
The old rail corridor is now part of a trail system, but instead of crossing the creek on the old bridge it jogs over to a MOB span built next to it. That bridge appears to have been built for another trail that now connects here, and it allows the rail span to be preserved with the tracks still in place.
Not at all a fan of MOB's...but I actually kinda like this!
© Copyright 2021, Historic Bridge Foundation and contributors.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/in/howard/bh42182/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/in/howard/bh42182/
I didn't think that Indiana had run out of historic bridges to relocate and reuse. Their bridge marketing website lists several AVAILABLE bridges that would have fit this crossing. Perhaps the website is in error, since I can think of no reason to not use one of the available historic bridges listed on that website for this crossing.
http://www.in.gov/indot/2532.htm
...Also is there a written agreement that the railroad bridge will be preserved? What prevents a local contractor from misleading local authorities into the concept that the abandoned railroad bridge is a waste of space and that they would be willing to scrap it out for them?