KCS - Armco Power Plant Bridge

Photos 

Overview from the south

Bridge at right center

Photo taken by Clark Vance in July 2013

Enlarge

BH Photo #260317

Map 

Sheffield Steel 

Originally the Kansas City Bolt and Nut Company manufacturing plant began making steel at this location in the late 19th century. Sheffield Steel purchased the plant in 1925. Other manufacturers adopted English town names, hence the GM plant at Leeds, Union Wire Rope on Manchester Road, and others. Armco bought it in 1930 and, as the US steel industry declined, it was sold in 1993 and closed in 2001.

This bridge carries a rail line that runs to the south side of the power plant building. The steel plant was on both sides of the river so some of the steam was piped across the river on a large structure built along side of this bridge.

The large area once occupied by the Armco plant is mostly abandoned. Rails have been pulled up, machinery is gone, and some of the buildings torn down. The area is fenced and gated, but looters have broken into buildings and stolen the large copper power cables and most items of value. I spoke with a security guard and was told that they still actively patrol and arrest trespassers who are now stealing phone and communication wire for scrap copper. There is a guardhouse at a closed gate on the west side on Winner Road east of Cambridge.

Facts 

Overview

Abandoned Warren pony truss bridge over Big Blue River on an abandoned KCS spur

Location

Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri

Status

Abandoned

Builder

- Illinois Steel Co. of Chicago, Illinois (Steel Manufacturer)

Railroad

- Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS)

Design

Warren pony truss with all verticals

Also called

Sheffield Power Plant Bridge

Approximate latitude, longitude

+39.11007, -94.49939   (decimal degrees)
39°06'36" N, 94°29'58" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")

Approximate UTM coordinates

15/370363/4330061 (zone/easting/northing)

Quadrangle map:

Independence

Inventory number

BH 44512 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Update Log 

• July 23, 2013: Essay added by Clark Vance
• March 20, 2010: Added by James Baughn

Sources 

• James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
• Clark Vance - cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com
• Wikipedia - History of the steel plant

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