Rating:
8 votes

WLE - Bellaire Bridge (1905)

Marshall County, West Virginia, and Belmont County, Ohio

Photos 

View Of Bridge Portrait, Especially Piers, Looking East

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #119186

Map 

Street Views 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Ohio River on former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Bellaire
Location
Bellaire, Marshall County, West Virginia, and Belmont County, Ohio
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1905
Builder
- American Bridge Co. of New York
Railroads
- Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (BO)
- Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway (1990) (WLE)
Design
Main spans: Six Parker through trusses
Ohio (west) approach: 43 stone arches
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 347.9 ft.
Total length: 1,435.5 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1976
Also called
Benwood Bridge
B&O - Bellaire Bridge
Great Stone Viaduct
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.01183, -80.73946   (decimal degrees)
40°00'43" N, 80°44'22" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/522235/4429102 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Wheeling
Inventory numbers
NRHP 76001370 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 37012 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

American Bridge Co. (1,764)
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (589)
Bellaire, Ohio (4)
Belmont County, Ohio (64)
Benwood, West Virginia (4)
Built 1905 (836)
Built during 1900s (7,943)
Deck girder (6,620)
Deck truss (2,050)
Girder (11,664)
Have street view (30,434)
Marshall County, West Virginia (24)
NR-listed (3,027)
Ohio (5,052)
Ohio River (120)
Open (41,452)
 Owned by railroad (14,143)
Parker through truss (1,445)
Parker truss (1,842)
Pin-connected (5,427)
Plate girder (9,178)
Railroad (17,003)
Riveted (2,776)
Span length 250-500 feet (1,306)
State line crossing (967)
Through truss (19,037)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (2,049)
Truss (38,324)
Warren deck truss (691)
Warren truss (7,182)
West Virginia (1,616)
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway (1990) (89)

Update Log 

  • December 22, 2022: New photo from Paul Plassman
  • September 23, 2022: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
  • December 22, 2019: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
  • June 10, 2017: Updated by Christopher Finigan: Added categories "Pin-connected", "Riveted"
  • July 31, 2016: New photos from Royce and Bobette Haley
  • October 27, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad", "Baltimore & Ohio Railroad"
  • January 29, 2012: Updated by C Hanchey: Added bridge builder
  • November 30, 2010: New photo from Eric Root
  • February 22, 2010: Updated by Joshua Collins: added gps coordinates
  • August 1, 2008: Added by J.R. Manning

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
  • HAER WV-15 - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Benwood Bridge, Benwood, Marshall County, WV
  • Joshua Collins - Bigjc1979 [at] aol [dot] com
  • Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
  • Eric Root - ejort [at] att [dot] net
  • Janis Ford
  • C Hanchey - cmh2315fl [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Luke
  • Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Geoff Hubbs
  • Paul Plassman
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Comments 

Benwood Railroad Bridge
Posted November 14, 2010, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

I had seen trailers for this movie and guessed there would be a number of bridges in it. Interesting to hear this is one of the bridges. I don't suppose the doomed Bellaire Bridge is visible in any of the shots?

Benwood Railroad Bridge
Posted November 13, 2010, by J.P.

This bridge is the featured bridge in the movie unstoppable. Along with other bridges. The fake town name is Stanton Penn. they showed several older pin connected railroad trusses. im going to look for them but no gurantees as the movie was filmed all over penn, ohio, and WV.

B&O Railroad Benwood Bridge
Posted November 29, 2009, by Anthony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This is a magnificent structure!