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Nostalgia & History > Was this overpass built like this? (CNW in Wisconsin)


Date: 10/29/24 13:52
Was this overpass built like this? (CNW in Wisconsin)
Author: timz

Is it possible this bridge looked normal
when it was built and was modified to give
the RR more room? Sounds unlikely, but
why else would it look like that?

https://www.lakestatesarchive.org/FA-Cole-Collection/CNW-in-Wisconsin/i-XxnmRZK/A

Guess it must be here

https://mapper.acme.com/?ll=44.40278,-88.73606&z=15&t=U&marker0=44.40278%2C-88.73606

Or is such a modification out of the question,
considering the rearranged stresses?



Date: 10/29/24 16:07
Re: Was this overpass built like this? (CNW in Wisconsin)
Author: railstiesballast

My guess is that it is the original construction that optimizes the vertical clearance over the RR without raising the highway grade line.
The part we see has a steel girder bridge over the tracks that is supported by cantilever trusses on each end.
That gives us a relatively thin "section depth" for the critical clearance location.
It would be fun to see this today, are the RR and highway still in use?



Date: 10/29/24 16:18
Re: Was this overpass built like this? (CNW in Wisconsin)
Author: timz

No rail on the topo map, and the hwy bridge
has been replaced.



Date: 10/29/24 18:52
Re: Was this overpass built like this? (CNW in Wisconsin)
Author: Gonut1

Probably built that way from the get go. I'm thinking the railroad was there when that relatively modern bridge was constructed and this worked for all involved. Cheap, down and dirty.
To modify it later would probably not have been a viable solution as you mentioned "stresses". 
Thanks for the extremely interesting post.
As an idiot kid I thought I'd like to be a bridge engineer as an adult. Also thought I'd like to be a railroad engineer too. When I learned I sucked at math the bridge design thing sunk like a lead balloon. The railroad engineer thing went out the window during the time I would have hired on and the entire northeastern rail scene was in a shambles. Combined with the fact a railroad could move you anywhere on their system and whole union thing was more than I wanted to deal with. So, I started as a gas pump jockey and worked my way to Electro-mechanical Engineer. By the time I needed to do any math more complex than Trig, the Texas Instruments SR-11 Calculator became available, modern electronics to the rescue!
Its all good, a wild ride, but I'm still working full time and will retire in a year and a little when I turn Eighty.
Gonut



Date: 10/30/24 19:15
Re: Was this overpass built like this? (CNW in Wisconsin)
Author: cabman

Designed for tri level autoracks.  Those Badgers are so smart!



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