The High Bridge was torn down in 1955 after C&O abandoned the Baldwin - Kaleva segment of its line and rerouted traffic to Traverse and Petoskey via Manistee and the former M&NE tracks.
Posted by Tim on 3/20/2015, 6:38 am, in reply to "Re: Wellston, MI/Removal Date/Picture"
Elba's second photo would be after the 1912 rebuild when the 1888 iron viaduct had its capacity doubled from a Cooper's E-25 to an E-50 rating. This was done by adding deck trusses under the original plate girders making them the top cord and adding two new columns to each bent. The new columns rested on concrete caps supported by 12-35 foot piles except the main span had 20 piles. The bridge was 75 foot high and 1,170 feet long with 14 tower spans each 30 foot long with 45 foot deck plate girders between towers. The river span was a 150 foot deck truss which was strengthened with a new deck truss placed midway between the old trusses. This method of strengthening a bridge originated with WT Curtis of the Wisconsin Bridge & Iron Co. and was first used on this project. The cost of $43,900.00 was about half what a new bridge would have been. The above information came from a 1913 Railway Age Gazette.
Posted by C. Showalter on 3/20/2015, 2:31 pm, in reply to "Re: Wellston, MI/Removal Date/Picture"
For those of you, interested in reading an engineering account of the updating of High Bridge, go to Google Books, and search for the, "Journal of the Western Society of Engineers Vol XVII December 1913, No. 10, Pages 947-968," there are pictures as well as a technical article as to what was done to the original structure.
Posted by aghudley on 3/20/2015, 4:18 pm, in reply to "Re: Wellston, MI/Removal Date/Picture"
It took a bit of looking, but I found the article. It is in Volume XVIII, December 1912, No. 10. Here is a link to the document, then navigate to page 947. https://books.google.com/books?id=4tI1AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:f7QTA9rzVr4C&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TX4MVciYNoWYyASx-4CIBg&ved=0CEkQ6AEwCTgU#v=onepage&q&f=false
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