Screenshot / St. Charles Airline Bridge, Chicago

11 Comments

  • Comment System%s's Photo
    comment below
  • WhosLeon%s's Photo
    Aye aye aye
  • Dark_Horse%s's Photo
    Sweet.
  • Steve%s's Photo

    Aye aye aye
    I'm on  v a c a t i o n 
  • Ethan%s's Photo
    Funny how all the litter, vandalism, and neglect are what make this screen so appealing to me. What is usually disparaged junk is a lot of added detail and atmosphere here.
  • Jappy%s's Photo

    If this is that train park of yours...I want in

  • Gustav Goblin%s's Photo

    Hydro modeling Chicago is a force beyond all comprehension.

  • frigginbrownie%s's Photo

    I've seen this bridge so many times along with the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge 466 while riding the orange line. You've nailed the look and the surrounding atmosphere. Really great job.

  • Coasterbill%s's Photo

    This is awesome

  • Jene%s's Photo

    Amazing screen, so gritty

  • Six Frags%s's Photo

    The crunch is great, so much atmosphere, I want a full map/world of this stuff! :D

  • RWE%s's Photo

    youre too good. stop posting screens, always demotivating me :p

  • Description

    The St. Charles Air Line Bridge is a Strauss Trunnion bascule bridge which spans the Chicago River in Chicago, Illinois. Built as part of the St. Charles Air Line Railroad by the American Bridge Company in 1919, the bridge originally had a span of 260 feet.

    Built in 1930, the B&OCT bridge, like the terminal and the tracks, has been abandoned. However, it was not dismantled and remains permanently locked in an "open" position. Because they are bascule bridges, both the B&OCT and the Air Line bridges each have a counterweight of their own, and in this case, they share a common third counterweight between them. This design allowed them to operate in unison, with an operator from the B&OCT in charge of operating both bridges. This has led to a curious historical oddity, as the CSX, successor railroad to the B&O, owns a useless bridge that it cannot abandon, because the bridge is needed to continue operating a second bridge it does not own. An uncertain but inevitable future awaits the old B&OCT bridge, as the trackage it once served will likely never be rebuilt.

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