Tennessee River Railroad Bridge

A good number of photos of this bridge may be found at the Chattanooga Hamilton County Regional Library, some on-line with several showing the bridge before construction of the Chickamauga Dam just up-stream. That dam was dedicated in 1939 by Pres. Roosevelt.

When I was very young and remember steam trains, I recall talking with the bridge tender who resided on the North side of the river near the approach to the bridge. When he was called upon to raise the lift span for river boat traffic, he walked out onto the bridge and climbed a ladder system to the control room situated in the structure above the counterweight. I recall the Delta Queen steam boat cruising up-stream through the gap and into the dam lock for trips to Knoxville.

I recall seeing the Southern Railway double tracking the bridge and during WW-II, many US military were posted as guards on the bridge and the dam. Tripple A was also posted but was under camo.

This bridge was originally built in 1886 as the Cincinnati Southern Railway bridge. Originally built to 5 foot (1524 mm) broad gauge as the Cincinnati Southern Railway, the line was converted to standard gauge, 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm), in 13 hours in 1886. It was rebuilt to its present form in 1920. The rounded pier at the north end was part of the original structure.

After it was converted to standard gauge, the railroad was renamed the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway (CNO&TP). The railroad and the bridge were built and are still owned by the City of Cincinnati. It was operated by the Southern Railway, now part of the Norfolk Southern Railway system.

In 1886, in a newspaper article about the first trip down the new line, a Cincinnati reporter wrote that he was riding on the Chattanooga Choo Choo. This was the first use of the alliterative phrase which became the famous Glenn Miller song, written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon.

Today the bridge is home to the rare peregrine falcon. Since 1997, they have nested atop the counter weight on the south tower. This is one of only two nesting pairs in Tennessee and makes the bridge a hot spot with local birdwatchers.

I damn near killed myself getting one of these shots...almost got hit by a train...

James

I have a few additional photos of this bridge taken today ... if you're interested in them, let me know, and I'll send you the full-sized images (6MP). You can see the better of them here (http://www.strych9design.com/2006/11/12/final-photos-of-the-day/); two of them show the lift part of the bridge.

Great work on the site ... I've enjoyed looking at all the different bridges!

Jeremy

This bridge did replace a structurally deficient center pivot bridge in 1917. Lift machinery was not installed until 1920. Originally only the northern fixed span and the lift span were double track with the remainder of the bridge being single track. Tennbridge is the official station name for the bridge.

It appears this may have replaced a swingbridge, as on one end of it, there's a round bridge abutment, typical of what's under the center of a swingbridge.