Spindlers Creek Overpass - Bridge 421.0 - New Albany, KS, MP 420.6 - Wichita Subdivision Attached is a picture taken November 31, 2014 of the Frisco bridge over an unnamed creek just west of New Albany, KS It was taken November 31, 2014, while on a tour of the Wichita Subdivision with Bob Hoover (friscofriend). This bridge would be at about MP421. I like the stepped, cut stone abutments. It can be seen from Barber Road just past the intersection of Barber Road and 1450 Road. https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5732047,-95.9447786,1633m/data=!3m1!1e3 Deck plate girder (DPG) bridge is 44'-0" long. Bridge records note the girders were double (DBL) in a different hand lettering. It is presumed the doubling was done to reinforce the shallow web girder bridge for heavier loads. Doubling the shallow web girders would be a less expensive way of improving its capacity. The alternative would be to building a new bridge with deeper webs. However, that would most likely require building new abutments and possibly additional earthwork. The bridge rests on rough faced cut stone abutments. The abutments slope inward near the creek bed. They feature outer stepped wing walls. Note the bridge has retained its bridge ties. Photograph view looking west. Edit 1/30/2024: Added photograph narrative and view angle. The railroad right of way and adjacent road at this point angle from the southeast to the northwest. The bridge is southwest of a curve in Barber Road. The railroad bridge is adjacent to the south of a small three chamber box culvert with low concrete curb guardrails bridge over the creek. The road bridge approaches are marked with weight restriction warning signs. The black lettering on white signs state WEIGHT LIMIT 9 TONS. The approximate street address is 14009 Barber Road. MKD
Always nice to record any Frisco remnants! These would be very valuable to a scratch builder. Thanks for posting.
Spindlers Creek Overpass - Bridge 421.0 - New Albany, KS, MP 420.6 - Wichita Subdivision F421.0 Spindlers Creek; 44 foot dbl deck plate girder Edit 1/31/2024: Added mile post and subdivision. MKD
To All: When Keith and I were following the Wichita Subdivision east from here in Wichita to Neodesha I made the comment to him that I thought that I remembered reading somewhere the reasoning as to why the bridges that we were seeing all were of the plate girder variety with stone abutments vs. pile trestle ones. Going back to where I thought I had read the reasoning sure enough I found the following in Dr. H. Craig Miner's book The St. Louis-San Francisco Transcontinental Railroad, The Thirty-fifth Parallel Project, 1853-1890. It contains the following quote on page 112. "Rogers was authorized to offer opinions and intervened once with the directors in New York to change the original plan of iron rail and wooden bridges to steel rail and iron bridges-this to avoid 'a Road which just allows of trains running over it, and one which would be very expensive to operate and building for years to come.' " As Keith can attest, the 44' deck plate girder bridge over Spindlers Creek, shown in post #9 in this thread, at milepost F421.0 had beautiful stone abutments that had angled stairstep design at each end. There is a similar bridge visible from U.S. Highway 400 just west of Piedmont, MP 446.8.
