In Praise Of Railroad Bridges

Sure, the Iron Horse helped connect the nation, but without the iron bridge those locomotives wouldn't have gotten very far. I started to get curious about how frequently railroad stocks and bonds depicted bridges in their vignettes -- and found nearly a dozen examples.

Actually the early bridges were made of stone -- and here is the first stone arch bridge.





A similar style bridge was built for the Lackawanna Railroad about a century later.





After the Lackawanna line merged, they kept the bridge, but flanked it with a couple figures.













Pittsburgh could boast a number of impressive bridges, with two being designed by John Roebling, who also engineered the Brooklyn Bridge. This is probably a depiction of the Sixth Street Bridge.





The Eads Bridge in St. Louis is among the most famous in the country and still stands today. The upper level was for carriages and vehicles, while trains crossed beneath them.













This last vignette is one of my favorites, showing workmen repairing the stone on a bridge footing.