Mississippi River Crossings

[nanaimo73]

 

This Trackside Guide covers the 56 railroad crossings of the Mississippi River,
both currently in use or abandoned. Each entry has a brief history followed by links
to photographs and further information. Suggestions and corrections are welcome.

The Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca in Northern Minnesota. From there it
runs north and then east before turning south and draining into the Gulf of Mexico.
I have numbered the bridges from 1 to 56 following the river, and these numbers conflict with official bridge numbers. The current length of the Mississippi is 2,340
miles. Back in 1940 it was 2,555 miles, as navigation projects have been
straightening the river's course. I am not aware of any rail connection running east
and west which did not cross the river or the Canadian border. 

Passenger service-
Amtrak currently uses eight of these bridges. The Ann Rutledge, Lincoln Service
and the Texas Eagle use St. Louis-MacArthur-50, and sometimes detour over Merchants-47. The Empire Builder crosses the river three times, using
Little Falls-14, Hastings-28 and La Crosse-32. The California Zephyr uses
Burlington-40, while the Southwest Chief crosses the river on Fort Madison-41.
New Orleans-56 hosts the tri-weekly Sunset Limited. Amtrak has used an additional five of these bridges since 1971, Minneapolis-19, Minneapolis-20, Dubuque-34, Quincy-43 and St. Louis-Eads-49. Quincy-43 is used by Amtrak, as empty trains lay over in West Quincy between runs.
Eads is still used to carry passengers, on the rapid transit St. Louis MetroLink, and Minneapolis-19 will soon be used for commuter trains.
Passenger trains operating until May 1, 1971 

Freight service-
With each bridge site I have included "Traffic", and followed it with heavy, moderate, light, or abandoned. Heavy refers to the 7 bridges carrying over 60 million gross tons per year, moderate includes 18 bridges carrying 5 to 60 GMT, and light refers to the
11 bridges carrying less than 5 GMT. A further 20 crossings have been abandoned,
or are no longer used by railroads. I am using the tonnage figures from RRPicturearchives' traffic density map and other sources.
Union Pacific's Clinton-36 sees the heaviest traffic, about 160 GMTs per year. It is followed by BNSF's Fort Madison-41 and Burlington-40 and UP's Thebes-51. Over 60 GMT is carried by BNSF's Little Falls-14 and Memphis-Frisco-53 and
Canadian Pacific's La Crosse-32.
The moderate bridges are lead by CP's Minneapolis-17 and Hastings-28, BNSF's
Quincy-43 and Memphis-Frisco-52, and TRRA's St. Louis-MacArthur-50. Following them are BNSF's Brainerd-11 and Minneapolis-19, UP's St. Paul-26, NS's Hannibal-44 and KCS's Vicksburg-54. The remaining moderates are St. Paul-24 and -25,
Dubuque-34, Savanna-35, Rock Island-37, Louisianna-45, Baton Rogue-55 and New Orleans-56.
The 11 bridges carrying a light level of traffic are Bemidji-2, Ball Club-6,
Grand Rapids-7, Camp Ripley-12, Little Falls-13, St. Cloud-16, Minneapolis-18, Minneapolis-23, Davenport-38, Keokuk-42 and St. Louis-Merchants-47.
The 20 crossings which are no longer used by railroads are Bemidji-1, -3, -4, -5, Jacobson-8, Palisade-9, Brainerd-10, Bowlus-15, Minneapolis-20, -21, -22,
Newport-27, Wabasha-29, Winona-30, -31, Prairie du Chien-33, Keithsburg-39,
Alton-46, St. Louis-McKinley-48 and St. Louis-Eads-49.   

Bridge type-
The Mississippi River can be broken down into three parts, which in turn decided on whether the crossings were constucted with fixed or moveable spans. The upper river, stretching from the headwaters down to the Twin Cities, was not used by barge traffic. This allowed the 23 railroad crossings to be constructed with simpler fixed spans. This group of bridges now numbers 12 active crossings, with the other 11 no longer in use by railroads.
Between Minneapolis and St. Louis, 23 more crossings were constructed, and 7 of these have been abandoned. All of these were built with some sort of moveable span to facillitate river traffic. During 1960 the bridge at Quincy-43 was replaced with a new fixed crossing with sufficient clearance for river traffic. The 15 operating moveable bridges include 12 swing spans and 3 lift bridges, St. Paul-25, Hastings-28, and Hannibal-44. Burlington-40 will be converted to a lift span to double the width of the navigation channel. The 7 abandoned crossings consisted of 4 swing spans, 1 lift bridge, and two floating pontoon bridges. The lift span was the former Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad's Keithsburg-39. The two pontoon bridges belonged to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific. They were Wabasha-29 and Prairie du Chien-33, which had two separate pontoon bridges.
The remaining 10 bridges from St. Louis to the Gulf were built as high fixed spans,
with enough clearance for river traffic. Only 2 of these last 10 bridges have been abandoned, both at St. Louis.   

 

Bemidji, MN 
The 4 uppermost railroad bridges spanning the Mississippi were located adjacent to each other in Bemidji, Minnesota.
Map

Bridge #1 was owned by the Minneapolis, Red Lake and Manitoba Railway, one of the numerous logging railroads that operated in northern Minnesota. The MRL&M was abandoned in 1938. This was the southernmost of the four bridges here, as the river is flowing northward.
WikiMapia
  
Bridge #2 is a former Great Northern bridge on their route between Grand Forks and Duluth. The Duluth, Superior and Western had built from Duluth to Deer River and
was heading for Winnipeg. In 1887 James J Hill bought it from Canadian Pacific.
Great Northern subsidiary Eastern Railway of Minnesota built the line from Deer River through Bemidji and connected with GN in Fosston. The line opened on September 25, 1898. This is now a BNSF bridge.
WikiMapia     Johnweeks.Bemidji

Bridge #3 was on a Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Sault Ste. Marie route from Duluth to Thief River Falls which opened in 1910. The MSP&SSM became the Soo Line in 1961. The Soo Line abandoned their route in pieces and used the BN line more and more
over the years. I'm not sure if CP still runs through here, but their bridge has abandoned. Just east of the bridge is the junction of Nymore. The MSP&SSM abandoned their line from Nymore to Schley, 26 miles to the east, in the 1950s and have been using more of the GN line since. The bridge is now used for a hiking trail.
WikiMapia     Johnweeks.Bemidji

Bridge #4 belonged to the Minnesota and International which went from Brainerd to
the Canadian Border at International Falls and passed through Nymore. They
operated into town over a spur using this bridge. In 1941 the M&I was purchased by the Northern Pacific and they probably would have switched over to the GN bridge
until the BN merger in 1970.
WikiMapia
The view from Terraserver is from May of 1992.The Mississippi is traveling northward here from Lake Irving to Lake Bemidji. If you move the image to the west you can
see what looks like a 1 engine, 8 car westbound sitting on the main in Bemidji.
Just to the east you can see the layout at Nymore, including the wye.
Terraserver   Googlemap   Area historical article   Recent photo 
Passenger- The last passenger service over these bridges was by Soo Line trains 64 and 65 on May 16, 1959. 
Traffic #1- abandoned, and removed 
Traffic #2- light (less than 5 GMT)  
Traffic #3- abandoned 
Traffic #4- abandoned, and removed
Bridge type- fixed (all 4)
. 

Bemidji, MN 
Bridge #5 is also in Bemidji, about 3 miles from the first four. The Minnesota and International ran from Brainerd to the Canadian border at International Falls and became part of the Northern Pacific in 1941. BN abandoned this route in 1985.
The image from Terraserver is from May of 1991. The Mississippi leaves Lake Bemidji here and flows eastward. The former railroad bridge is along the lakeshore and is
now a hiking trail.
Terraserver   WikiMapia   Googlemap   Johnweeks.Bemidji   Photo 
Passenger- Northern Pacific passenger service ended in the 1960s.
Traffic- abandoned
Bridge type- fixed
.

Ball Club, MN 
Bridge #6 is located west of Ball Club in Itasca county. This is part of the same
former Great Northern route as bridge #2 and they are about 45 miles apart on this BNSF route. This line opened during September 1898. This Terraserver image is
from May of 1991 and the river is flowing south, as it should. 
WikiMapia      Googlemap      Johnweeks.Ballclub
Passenger- Service on this Great Northern route ended before 1960.
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.  

Grand Rapids, MN 
Bridge #7 is located just west of Grand Rapids. This was a Great Northern line to an iron ore pit and this bridge is now used by BNSF to reach an Ainsworth oriented
strand board plant.
Terraserver   WikiMapia   Googlemap    Johnweeks.Cohasset
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.  

Jacobson, MN 
Bridge #8 was built by the Mississippi, Hill City and Western Railway Co. probably in 1910. The MHC&W became the Hill City Railway Company in 1915. The line ran from
a connection with the Great Northern at Swan River west to Hill City in Aitkin County.
I believe the portion from the bridge to Swan River had been built by the Duluth, Mississippi River and Northern starting in 1892.The Hill City Railway was abandoned during 1935. The crossing of the Mississippi was just north of Jacobson. You can
trace the right of way traveling east-west through the field in this May 1991 image.
Terraserver   WikiMapia    Googlemap 
Traffic- abandoned, and removed
Bridge type- fixed
.

Palisade, MN 
Bridge #9 is in Palisade which is also in Aitken county. This is the second former Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Sault Ste. Marie crossing and is part of the same route
as bridge #3 and they were about 90 miles apart. Duluth is 88 miles to the east.
This Terraserver image from May of 1991 was taken after the line had been abandoned in the late 1980s. The bridge is now in use as part of a hiking trail. 
WikiMapia     Googlemap     Johnweeks.Palisade 
Passenger-  Service ended on May 16, 1959 on this route.
Traffic- abandoned
Bridge type- fixed
.

Next comes #10 and #11 in Brainerd.
Here is an article on area history.

Brainerd, MN 
Bridge #10 was built during 1884 to serve the narrow gauge Brainerd & Northern Railroad. The trestle was later converted for road use, and then replaced by the current bridge in 1951.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap   Johnweeks.Crowwing3    Article      
Traffic- abandoned, and replaced
Bridge type- fixed
.

Brainerd, MN 
Bridge #11 is on the former Northern Pacific mainline from Duluth to Fargo and is
used by BNSF. This is the first line built by the Northern Pacific, heading west from Carlton, Minnesota in 1871. Brainerd was the headquarters of the Northern Pacific
until they moved to St. Paul in 1877.
The Minnesota and International ran north from here and probably used this bridge.
Northern Pacific purchased the M&I in 1941.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap    Johnweeks.Brainerd 
Passenger- Northern Pacific passenger service west to Fargo and north to
International Falls ended in the 1960s.
Traffic- moderate (20 to 40 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.  

Crow Wing, MN 
Projected bridge. If you zoom in on this map of Minnesota in 1871 it shows a cutoff from Crow Wing to the Northern Pacific line west of Brainerd. A cutoff was built from Little Falls to Staples later on. This crossing may have been surveyed, but I think it's safe to say no bridge was built here.
.

Camp Ripley Junction, MN 
Bridge #12 is a joint road-rail bridge to the airport owned by Minnesota.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap    Johnweeks.Campripley 
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
. 

Little Falls, MN 
There are two bridges in Little Falls. The first link shows both and the next two links focus on them separately. The former Northern Pacific line from Minneapolis to the Duluth-Fargo line at Brainerd ran up the east side of the river. The first bridge here (#13) carried a line from Little Falls through Glenwood to Browns Valley. In 1889 a cutoff was built from Little Falls to Staples. The southern bridge (#14) was probably built by Northern Pacific later. The line north of Little Falls was abandoned between Camp Ripley and Brainerd. The yard at Little Falls has been moved over to the west side of the river and the line through town is now gone. The BNSF system map
shows the line to Camp Ripley as being leased to the Minnesota National Guard.
Terraserver     Googlemap 
Bridge #13
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap     Johnweeks.LFN 
Bridge #14. The Terraserver view is from April 1991.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap    Johnweeks.LFS 
Passenger- Amtrak's Empire Builder crosses the river three times, using
Little Falls-14, Hastings-28 and La Crosse-32. Between June 5, 1971 and October 2, 1979 the North Coast Hiawatha used this bridge and the Empire Builder used the old
GN route through Willmar. 
Traffic #13- light (less than 5 GMT)  
Traffic #14- heavy (60 to 100 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed (both)
 

Bowlus, MN 
Bridge #15 is located near Bowlus, about 10 miles south of Little Falls, and was the third former Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Sault Ste. Marie bridge. This was on the Brooten line to Duluth, opened in 1909 and it was abandoned as a through route in 1990. The bridge would have been abandoned around 1993. The Soo Line crossed
over the BNSF main and the highway on a bridge 2 miles east of here.
Terraserver      WikiMapia     Googlemap     Johnweeks.Blanchard 
Passenger-  Service ended during 1962 with a triweekly mixed train.
Traffic- abandoned
Bridge type- fixed
.

St. Cloud, MN 
Bridge #16 is in St. Cloud. The St. Paul and Pacific built up the west bank of the Mississippi from Minneapolis and crossed here into St. Cloud. This crossing opened on June 12, 1872 and the line then continued to Moorhead, just east of Fargo. In 1878 James J Hill bought the SP&P and changed the name to the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba. The SPM&M became the Great Northern and in 1970 the GN became part
of Burlington Northern. During 2004 the Northern Lines Railway (Anacostia and Pacific) took over the 24 miles west of St. Cloud, including the bridge.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap    Image     NorthernLinesRailway
Wikipedia    Johnweeks.Stcloud 
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.

The next 10 locations are in the Minneapolis area and are covered in the Twin Cities Trackside supplement from the December 2003 Trains magazine. The first seven of them are in Minneapolis in a seven mile stretch.  Photos  An interesting railroad in
the Twin Cities is the Twin Cities and Western.
. 

Minneapolis, MN 
Bridge #17 is another former MSP&SSM bridge which now carries Canadian Pacific's mainline west from the Twin Cities. Construction of the Minneapolis and Pacific
Railway started in 1886 and reached the Canadian border at Portal, North Dakota
during 1893. The M&PR was part of the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic (which became the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste Marie in 1888, and the
Soo Line in 1960) and was aided by Canadian Pacific. At the west end of the bridge
is Camden Place, where an industrial line heads south and the Paynesville subdivision heads west through Humboldt yard. Just to the east this line uses a bridge to cross over part of BNSF's huge Northtown Yard.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap    Johnweeks.Camden
Photo    Photo    Wikipedia 
Traffic- moderate (40 to 60 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
. 

Minneapolis, MN 
Bridge #18 is a former Northern Pacific bridge which was built during 1884.
This bridge is now on a BNSF spur running from Northtown yard on the east side
of the river. The bridge was built to allow Northern Pacific access to the downtown Minneapolis area.
Terraserver    WikiMapia     Googlemap    Johnweeks.NP
Wikipedia     
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.  

Minneapolis, MN 
Bridge #19 is the former Great Northern mainline heading west through Willmar.
This was a St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba route and the bridge opened May 1, 1867. This is still a busy BNSF route and the Twin Cities and Western uses this
crossing as well.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap    Johnweeks.BNSF
Photos      Wikipedia
Passenger- Amtrak used this bridge for the Empire Builder between Minneapolis and Fargo until October 2, 1979, when the route switched to run through Staples. Commuter trains will soon be using this bridge.    
Traffic- moderate (20 to 40 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.  

Minneapolis, MN 
Bridge #20 is the James J. Hill stone arch bridge which opened in 1883 after 19
months of construction. This bridge was designed by Charles C. Smith and used St. Cloud granite for 23 spans and a length of 2,100 feet. It was built by the Minneapolis Union Railway Company, which was owned by the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba. The St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba was leased to James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway. Burlington Northern continued to use this bridge for coal traffic until 1980.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap    Johnweeks.Stonearch    Article
Article     Photo     Photo     Photos     Wikipedia
Passenger- Passenger trains ran over this crossing until February 28, 1978, when Amtrak moved to the Midway Station.
Traffic- abandoned
Bridge type- fixed
.

Minneapolis, MN 
Bridge #21 was on the Minnesota Western Railway. The Minnesota Western Railway was purchased by the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad in 1956.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap    article    Photo?     
Traffic- abandoned, and removed
Bridge type- fixed
.

Minneapolis, MN 
Bridge #22 was a Northern Pacific bridge which is now in use as a hiking trail. It was built to allow NP passenger trains from St. Paul access to the Great Northern Minneapolis Station. Burlington Northern stopped using this bridge during 1981.
Terraserver     WikiMapia      Googlemap    Johnweeks.NP
Photos     Photos      Wikipedia
Traffic- abandoned
Bridge type- fixed
. 

Minneapolis, MN 
Bridge #23 was the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific mainline heading west to the Pacific. This was called the Short Line Bridge and opened on December 4, 1880. Canadian Pacific and the Minnesota Commercial still use this bridge although it is no longer on a through route and has been pared back to one track.
Terraserver      WikiMapia      Googlemap     Johnweeks.Shortline
Photo     Photos     Wikipedia
Passenger- The Milwaukee Road ran passenger trains over this bridge until Amtrak started on May 1, 1971.
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed 
.

The next three sites are in St. Paul.

St. Paul, MN 
Bridge #24 was part of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha. The "Omaha Road" had been owned by the Chicago and North Western since 1882. This is part of Union Pacific's line to Omaha. The CMSP&P used this bridge as well and today this is joint UP-CP track. This crossing opened September 29, 1869 and the current bridge dates from 1915. It is the northernmost moveable railroad bridge.
Terraserver      WikiMapia      Googlemap    Johnweeks.Omaha
Wikipedia 
Traffic- moderate (5 to 10 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.  

St. Paul, MN 
Bridge #25 is the former Chicago Great Western Robert Street lift bridge. Today this Union Pacific bridge is one of three lift bridges over the Mississippi, along with Hastings#28 and Hannibal#44. There was another lift bridge at Keithsburg.
Terraserver      WikiMapia      Googlemap    Johnweeks.CGW 
Wikipedia     Photos 
Traffic- moderate (10 to 20 GMT)
Bridge type- lift bridge
.  

St. Paul, MN 
Bridge #26 was built during 1910 by the St. Paul Bridge and Terminal, which was a Chicago Great Western subsidiary. The CGW and the SPB&T became part of the Chicago and North Western on July 1, 1968. This bridge is still used by the Union Pacific.
Terraserver       WikiMapia       Googlemap    Johnweeks.SPBT 
Wikipedia      Article  
Traffic- moderate (20 to 40 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.  

Newport, MN 
Bridge #27 is just south of St. Paul at Newport. This was a Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific bridge built in 1895. It has not been used for rail service since the Rock Island shut down in March of 1980.
Terraserver      WikiMapia      Googlemap     Wikipedia
Johnweeks.Newport 
Passenger- The last passenger service across the bridge was the Plainsman in 1969.
Traffic- abandoned
Bridge type- swing span
.

Hastings, MN 
Bridge #28 is at Hastings and was used by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and
Pacific on their mainline from Chicago. This brought the line back to the east side of the river to enter St. Paul. The St. Paul and Chicago (part of the Milwaukee Road) opened the crossing here on December 9, 1871. The Milwaukee Road was the first railroad from Chicago to the Twin Cities with a route through Iowa completed four years earlier, and this bridge was part of a shorter route using the Winona and St. Peter Railroad. This is one of three lift spans over the river, with the others being
St. Paul-25 and Hannibal-44. The M&STL also had another lift bridge at Keithsburg.
To the north under the highway bridge is the beginning of the former CMSP&P branch to Bayport and Stillwater. This crossed the BNSF mainline under the second highway bridge. West of here is St. Croix Tower and from here to St. Paul BNSF and Canadian Pacific jointly operate their lines.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap     Johnweeks.Hastings
Wikipedia     Photo     Photo
Passenger- Amtrak's Empire Builder crosses the river three times, using
Little Falls-14, Hastings-28 and La Crosse-32.
Traffic- moderate (40 to 60 GMT)
Bridge type- lift bridge
.  

Wabasha, MN - Trevino, WI 
Bridge #29 is the first bridge site with Wisconsin on the east bank.
This bridge was from Read's Landing, Minnesota over to Trevino, Wisconsin and
opened in July 1882. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific used this bridge
on their branch to Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. This was one of three CMSP&P pontoon bridges, with the others being in Prairie du Chien (#33) and across the
Missouri at Chamberlain, South Dakota. The bridge was abandoned in 1952 and the CMSP&P reached the branch over the CB&Q (later BN) until 1979 using the Winona#31 bridge. If you follow the former line to the north you will see the BNSF mainline and
the connection that was used until 1979. Along the west bank is the Canadian
Pacific mainline. There are about 50 cars stored along the line and to the south
in this 1992 image is a former roundhouse in Wabasha.
Terraserver     WikiMapia      Googlemap 
Traffic- abandoned, and removed
Bridge type- floating pontoon
. 

Winona, MN - East Winona, WI - C&NW   
Bridge #30 was at Winona, Minnesota and was a Chicago and North Western bridge
on their line to Rapid City. The first bridge here was built by the Winona and Saint Peter and opened on May 26, 1871. This bridge collapsed under the first train and a new bridge opened on January 21, 1872. The Milwaukee Road used this bridge until
the W&SP fell under C&NW control. Abandonment for the bridge was approved on December 24, 1977. The C&NW used the CMSP&P bridge #32 at La Crosse to reach Winona after it closed.
Terraserver      WikiMapia       Googlemap    Johnweeks.Winona
USACE article       Photo      Photo  
Passenger- Service with the Rochester 400, which made its last run on July 23, 1963.
Traffic- abandoned, and removed
Bridge type- swing span
.

Winona, MN - East Winona, WI - CB&Q 
Bridge #31 was just south of Winona and was a Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and Green Bay and Western bridge. This bridge was owned two-thirds by Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (later BN) and one-third by the Green Bay and Western. It opened in 1891 and was closed in 1985. After part of the bridge burned in 1989 it
was dismantled in 1990. During 1988 Burlington Northern used subsidiary Winona
Bridge Railway to run two man Expediter trains from Seattle to the Twin Cities in a
fight against their unions. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific used this
bridge from 1952 to 1979 to reach the Eau Claire branch after bridge #29 was abandoned. Just to the east of this image is the junction of the former Burlington Northern (Chicago, Burlington and Quincy) and the former Green Bay and Western.
Terraserver     WikiMapia      Googlemap      Photo       Article     Article
Article     Photo     Photos 
Traffic- abandoned, and removed
Bridge type- swing span
.  

La Crosse, WI - La Crescent, MN 
Bridge #32 is part of the mainline of the old Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific. The west side is just north of La Crescent and the east side is La Crosse. The La Crosse area is covered in the March 1999 Trains magazine. The La Crosse and Milwaukee Rail Road reached here in 1858. To reach St. Paul they used the Winona
and St. Peter up the east bank and then into Winona on bridge #30 beginning in January 1872. The W&SP fell under the control of the Chicago and North Western which forced the Milwaukee Road to build this crossing at La Crosse. This route
opened on November 27, 1876. The Chicago and North Western used this bridge to reach Winona after bridge #30 closed in 1977, and now Union Pacific uses this route.
There is a train crossing the river in this Terraserver image. It looks like a two engine 12 car eastbound Empire Builder between the swing spans.
The crossing of the Mississippi actually consists of four bridges. From the west, the Main Channel bridge (with a swing span), the East Channel, French Slough, and Black River channel (with another swing span).
Johnweeks.West    Johnweeks.East    Johnweeks.French   Johnweeks.Black
Googlemap     WikiMapia      Photo     Photo      Wikipedia 
Passenger- Amtrak's Empire Builder crosses the river three times, using
Little Falls-14, Hastings-28 and La Crosse-32.
Traffic- heavy (about 60 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
. 

Prairie du Chien, WI - Marquette, IA 
Bridge #33 was another Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific pontoon bridge
linking North McGregor (now Marquette), Iowa and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. This bridge opened in 1874 and was abandoned on October 31,1961, and it was featured
in the January 1952 Trains magazine. This bridge was also covered at http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/  but it has been removed.  
"The Pontoon Bridge
at Prairie du Chien was designed and constructed by Mr. John Lawler, to meet the particular wants of that community. It was built at a point where the river is
divided by an island and is about 1 1/4 miles in width from shore to shore. Formerly passenger and freight cars were transferred by ferry boats which had to go around the head or foot of the island, making the distance from landing to landing nearly
four miles; and when floating ice accumulated the river was frequently impassable. The construction of a bridge of either of the standard descriptions would have been particularly difficult or expensive. These circumstances led to the adoption of a system under which the bridge approaches on either shore, and the fixed portions
of the bridge in low water and on the island, consist of piles, while in the channels
of the river pontoons are placed, which are so combined and arranged as to form a railway bridge when the passage of trains is desirable; while when the use of the channels by steamboats or rafts is necessary the pontoons are temporarily
removed. The pontoon in the east channel is made by uniting three ordinary transfer scows which have an aggregate length of 393 feet, and the pontoon in the west channel is a single-deck scow especially constructed for the purpose, 408 feet long,
28 foot beam and 6 feet in depth. Applications for the right to construct bridges of a similar plan at various other points on the Mississippi and elsewhere have been made and granted."
The Milwaukee Road became the first railroad to link Chicago with St. Paul in the fall
of 1867 by using this bridge and heading west across Iowa before heading north. The CMSP&P line running along the west bank and the line across Iowa are now part of the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap     Print    Postcards
Passenger- The Sioux passed through Madison and crossed this bridge and crossed Iowa until January 1960. 
Traffic- abandoned, and removed
Bridge type- floating pontoon
.

Dubuque, IA - East Dubuque, IL 
Bridge #34 is between Dubuque, Iowa and East Dubuque in Illinois. This carried the Illinois Central west from Chicago. The first train crossed the bridge on January 1,
1869 and rails reached Sioux City during July 1870. Illinois Central became Illinois Central Gulf on August 10, 1972. This line was sold off to become the Chicago
Central and Pacific on December 24, 1985 and in June 1996 it returned to the Illinois Central. IC was merged into Canadian National in 1999. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy had rights over this bridge into Dubuque, and they are still shown on the
BNSF system map. The Chicago Great Western used this bridge on their mainline and they were merged into the Chicago and North Western on July 1, 1968. C&NW abandoned the Dubuque to Oelwein line during 1981. To the east the line passes through a tunnel before heading south for several miles along with the BNSF (CB&Q). Just to the west some switching is going on. This line also swings south on the west side to run along with the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern (ex CMSP&P) before heading across Iowa.
Terraserver    WikiMapia     Googlemap    Johnweeks.Dubuque    Photos     Website    Photo     Photos      Wikipedia     Photos      Photo      Photos
Passenger- Amtrak used this bridge for the Black Hawk from February 14, 1974 until September 30, 1981.
Traffic- moderate (10 to 20 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.  

Savanna, IL - Sabula, IA 
Bridge #35 is between Sabula, Iowa and Savanna, Illinois and was part of the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific line to Kansas City. The first bridge here opened in 1882 and it was replaced in 1906. The CMSP&P became part of the
Soo Line on December 31, 1985 which became Canadian Pacific. In 1997 this was
sold off to I&MRL which became the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern in 2002. The entire crossing here is over two miles long. To the east is a diamond which is about to be crossed by a northbound BN train.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap   Johnweeks.Savanna    Photo
ICE website     Photo      Photo     Photo    Wikipedia     Photo    
Passenger- The Milwaukee Road ran passenger trains between Chicago to Omaha
over this line until the start of Amtrak on May 1, 1971.
Traffic- moderate (5 to 10 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.  

Clinton IA - East Clinton, IL 
Bridge #36 is at Clinton, Iowa on the old Chicago and North Western mainline to Omaha. The bridge here opened in 1865 (the second to cross the River) and the
C&NW was the first railroad to reach Council Bluffs in 1867. The present double track bridge was built in 1909. Today this is the mainline of the Union Pacific, one of the busiest railroad bridges over the river. The CB&Q had rights over this bridge to reach the north end of the DRI&NW. Tonnage over this bridge during 1955 was 60 GMT. Just to the west on the Terraserver image is an approaching stack train.
Only the first few cars are visible because the next image over was taken at a
different time. Further west is the yard. The Iowa, Chicago and Eastern runs down
the west bank and has a yard to the south. Trailryder has an interesting post on this bridge on page 5.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap    Johnweeks.Clinton
Photo     Photos    Photos    Wikipedia     Photo  
Passenger- The C&NW operated passenger trains #1 and #2 (the former
Kate Shelley 400) between Chicago and Clinton over this bridge until Amtrak began
on May 1, 1971.
Traffic- heavy (about 160 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
. 

Bridge #37 and #38 are in the Quad Cities and are about a mile and a half apart.

Rock Island, IL - Davenport, IA 
Bridge #37 is the Government bridge which was used by the Chicago, Rock Island
and Pacific. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built by the CRI&P in 1856 about 600 yards north of #36, and it was replaced by a stronger bridge in 1866. A new iron single track bridge was built by the Corps of Engineers and opened in 1873
at the present site. This bridge was replaced by the current iron and steel bridge
during 1896, fitted with double track. It was owned jointly by the Government and
the CRI&P until 1980 when the CRI&P broke up. It is now owned by the Government and used by the Iowa Interstate. I consider the Government bridge to be a replacement for the original, and therefore the two crossings / 4 bridges are one site. The Iowa, Chicago and Eastern line to Kansas City runs down the west bank. During 1964 the CRI&P was hauling 20 GMT over this bridge.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap    USACE article   Johnweeks.Rockisland
IAIS website    Wikipedia    Photo    Photos     Photo     Photos  
Passenger- Rock Island passenger service to Kansas City and Omaha over this bridge ended in the 1960s.
Traffic- moderate (5 to 10 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.  

Davenport, IA - Rock Island, IL 
Bridge #38 is the Crescent bridge now owned by BNSF. The Rock Island Bridge and Terminal Company began construction of this bridge in 1897 and it opened in 1900.
The Davenport, Rock Island and Northwestern took over in 1901, jointly owned by
the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul.
During 1995 the owners split the Railway with CP Rail (Soo Line) getting the Iowa trackage and BN getting the Illinois trackage and the bridge.
Terraserver   WikiMapia   Googlemap   Wikipedia   Johnweeks.Crescent  
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.  

Keithsburg, IL 
Bridge #39 was at first an Iowa Central Railway bridge (Photo) between West Keithsburg, Iowa and Keithsburg, Illinois. The Iowa Central became part of the Minneapolis and St. Louis on January 1, 1912 and the M&SL was purchased by the Chicago and North Western on November 1, 1960. Around 1912 the M&STL replaced the Iowa Central bridge with a lift span. The C&NW abandoned this line in 1971. Victrola1 has a very interesting post about this site on page 4. Burlington Northern GP9 1800 is now on display in Keithsburg, painted as M&STL 700, within sight of the bridge.
Terraserver     WikiMapia      Googlemap     Johnweeks.Keithsburg
Wikipedia 
Traffic- abandoned, lift span removed
Bridge type- lift bridge
. 

Burlington, IA - Gulfport, IL 
Bridge #40 is at Burlington, Iowa and is on the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy mainline from Chicago to Denver. This bridge opened in 1868 and with the affiliated Burlington and Missouri River this route reached the Missouri River at Plattsmouth in 1869. This is now a well used BNSF mainline, and there is a medium sized yard just to the northwest. The swing span here will be replaced with a lift span for river traffic.
Terraserver  WikiMapia   Googlemap    Johnweeks.Burlington   Press release
Photos    Wikipedia     Photo     Photo     Photos 
BNSF's important yard at Galesburg is 42 miles to the east. Terraserver   
Passenger- This bridge carries Amtrak's California Zephyr between Illinois and Iowa.
Traffic- heavy (about 100 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.

Fort Madison, IA - Niota, IL 
Bridge #41 runs between Fort Madison, Iowa and Niota, Illinois on the Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe transcon. The first bridge opened here in 1887. This was
replaced by the two level bridge in 1927. The 525-foot swing span is the longest
two level span in the world. There is a westbound double stack train to the west
along the water front. There is a BNSF (CB&Q) line running down the west bank
as well.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap    Johnweeks.Ftmadison
Photo     Photos    Wikipedia     Photo     Photos 
Passenger- This bridge is used by Amtrak's Southwest Chief.
Traffic- heavy (about 110 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
. 

Keokuk, IA - Hamilton, IL 
Bridge #42 brought the Toledo, Peoria and Western into Keokuk, Iowa. This bridge opened in 1870. The TP&W was merged into the ATSF in December 1983.Keokuk Junction Railway purchased 34 miles of track, including this bridge, from the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe in 1986. The Wabash, and later NS had rights over
this bridge to reach Keokuk. The bridge is owned by the city of Keokuk and the
upper deck roadway was closed when the road bridge to the south opened.
There was an interurban crossing the river here (Keokuk Electric ?) but I doubt they had their own bridge.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap    Johnweeks.Keokuk
Photo   KJRY website    KJRY site   Wikipedia   Photo   Photos 
During the big flood in 1993 a Brill trolley car operated on the top of the
Union Electric dam as area bridges were closed.
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.  

Quincy, IL - West Quincy, MO 
Bridge #43 is another Chicago, Burlington and Quincy bridge, connecting Quincy, Illinois to West Quincy, Missouri. The bridge opened in 1868, allowing the CB&Q (through the Hannibal and St. Joseph) to reach Kansas City in 1869. During 1960 the present bridge opened on a new alignment, with sufficient overhead clearance for river traffic. This is now BNSF's secondary Chicago to Kansas City route, with priority traffic going through Fort Madison. Norfolk Southern had trackage rights over this bridge to reach Quincy after 1978. The bridge opened during 1960, replacing an earlier CB&Q bridge just to the south, which had a swing span on the west end.
Terraserver   WikiMapia   Googlemap   Johnweeks.Quincy
Photo    Photo    Wikipedia    Photo    Bridgehunter 
Passenger- Amtrak used this bridge with the Illinois Zephyr starting on November 14, 1971 until the Illinois Zephyr pulled back to Quincy on May 1, 1994. Amtrak does run empty trains accross the bridge to lay over between runs in West Quincy.
Traffic- moderate (40 to 60 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.  

Hannibal, MO - East Hannibal, IL 
Bridge #44 runs between Hannibal, Missouri and East Hannibal, Illinois. This crossing
of the river first opened in 1871 and was built by the Wabash Railway. The Hannibal bridge featured a swing span until December 1993, when a former Southern Railway
lift span from Alabama was installed. The lift span is on the west side, along with a diamond over the BNSF (CB&Q) line followed by the only tunnel that was on the Wabash. The Wabash opened their route to Kansas City in 1894 by using trackage rights over a MKT line (which they later bought) from Hannibal to Moberly. The CB&Q, and later BN, had trackage rights over this bridge until 1978. To the west the line swings south to run beside the BNSF through town before heading west across Missouri.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap     Johnweeks.Hannibal 
Trailryder Photo   Photo   Wikipedia   Bridgehunter   Tunnel article   
This 1999 view shows the railroad bridge to the north with the new road bridge
under construction and the old road bridge to the south.
Terraserver image 
Traffic- moderate (20 to 40 GMT)
Bridge type- lift bridge
. 

Louisiana, MO 
Bridge #45 was a Chicago and Alton bridge that opened in 1873, and was rebuilt during 1898 and again in 1945. During 1878 the C&A had the shortest route from Chicago to Kansas City. The Baltimore and Ohio purchased the railroad in 1929 and sold it in 1945 to the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio. In 1972 the GM&O became part of Illinois Central Gulf, and this line was again sold in 1987 when it became the Chicago, Missouri and Western. It is now Gateway Western, a part of Kansas City Southern.
Terraserver image     Googlemap     WikiMapia     Bridgehunter
Johnweeks.Louisiana     Article    Wikipedia     Photo     Photo
Passenger-  Service lasted until 1960 with a Gulf, Mobile and Ohio motor train
between Kansas City and Bloomington, Illinois.
Traffic- moderate (5 to 10 GMT)
Bridge type- swing span
.  

Alton, IL - West Alton, MO 
Bridge #46 is a former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy bridge that opened in 1894. This swing span drawbridge was used by Burlington Northern until 1988, and was the southernmost moveable bridge over the river. The bridge was just north of the US 67 bridge pictured.
Terraserver   WikiMapia   Googlemap  Photo  Photos  Bridgehunter   Photos 
Traffic- abandoned, and removed
Bridge type- swing span
.  

The next four sites cross into St. Louis from Illinois. They are about 3 miles apart.
St. Louis site   Photos   TRRAsite
.

St. Louis, MO - Venice, IL - Merchants 
Bridge #47 is called Merchants bridge. It opened in 1890, after Eads bridge, and
has been operated by Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis since.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap     Bridgehunter 
Johnweeks.Merchants     Photos    Wikipedia     Photos 
Passenger- Amtrak's Lincoln Service and the Texas Eagle occasionally detour over Merchants rather than the usual MacArthur.
Traffic- light (less than 5 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.  

St. Louis, MO - Venice, IL - McKinley 
Bridge #48 is called McKinley bridge, and was owned by the Illinois Terminal. Construction of the bridge was completed during 1910. The bridge was used until
1979 when the Illinois Terminal moved over to Merchants bridge because the
wooden eastern approach trestle was unsafe.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap     Bridgehunter
Johnweeks.Mckinley    Restoration article   Wikipedia   Photos   Photo 
Passenger- Service ended with St. Louis to Granite City PCC cars on June 21, 1958.
Traffic- abandoned
Bridge type- fixed
.

St. Louis - Eads 
Bridge #49 is Eads bridge. This was the first St. Louis bridge, opening in 1874. The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis was formed in 1889 to run the bridge. The last rail traffic was in 1974 and the bridge was traded to the City in 1989. The
Gateway arch is on the west bank just to the north.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap    Bridgehunter    USACE article
Johnweeks.Eads    Article   Photo   Wikipedia   Photos   Photos   Photos 
Passenger- Eads bridge was used by Amtrak for the National Limited until 1974. The St. Louis MetroLink light rail system now uses Eads Bridge.
Traffic- abandoned (by railroads)
Bridge type- fixed
.

St. Louis - MacArthur 
Bridge #50 is named MacArthur bridge, and it is now the principle railroad crossing at St. Louis. The bridge was built by the city to break the monoply held by the TRRA, owners at the time of Merchants and Eads bridges. MacArthur finally opened to railroad traffic in 1928, after a long delayed construction period. MacArthur was traded to the TRRA in 1989, in exchange for Eads.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap     Bridgehunter
Johnweeks.Macarthur     Wikipedia     Photos     Photos 
Passenger- Amtrak's Lincoln Service and the Texas Eagle use MacArthur Bridge to cross over the Mississippi. 
Traffic- moderate (40 to 60 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
. 

FERRY-The Missouri-Illinois Railroad operated in Illinois and in Missouri and
connected here by boat. Service was from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri to Kellogg,
Illinois between 1902 and July 18, 1961. Bridge #51 was then used until the M-I was merged into the Missouri Pacific.
Terraserver   Googlemap   M-I article
There is a good article on the Mississippi River rail ferry routes in the January 1984 Trains magazine.
.

Thebes
Bridge #51 crosses between Illmo in Missouri and Thebes in Illinois and was built by
the Southern Illinois and Missouri Bridge Company, owned by 5 railroads. Mergers
made this a Missouri Pacific (60%) and St. Louis Southwestern (40%) bridge. The Thebes bridge opened on April 18, 1905. This is now a Union Pacific bridge and BNSF has trackage rights over the bridge from the UP+SP merger. This bridge, and the
route to St. Louis, are covered in the May 1988 issue of Trains and again in the July 1998 issue.
Terraserver     WikiMapia     Googlemap      Bridgehunter  
Johnweeks.Thebes     Article     Photos     Wikipedia    
Passenger- The last regular passenger service here was on the Cotton Belt,
ending in 1959.
Traffic- heavy (over 100 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.

FERRY-The Missouri Pacific operated a ferry here until bridge #51 opened in 1905.
The St. Louis Southwestern also operated here until 1909. The image shows the southern tip of Illinois with the Ohio River coming from the east to join the Mississippi. The services ran from Bird's Point in Missouri at the bottom of the image to Cairo. If you move the image to the north you can see the Illinois Central (now Canadian National) bridge over the Ohio.
Terraserver   Googlemap
. 

FERRY-This run was between the St. Louis & Iron Mountain (later Missouri Pacific)
at Belmont, Missouri over to the Mobile and Ohio in Columbus, Kentucky.
Ferry service ended on this route during 1911.
Terraserver   Googlemap
.

Memphis - Harahan 
The next two bridges are beside each other at Memphis, along with the Interstate 55 bridge.
Bridge #52 is the Harahan bridge, the former Arkansas and Memphis Railway Bridge and Terminal Company (Missouri Pacific, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, and St. Louis Southwestern) bridge. This was opened in 1916 and is now used by Union Pacific. To the west the Union Pacific line at Briark Junction splits with the former Missouri Pacific line heading west for Bald Knob and the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific line (used by Cotton Belt) heads southwest for Brinkley and (formerly) Little Rock. To the east is IC Crossing, where the MP, CRI&P, SSW and SLSF lines met Illinois Central's north-south mainline. This IC line is now Canadian National, and is used by Amtrak's City of New Orleans. Five of the 11 diamonds are still located at IC Junction.
Terraserver    WikiMapia    Googlemap   Johnweeks.Harahan   Article  
Article    Bridgehunter     Wikipedia   Photos   Photo   Photos 
Passenger- The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific ran passenger trains over Harahan Bridge until November 10, 1967.  
Traffic- moderate (40 to 60 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.

Memphis - Frisco 
Bridge #53 is the Frisco Bridge, opened in May of 1892 for the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis. The KCFS&M became part of the St. Louis-San Francisco. SLSF joined Burlington Northern in 1980 and is now BNSF. The third bridge here is Interstate 55.
To the west is Bridge Junction, where the BNSF (SLSF) line crosses over the UP and heads northwest. After 20 miles this line separates at River Junction with one line 
going to St. Louis and the other to Springfield. To the east is IC Crossing, which is now a Canadian National mainline used by Amtrak's City of New Orleans. 
Terraserver   WikiMapia   Googlemap   Johnweeks.Frisco  Article  
Article    Bridgehunter    ASCE article    Wikipedia   Photo   Photos 
Passenger- The last St. Louis-San Francisco passenger train using the bridge
operated on December 9, 1967. 
Traffic- heavy (60 to 100 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
. 

FERRY-This route between Trotters Point in Mississippi and Helena was the only service the Illinois Central had into Arkansas. Service ended with a trestle fire in February 1972 and abandonment happened under ICG on February 7, 1973.
Terraserver   Googlemap
. 

Vicksburg
Bridge #54 is at Vicksburg and was built in 1930. This was on the Yazoo and
Mississippi Valley, part of Illinois Central. The Y&MV had leased the Meridian to Shreveport route in 1926 was merged into the IC in 1946. ICG sold this line to 
MidSouth Rail Corporation on March 31, 1986 and they became part of KCS on January 1, 1994. Norfolk Southern gained access across this bridge during May 2006 when they reached agreement with KCS on their now jointly owned Meridian Speedway.
You can see 2 trains if you move the Terraserver image to the east.
Googlemap   WikiMapia   Bridgehunter   Johnweeks.Vicksburg
Photo     Wikipedia     Photos 
Passenger- The last passenger service over the bridge were Illinois Central 205 and
208 on March 30, 1968.
Traffic- moderate (20 to 40 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.

FERRY-This Missouri Pacific service operated between Natchez, Mississippi and Vidalia, Louisiana. Originally it was the Natchez and Louisiana Transfer Company, starting in 1900. The track in Natchez was called the Natchez and Southern Railway and was the only MP track in Mississippi. Service ended in the summer of 1982. 
Terraserver   Googlemap
. 

FERRY-This was part of the Louisiana Railway and Navigation route between New Orleans and Shreveport. The LR&N became the Louisiana and Arkansas in 1928 and is part of KCS today. The west bank was Naples and Angola is on the east bank. L&A moved onto Texas and Pacific running south from here on the west bank of the Mississippi and sold 17 miles into Angola to the West Feliciana Railway in 1943. 
Terraserver   Googlemap
. 

Baton Rouge
Bridge #55 lies just north of Baton Rouge. Construction started in 1937 and finished in August 1940. It was used by Gulf Coast Lines (Missouri Pacific) and Louisiana and Arkansas (Kansas City Southern). The bridge is now used by Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern. This bridge, like #56, is also called the Huey P. Long Bridge. 
Googlemap    WikiMapia    Wikipedia    Johnweeks.HPL    Photos 
Passenger-  service with the KCS Southern Belle ended at the end of 1969. 
Traffic- moderate (10 to 20 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.

New Orleans
Bridge #56 is the last and the biggest, built to clear ocean shipping. This is the
Huey P. Long bridge, completed in 1935. It is owned by the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, which is owned by the city of New Orleans. Gretna is on the south (west) bank and Metairie is on the north (east) bank. To the south and west is West Bridge junction, where the NOPB meets the Union Pacific (ex Missouri Pacific) and BNSF (ex Southern Pacific). To the north and east is East Bridge Junction where NOPB connects with Canadian National (Illinois Central), Kansas City Southern (Louisiana and Arkansas) and Norfolk Southern. In this Terraserver image from January, 1998 an eastbound train is just about off the bridge with the tail end at the top of the photo.
Googlemap   WikiMapia   Article    Johnweeks.HPL  
Wikipedia     Photos     NOPB     Bridgehunter
Passenger- This is one of eight bridges with Amtrak service, with the tri-weekly
Sunset Limited.  
Traffic- moderate (10 to 20 GMT)
Bridge type- fixed
.

West of New Orleans is the Bonnet Carre' Spillway, crossed by two Canadian National (Illinois Central) lines and a Kansas City Southern line. This could be called part of the Mississippi when the river is high.
USACE site     Johnweeks.BCS

If you have any questions about railroads, try here- http://www.railroaddata.com/  

This is a terrific site. Although it is mostly covering road bridges, there are a lot of railroad bridges that are covered here. 
Bridgehunter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dale's Trackside Guides

#1-Mississippi River Crossings
This is a study of the Railroad crossings over the Mississippi River.

#2-Amtrak's Current Routes
A detailed accounting of which railroad owns every mile of track used by Amtrak.

#3-Class 1 Railroads in the 1950s 
A summary of the 127 class 1 railroads in 1950.

#4-The Milwaukee Road Mainline
Points of interest on the CMSP&P mainline from Chicago to Seattle and Portland.

#5-Montana Rail Link, I&MRL and IC&E Rosters 

#6-GP30 Ownership
A simple rundown of the dozens of owners of GP30 locomotives.

#7-Amtrak's Original Routes
A look at the routes used by Amtrak on May 1st, 1971.

#8-Continental Divide Crossings
A summary of the railroad crossings of the Continental Divide in North America

#9-Iowa's Counties
A listing of the railroads operating in Iowa's 99 Counties today and in
1985 and 1930.

#10-America's Regional Railroads
A look at the 62 current and former Regional Railroads in the United States

#11-AC Ownership
Owners of locomotives with AC traction motors

#12-Ohio's Counties
A listing of the railroads operating in Ohio's 88 Counties today and in
1985 and 1930.

#13-1980
A look at the events that took place during 1980 affecting America's railroads.

#14-Pieces of the Rock
Surviving rail lines and locomotives of the Rock Island Railroad.

#15-Amtrak's Abandoned Routes
A State by State list of routes previously used by Amtrak.

#16-Missouri River Crossings
A study of the Railroad crossings over the Missouri River.

Dale's Nexus

[MP173]

Wow...that was a lot of work.

What is your favorite bridge? Mine is the IC @ Dubuque with the curving tunnel.

ed

[nanaimo73]

I really have not had time to compare them. I am really intrigued by the CMSP&P pontoon bridges (Wabasha#28 and Prairie du Chien#32). The Wabash bridge (Hannibal#43) has a curved tunnel on the west side. What I really like is that they are all different. Before July 31st they had just been names on a map.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Interesting study. The bridges in the Twin Cities are the ones I'm most familiar with.

I believe that #13 is called the Camden bridge, and is indeed CP's third and final crossing of the Mississippi, for trains traveling west from Chicago. The first is just east of LaCrosse WI (#28) and the second is at Hastings MN (#24).

I'm not sure if #14 is in use any longer.

#15 is very much in use by BNSF for their Wilmar line, also the TC&W, and the UP for access to their customers in the west metro (ex C&NW).

#16 is James J. Hill's famous stone arch bridge, which is now being used as a bike and walking path.

#17, there is no bridge, but there was many years ago. The Minneapolis & Western had a very tall steel trestle which I believe started near north end of the I-35W bridge, and crossed the river southwesterly.

#18 is the NP high bridge, still standing, but unused.

#19 is the Milwaukee short line bridge. Once a very vital connection carrying passengers and freight to Minneapolis and points west, it now has been reduced to single track, and is dedicated to serving the Hiawatha Milling District in south Minneapolis. I believe the Minnesota Comercial leases the track from the CP and provides the service.

#20 the Omaha swing bridge, is part of UP's mainline to Mankato and Omaha.

#21 is also part of the UP now. It actually forms a large loop with #22 connecting in South St Paul.

#23 is an interesting bridge, but unfortunately is no longer in use. It Last served as a single lane toll bridge for cars, which used the lower level, while the tracks were on the upper. It has fallen into such disrepair, that it was finally closed to all traffic.

[nanaimo73]

Thank you. That is most helpful. I hope to have this done before September.

[Big_Boy_4005]

You're welcome.

UP's Twin Cities trackage is rather interesting because it runs off in so many directions. Most of it came from the C&NW, but 2 of the 3 bridges came from different sources. As you noted, #21 was built by the CGW. It provided access to St Paul's Union Depot for some of the lesser roads.

#22 was built by the St Paul Bridge & Terminal, which had yards on both sides of the river. My guess is that back in the day, they provided interchange service for all of the railroads in the area. On the west bank, the CGW, CRI&P, Milwaukee Road (who had tracks on both sides of the river). On the east bank, C&NW, CB&Q, NP, GN.

#20 the Omaha swing bridge is a little unusual, though you may not have noticed. It can be seen in the original linked photo(it shows better if you scroll south one frame). Most swing bridges have their pivots at the center of the span. This bridge has a large counter weight to allow for an off center pivot, making the shipping channel wider without making the bridge longer.

Here is a diagram of what UP's track looks like today. See the loop?



On a related note, at one time back in the 30's the Milwaukee Road considered building another bridge across the Mississippi near the mouth of the Minnesota River. This would have replaced a bridge that crossed the Minnesota a couple of miles away. My guess is that the resulting grade would have been more favorable than that of the old Minnesota crossing. Of course it was never built, and today the Minnesota bridge is long gone as well.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Bridge 36 is the double-decked ATSF span at Fort Madison. The Transcon uses the lower level and a highway toll bridge uses the upper level. Note that the navigation channel is closer to the Iowa side.

[Anonymous]

Apparently the bridge across Mississippi at Fort Madison is owned by BNSF, as the toll attendant was wearing BNSF regalia. It only cost a dollar!

[Big_Boy_4005]

Nanaimo, as long as you are making changes to the master list, I think #16 needs work. To say that it is just "another Great Northern bridge" is like saying the Great Pyramid is another pile of rocks. The Stone Arch is among the top 5 masonry railroad viaducts in North America, and perhaps the crown jewel of James J. Hills railroading accomplishments.

Part of what makes it such a spectacular engineering feat, is the nature of the river in that location. Just a few hundred yards upstream, the river plunges about 40 feet, at St Anthony Falls. The force of the water has demolished numerous man made srtuctures placed in it's path, including a power plant, as recently as 10 years ago, yet the bridge still stands.

In the early days Minneapolis got it's start because of the river. Companies like Pillsbury and General Mills owe their existance to the river, which was harnessed to power their first mills along it's west bank.

In the early 60's, the Army Corps of Engineers built lock and dam #1, and removed a section of the stone work replacing it with with a steel truss. This allowed comercial navigation to move about 5 miles north to the Port of Minneapolis, between bridges 13 and 14.

Here is a vintage photo of the Stone Arch Bridge, with C&NW's 400 departing Minneapolis. Beyond the bridge are the mills.

[nanaimo73]

I agree. Today I just wanted to get all of the locations down. I'm guessing I will spend about 30 minutes on each bridge on the history, something like 25 or 30 hours altogether. I don't know how to do this at home and put it all on the forum at once. I don't even know how to "cut and paste". I'll be working on the original post for two or three weeks.

[Big_Boy_4005]

I see, well cutting and pasting is really pretty easy. When you see text you want, hold down the left mouse button, and drag it over the desired text, it will be highlighted. Then right click while on the highlighted area, and a small menu will come up. Copy leaves the original in place, and makes a copy of it on the "clipboard". Cut removes the original text. Paste puts the contents of the clipboard in at the cursor.

If you have a lot of cutting and pasting to do, just start a notepad file, and start dumping everything into it. Then move the chunks around. When you are ready, copy it all to the clipboard, and edit your post. Another option is to have your note pad file open in one window and the forum in another, and move chunks that way.

If you just want part of what I said, copy it. You don't even need to use a quote.

Actually, you must know how to cut and paste. I can't imagine you retyped all those links. Did you??? [swg]

BTW I have photos of a few of the bridges, and can get some of the others If you want.

[Anonymous]

That is an excellent study. Thanks for putting the time in to produce it.

[DanRaitz]

Here is one of my shots of the BNSF crossing in Bemidji, MN

Dan

[nanaimo73]

I was going to post that. Well, actually I still will. I love the Oakways. Do you know if the Soo bridge just to the north is still used ?

[DanRaitz]

No, it is no longer in use. I've also got a shot of the old M&I bridge, that is now used for a bike trail, will post after I get it scanned.

Here it is.

Dan

[Anonymous]

Worked as Operator on Bridge at Sabula, Ia # 30 in Early sixties have fond memories of it . This would be my Favorite

Mike Beckert

[Big_Boy_4005]

I see you have been very busy working on the list. Lookin good.

I happened to be out and about yesterday, and managed to grab some quick shots of some of the Twin Cities bridges. They aren't exactly simple to photograph when you're in a hurry, because the best locations need to be walked to, and I didn't have time.

One thing that makes the Camden bridge (#13) unusual is that there is a switch at the west end, at least 50' from the bank. It can be seen very well in the aerial photo, but land based shots tend to miss that feature. This isn't the best picture, but it does show how the bridge branches off.



Moving down stream, I was mistaken about the status of #14. The BNSF does indeed have customers on the west bank, including a cement plant and at least 2 scrap metal dealers. There may be more. The bridge was reduced from 2 tracks down to 1, but it is alive and well.



As I was heading down the road on the east side of the river, the road crossed over the line that leads to #15. Of course there was a westbound TC&W train, heading for the bridge, but by the time I could get to the spot where I could actually see the bridge, it had crossed.



I didn't mess with the stone arch. If you look at the photo I posted earlier, in the background there is a concrete arch road bridge. That may be one of the best public vantage points remaining to shoot the stone arch.

This brings us to #17 which no longer exists. Here is all that remains of the Minneapolis Western bridge, the east bank approach footing. If you look closely through the other road bridges, you can just make out a small section of the steel trusses of the NP High Bridge (#18).



Here is what the bridge might have looked like if it was still standing.



I never realized that the high bridge had been converted to bike and foot traffic back in 1999. Oops, live and learn.

The Milwaukee Short Line bridge (#19) is another one that will take some location scouting to get a good shot of, and #20, #22and #23 are even tougher without a boat.

Here is a quick shot of the Robert Street Lift Bridge, taken through the windshield of a moving vehicle. There are better vantage points of course.



Here is a photo of the CP's bridge at Hastings (#24). As far as I can tell, this and Robert Street are the only lift style bridges on the Mississippi. This is also the last Mississippi River bridge that is entirely in Minnesota.



I find it quite interesting that for as long as the Mississippi River is, and as many states that use it as a border, more than half of the bridges ever built to span it were built with at least one end in Minnesota. Living near so many of these marvels, it is easy to take them for granted.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Early bridges
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/RiverWeb/Projects/Ambot/Archives/History/ts3.html
This mentions a railroad bridge between Prescott, Wisconsin and Hastings, Minnesota which could be a 52nd site.

Nanaimo, I find parts of this document to be suspect. I know that I am not always right, but I can guarantee you that Hudson Wisconsin is NOT on the MISSISSIPPI. It is on the ST CROIX. The St Croix forms the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin north of the Mississippi, and flows into it at Prescott Wisconsin, about 3 miles down river from Hastings.

The BNSF (ex CB&Q) main to Chicago crosses the mouth of the St Croix at Prescott, and enters Minnesota. There is really only one possibility for there to have been such a bridge 52 in this location, and that would be if a much earlier version of the Milwaukee Road had a very different alignment from present day. The problem with an alignment that followed the river bank more closely, opposite Prescott, is that it is mostly swamp and backwater. There was also the Vermillion River to contend with. Very difficult terrain for a railroad to cross, especially given that there was good solid ground a couple of miles inland.

It is possible that there was an earlier version of bridge 24, but I can't imagine that it would have been very far from where it is today. Then there's the question of what railroad did it belong to?

[nanaimo73]

Yes, I agree with you. I'm going to check it out on
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrhome.html  
when I get time. I wanted to raise the question for other investigators. I looked around on Terraserver and couldn't find anything.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=12&Z=15&X=644&Y=6192&W  
The year given in that link (the one in your quote works) is 1871.

You mentioned St. Paul#24 and Hastings#27 were the only lift bridges you knew of still operating. The Wabash bridge, Hannibal#43, is another.

Was Minneapolis#20 the Minneapolis Western or the Minneapolis and Western ?

[Big_Boy_4005]

That is a cool resource. I didn't plow through everything yet, I kind of went straight to the earliest. The first one only had a single line heading west from St Paul along the east bank, and finally crossing near St Cloud. (circa 1850) No connections to the east.

The next one skipped about 40 years ahead, and showed the lines pretty well developed into their maximum configuration. Unfortunately, I can't link directly to that map (I tried), but it shows the tracks in their current orientation, though the map is rather crude.

I suspect that the 1871 documentation was referring to the bridge at Prescott which crossed the St Croix to a piece of land in Minnesota called Point Douglas. To someone not familiar with the area, they wouldn't really know the difference, and those are the two closest towns. I still don't think we have a "phantom" bridge.

Your teraserver link captured that bridge perfectly, though it is hard to see because it is so dark against the water. The light colored road bridge just to the north stands out much better. The Perscott bridge too is a lift bridge.

Sorry I didn't notice #40 as being a lift. I've been a little too focused on the Minnesota bridges, but as you have posted additional photo links, I have been looking at the others down stream. Kind of hard to tell a lift from overhead.[;)] ED. Now that you mentioned it I see the shadows of of the lift towers on the water.

I am by interest more of a modeler than a railroader, which is part of the reason these bridges interest me so much. On my home layout, I will be representing Hastings, Prescott, and the Milwaukee Short Line, for sure (maybe others).

As you can see from my signature, the focus will be the Amtrak Empire Builder, though that would get rather dull with only 2 trains per day, so there will also be plenty of freight.

The layout starts out on the south end at Red Wing on the CP, with a second leg entering at Prescott on the BNSF. The plan follows the tracks past all of the Twin Cities' bridge locations, with the CP exiting just before the Camden bridge, and the BNSF exiting beyond Northtown.

Minneapolis / Western: To "and" or not to "and", that is the question. A source of great confusion for my aging brain. To add to the confusion, Minneapolis not only had a Western, but also had an Eastern. One had an AND in it's name the other did not.

Unfortunately, my best resource for this information passed away while shoveling snow during the Thanksgiving Blizzard of '91. He used to work for General Mills, and had access to the company archives. He had filing cabinets full of materials he had copied. Very cool stuff. His collection put the Minnesota Historical Society's to shame on this subject matter. One could only imagine what General Mills has in it's vault.

Bill took me on something of a guided tour of the downtown bridge sites, as research for a club layout that he designed, and we were building. That's how I found out about this stuff. Of course that was nearly 20 years ago.

Back to the question at hand, I believe Western has the and, and Eastern does not.

Minneapolis & Western

Minneapolis Eastern

Keep up the good work, you might be able to get this published.[bow][tup][tup][^][:D][8D]

[Big_Boy_4005]

I've had a chance to look at some more of those maps, and have come to some conclusions.

First, railroads back in the 1800's changed names as often as we change underwear.

Second, no matter what they were called, the right of ways were more or less fixed early on, and did not get moved very far if at all, though it is difficult to tell given the crudity and large scale of the early maps.

Third, as of the 1855 map, the Mississippi had not been crossed from Wisconsin. By the mid 1880's there were a number of crossings, including 25,26, and 27.

( I am in mid thunderstorm here, and sometimes my computer reboots when the power filckers. I hate losing posts, so I'm editing.)

Fourth, the first rails to reach the Twin Cities from the east did not cross the Mississippi. They used the BNSF route north of La Crosse, and crossed the St Croix at Prescott.

Are you interested in another river bridge project? The St Croix is also interesting, and there are only 6, though I originally thought there were only 4. [swg]

[Big_Boy_4005]

I see that you have gone back and added a status line for each bridge. Good idea. I think you should consider adding one more class, which would be "demolished". That is a major distinction over abandoned, which I would consider to mean standing but not in use.

Secure may not be the best word to describe a bridge, because it is easy to confuse it's activity level and importance to the railroad with it's structural integrity.

Here are the bridges from Minneapolis to LaCrosse.

13 - high activity
14 - low activity
15 - high activity
16 - abandoned (converted to pedestrian and bike)
17 - demolished
18 - abandoned (converted to pedestrian and bike)
19 - low activity
20 - high activity
21 - high activity
22 - high activity
23 - abandoned
24 - high activity
25 - demolished
26 - demolished
27 - demolished
28 - high activity
29 - demolished

By the way, 16 and 18 are being considered for use with a proposed light rail line between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St Paul.

Here's something else to think about, book keeping. The main post is getting very long, and it is becoming very difficult to see where you are placing new material. Why not take one post per bridge, and break this into chapters. To make it extremely clean, start a new topic here in this forum where it is quiet. Cut and paste the material into each post, if you need help, I can coach you. The really cool part about doing it this way is that little blue arrow in the topic listing, takes you to the last post, including any edits. It makes it very easy to see the updates.

When all is said and done, you can post a link in the main forum, directing people to it.

What do you think?

[nanaimo73]

I would prefer to have locals like yourself comment on how much traffic there is on each bridge.
I'm going to leave it as one monster post. I have all of the links done now. Once I get the histories done I'm going to go over the former Amtrak trains in the Minneapolis area and then cover the pre Amtrak service. That should be it. My attention span on this topic is coming to an end, and I have some other projects I want to get to. The state of this Trackside guides forum is deplorable, and I want to do a monster post each month to change that. My next project will go faster, and it also involves the Twin Cities.

Your suggestion on the status of abandoned bridges is a good one. The trouble is my only guide is terraserver, and some of those images are 20 years old. I would just be telling people what they already saw. Hopefully some other people will come forward and be as helpfull as you have.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Hi Dale, thanks for including me in the main post, it has been fun following your progress on this project. I'm glad you have found my input helpful. There's nothing quite like being there.

I checked out the links to your previous projects, nice work. I really liked the Amrtak stats.

Back in my college days, about 20 years ago, I was a geography major and had to do a thematic map project. I chose to show the rise and fall of railroad milage, and the number of class one roads. It was a lot of research. I never did finish it. I have the graphics handy, but I'll have to do some digging for the data. I may be able to resurect it using the computer, and possibly add one more new map to show the continuing trend.

I spent some time plowing through railpictures.net looking for photos of some of these bridges. In over 60 pages this was all I found. There were a couple more in the early pages before I started recording the links. I'll go back and get them. There are still hundreds to go through. I would agree, there isn't a lot out there.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=110461 Camden Bridge Minneapolis, MN
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=103805 "Omaha" Bridge St Paul, MN
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=107094 Robert St Bridge St Paul, MN
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=104667 Robert St Bridge St Paul, MN
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=105543 Government Bridge Davenport, IA
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=99198 #48 & #49 Memphis, TN
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=110372 KCS Vicksburg, MS
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=110370 KCS Vicksburg, MS
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=101951 KCS Vicksburg, MS

I agree that the popups are annoying, but some of the photos are worth it.

[Murphy Siding]

nanaimo73: I found it! ( this post that is.) This looks like an interesting project. Why did you pick an area so far from home? Or, are you from that area? I started trying to track ( bad pun ) all the current and no longer existing tracks in Iowa, and trace back to who's tracks they were. Believe me, Iowa had a lot of tracks. South Dakota had so reletively few tracks, that a similar project took an afternoon.

Big_Boy_4005: You hit another interest that I've tried to research from time to time-the dwindleing numbers of class ones. Any idea where to find a year by year list of class ones? I think the subject would be an excellent topic for a book by sombody like Brian Solomon. You could have history,geography,nostalgia, maps and pretty pictures all wrapped up in an interesting book.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Murph, If I remember correctly I used Moody's in the business reference section of the library. It was a lot of page flipping. There wasn't just a list, but that was 20 years ago. Prehaps there is an easier way to do it with a computer now.

Class ones over time is a moving target because periodicly the revenue requirements changed. Add to that all of the merger activity over the years, and the number of class ones operating in any given state drops like a rock. I'm not sure what today's revenue levels are. My guess is that Illinois still has the most, but that's almost a no brainer.

I'll try to find my data. I'm sure it's here. Like I said I found the graphics, but I hadn't put any of the text on on the chart. I don't remember what it all means without the key and the years of the survey.

[nanaimo73]

Elliot,
This site shows a bridge at the north end of Brainerd.
Go to the next page and click on the logging railways map.
www.macalester.edu/geography/mage/urban/Brainerd/rail.htm  
Since this is north of the Twin Cities, my numbers for the bridges there will change, and that would make your posted numbers different for now. I won't be changing them for awhile though.
There is supposed to be a book called "Logging Railroads of Northern Minnesota" by Franklin King. I'll see if I can get it through an Interlibrary loan, and I suspect that will add at least one more.

You can see the rails at the bottom just west of the road. This would be the south end of the Minnesota and International which had been the "Brainerd Northern International Railroad" and became part of NP in 1941 or 1942.
www.terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=11&Z=15&X=1023&Y=12842&W

[Big_Boy_4005]

Yup Dale, that's another bridge. The Macalester link is very good with the map and photo. At one time ( as late as the late 70's) there was continuous rail from Little Falls to International Falls via Brainerd and Bemidji. The first piece to go was that short section between Camp Ripley and Brainerd. After that, BN closed the whole thing. I have a railroad atlas published in 1985 that still shows it open.

By the way, MNG is Minnesota National Guard (Camp Ripley). I wouldn't be surprised if BNSF has the state pay for any maintenance on that spur, since they probably wanted to abandon it. I doubt it sees much traffic. Maybe they send a detail out from the camp to clear the weeds from time to time.[swg]

[nanaimo73]

If I knew the year the M&SL bridge at Keithsburg and the CB&Q bridge at Alton opened I would be happy with everything south of Minnesota. The Gophers are causing me grief. I did a search on "Keithsburg rail bridge" and had a good laugh when this thread came up.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Dale, that's happened to me a couple of times too. Searching for something and being sent to something I said.

Remember, computers only know what we tell them.[swg]