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Saturday, August 12, 2017

Old and New Bridgeport, AL river bridge

Old and New Bridgeport, AL river bridge

This is an important spot for railroads in the south as all of the CSX trains that run from Nashville to Chattanooga cross through here. I can't find any details on how old the old bridge is, but the river was first crossed here by NCStL in 1852.

The bridges here cross the Tennessee River. One of the reasons this spot was picked is there is an approx 1000 ft. island 2/3 of the way to the other side at this spot. The tracks cross the wider 1000 ft. portion of the river with what you see in the foreground, and then there is a smaller 500 ft. lift bridge in the background.

The lift bridge was placed here in 1981 from unused train line elsewhere. It's rather inaccessible unless you're a railroad employee who takes a gravel road on the other side.

Bridgeport, AL Lift bridge

Unfortunately, the pedestrian bridge clearly marks it's for employees only, which is a shame.

I'm not sure how new the new bridge on the left is. It's at least newer than 1995. On GreenFrog.com, (a great website for railfan videos) they have a CSX video from Chattanooga to Nashville, filmed in the mid 90's and featuring the bridges here before the new one was built.

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