There is a new posting on the Ahead of the Torch website by a gentleman named Oren B. Helbok concerning a bridge on the old Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (now BNSF) west of Chicago. The concrete abutment on the Ogden Avenue (U.S. Route 34) underpass has the old Burlington Route herald embossed directly into the concrete. The embossed heralds survival is definitely interesting since it is now over 85 years old, but what was also interesting was the lines identification for the bridge itself. Instead of just painting the 30.52 somewhere on the bridge, the CB&Q cast a embossed concrete post showing that 30.52 number. Was this a common way to identify bridges (or other railroad structures) on the Burlington or other lines? I had never seen that type of bridge identification before Mr. Helbok's photos.

Thanks for any info.

Les

30.52 would be the milepost location of the bridge.

This is a common way RRs label bridges, 0.00 gives you the location within 50 feet.

I have see it marked in just about every way possible, plaques, tin signs, stencils, impressed into the concrete, written with a arc welder.

-Hudson

Hudson -

Thanks. So then I guess you're telling me that this concrete bridge mileage post was a common marking on the CB&Q, and also on other railroads.

Les

Back in the day, the Reading had cast iron bridge number signs, with the number expressed as a fraction based on the milepost. For example, a bridge at milepost 200.58 would be identified as:
200
58
...on the sign.

But I never actually saw any such bridge number signs. If the bridge was marked as all, the fractional number was painted somewhere on each end of the bridge - black numbers on a white background. The PRR marked their bridges the same way.

From the 1920s through the 1950s, RDG would cast the year of the bridge's construction in one of the abutment walls as shown in the attached photo. When I was there in the '70s, the steel forms and changeable digits for forming these date stamps were still stored in the blueprint room on the 13th Floor of Reading Terminal. I probably could have saved a sample after ConRail took over but alas didn't think of it at the time. Plus, the diamond-shaped plaque, being about two feet by 18 inches, might have been just a bit too heavy to carry home on the Crestmont Express....

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.

Mr. Lovejoy -

Thanks for your input. Interesting that the Reading had cast iron bridge number markers. The embossed concrete bridge sign mentioned on the CB&Q used a decimal point for the bridge location (30.52) whereas the Reading apparently used the "fraction type" nomenclature as you explained. Either the Reading's method or the Burlington Route's would probably have lasted a lot longer than just the painting of the mileage spot on the bridge itself. I know of at least that one surviving concrete post on the "Q", do any Reading cast iron bridge markers still exist? Either in place, or preserved as an artifact?

Les

The Main Street bridge in Lisle, which is a few miles east of the Ogden Ave. bridge, also has a concrete tombstone-type marker. It is "24" as I recall. "A-1913" is also stamped in the bridge, so I presume that is the date it was erected. I haven't seen that done anywhere else along the ex-CB&Q line - either the tombstone-type marker, or the herald or date cast into the bridge. I will say from my limited observations that they are the exceptions, not the rules. These bridges are also exceptions due to their ages - many of the other bridges on the line were built or rebuilt much later, in the 1960s and 1970s, such as at route 59, Naper Boulevard, Washington St., etc. These later bridges don't have any markings on them in terms of mileposts I can see. The Ogden Ave. bridge is also a rarity in that the road underneath it was re-routed about 30 years ago, but the bridge wasn't replaced.

Chris.

Chris -

Thanks! Sounds as if the "tombstone style" concrete embossed post identifying the mileage, was somewhat of a rarity on the Burlington. I don't ever recall seeing one, but I wasn't really looking for them either in those "days of old".

Les