Heartbreaker--Bridge Demolition in Wheeling, W.Va.

[J3a-614]

This bridge was built in the 1890s by the street railway company of Wheeling, W.Va.; it spanned the "back channel" between Wheeling Island and the town of Bridgeport, Oh. It has been out of service for many years (its replacement was caused partially by inadequate maintenance--note that it had a Bailey temporary truss inside the bridge itself), but I would have had hopes that its ornate design would have made it a candidate for preservation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DC99GJ4SrQ

I guess it was too much to hope for.

The late W. J. B. Gwynn, a noted railroad and trolley photographer and historian in the Wheeling area, was a motorman on the street railway that ran across this bridge; he would have crossed it countless times as a motorman back in the day.