Sunday, November 5, 2023
Watertown Plank Road Overpass
This bridge in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, was built in 1910 by the Cleary-White Construction Company of Chicago for the Milwaukee, Sparta & Northwestern Railroad, as part of a 9-mile double track line that opened in 1911 from West Allis north to Butler, location of a 21-track yard with a capacity of 1500 freight cars intended to relieve congestion from the yards in downtown Milwaukee. The 175-foot 7-panel riveted Parker through truss main span was built by the Pennsylvania Steel Company of Steelton, Pennsylvania, and carried the railroad over the route completed in 1855 by the Milwaukee & Watertown Railroad, a predecessor of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Four approach spans built by the American Bridge Company of New York extend the bridge to a total length of 490 feet, crossing Underwood Creek and Watertown Plank Road, which began as a toll road in the 1830s. In 1912, the Milwaukee, Sparta & Northwestern Railroad was taken over by the Chicago & North Western Railway, which was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad in 1995. Meanwhile, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad was purchased by the Soo Line Railroad in 1985, which was subsequently absorbed by its parent company Canadian Pacific in 1992. This picture was taken from Mayfair Road during the Milwaukee School of Engineering Society of Model Engineers New Member Orientation Program in December 1997 and was saved from the SOME files.
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