Canadian Southern Railway Kettle Creek Bridge - St. Thomas, Ontario - Engineering Landmarks on Waymarking.com

Built in 1929 on the site of two previous rail trestles dating as far back as 1871, the trestle spans 1300 meters of the Kettle Creek valley at the west end of the city. The towering structure was built to withstand the weight of two full steam locomotives on separate tracks, a major engineering achievement of its time. Originally built for the Michigan Central Railway, which traversed Southwestern Ontario from Detroit to Buffalo, the trestle and line were most recently owned by CN Rail which declared it surplus.

The CSR single-track, timber-trestle over Kettle Creek at St. Thomas was completed in February, 1872. The trestle was made of framed timber, carried a single track, and was 28m (92 feet) high and 416 m (1,365 feet) long. It consisted of 14 Howe truss deck spans supported on timber bents. The longest span over Kettle Creek was 13.7 m (45 feet).

In 1883, the year after the CSR was leased to the MCR, the timber trestle was replaced with a double-tracked, metal structure 425 m (1,395 feet) long and 28.3m (93 feet) above the creek bed. The bridge deck was supported on metal trestle bents that formed towers 9.1 m (30 feet) long at their tops (in the direction of the rail). Between the towers was a clear span of 13.7 m (45 feet). The deck was constructed of plate girders which carried an unballasted track structure. The viaduct was the same length as the previous timber trestle. Although the bridge was double-tracked, trains travelling in opposite directions were prohibited from meeting each other on the structure.

The design for a replacement structure over Kettle Creek was underway in 1928. The final plan was selected to involved minimal disturbance to rail traffic during the rebuilding. The general contract for the work was awarded on April 25, 1929. The entire project cost $689,000 (at the time). The entire work, except for field painting and the hand railings was completed on January 3, 1930. The steel was fabricated by the Canadian Bridge Company in Walkerville, Ontario.

As built, the structure consisted of 13 piers however, since the abutments were also counted as piers, the bridge was described as having 15 piers. The piers were constructed of concrete except for the centre one which was a steel-truss. The main, eight spans were 22.9 m (75 feet) and provided a clear span of 18.3 m (60 feet) between the piers. The two piers at each end were shorter and less massive, being built on the slop of the earthworks. The main piers were approximately 27.4 m (90 feet) tall except for pier five which was located within Kettle Creek and was 33.2 m (109 feet).

Source: www.elevatedpark.ca/about-the-bridge/

Location: The plaque is located on one of the piers (beneath the bridge), and is accessed off Fingal Line about 20 meters west of the intersection of Fingal Line and Sunset Drive. Traveling westbound from St Thomas, cross Sunset Drive and turn into the first driveway on the left (south) side of the road. The land is part of the Elevated Park. Access to the bridge deck (Elevated Park) is near King St and Center St. Type of structure/site: Bridge Date of Construction: 1928 - 1930 Engineering Organization Listing: Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Web Site: [Web Link] Engineer/Architect/Builder etc.: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
The listed coordinates for this waymark must be personally visited.

Please submit at least one ORIGINAL PHOTO of the structure, preferably one showing a different aspect, angle, season, etc. from the original waymark.

Give the DATE of your visit and any comments or additional information that will help other visitors enjoy this site.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.