Niagara Cantilever Bridge

43.108055555556 - 79.058055555556Koordinaten: 43 ° 6 ' 29 " N, 79 ° 3' 29" W

F1

Michigan Central Railroad / Canada Southern Railway and successor

Niagara gorge

The Niagara Cantilever Bridge or Michigan Central Railway Cantilever Bridge was a cantilever bridge over the Niagara Gorge. As an international railway bridge between Canada and the United States she joined the American city of Niagara Falls in the American state of New York and the Canadian city of Clifton, the case in the Canadian province of Ontario from 1903 was part of the newly formed Canadian city of Niagara. 1883 the bridge was opened to traffic. It lay south of the former Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge ( the later through the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge ( Lower Arch Bridge ) has been replaced ). 1925, the Niagara Cantilever Bridge was replaced with the Michigan Central Railway Bridge.

Background

Although British engineers in 1846 proposed to use the Gerber carrier as a replacement for static non- specific structures, the first modern cantilever bridge, which was actually built, Gottfried Heinrich Gerber was Haßfurter bridge over the Main River from 1867 with a span of 38 m.

The next important cantilever bridge was built by the American engineer Charles Shaler Smith ten years later. She introduced the first practical test for the application of Gerber support to the construction of long bridges dar. This hitherto longest bridge of this type led the Cincinnati Southern Railway over a 366 m wide and 84 m deep gorge of the Kentucky River in Dixville.

The Michigan Central Railway Cantilever Bridge and almost identical Fraser River Bridge in British Columbia called the interest of the engineering world out for this new type of construction. They were the prototypes for the Poughkeepsie Bridge across the Hudson River in New York, the Young's High Bridge over the Kentucky River, the Forth Bridge in Scotland, and Quebec Bridge.

Architectural History

The Michigan Central Railway Cantilever Bridge was a project of financier and railroad pioneer Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt needed a rail link between Canada and the U.S., but was not willing to pay the high rent for the use of the Lower Arch Bridge. He was the owner of the Michigan Central Railroad and keen to take over the control of the Canada Southern Railway.

Vanderbilt decided to build a new bridge. To this end, he founded the Niagara River Bridge Company and was commissioned by the Canadian and U.S. authorities to carry out the construction.

On April 9, 1883, the Company signed a contract with the Central Bridge Works Company in Buffalo. Chief engineer was Charles Conrad Schneider, the engineer Edmund Hayes directed the construction, which began on 15 April of the same year. As a completion date of November 1 was provided. For each day, the execution took moreover, was to be paid a penalty of USD 500.

The piers were completed on October 11. The company was soon aware that it would not be feasible to complete the bridge and tracks on the scheduled date. It was assumed that every two days by a progression of 7.6 m on each side, and five days for the connection of the central piece. On November 18, all the drivers were installed.

On November 21, the press reported that the bridge was completed and Canada and the U.S. connect. Official completion date was the 1st Dezember 1883. The bridge had cost $ 700,000. The first crossing of the bridge took place on December 6 at 11 Clock 41 The train consisted of a locomotive and tender and a passenger car, sat in the important personalities. A stress test with two simultaneously the bridge passing heavy freight trains and the festive inauguration took place on 20 December.

After the commissioning of the new Michigan Central Railway Steel Arch Bridge in 1925, the Niagara Cantilever Bridge was demolished and the materials sold as scrap.

Schneider's bridge had a useful life of more than 40 years, in a time in which the train service increased rapidly. Due to the speed of the construction of this bridge in a new design and their long life she was with the period one of the most advanced bridges in the world.

Construction

The pillars were 40.3 m high, the carrier each 99 m long and 7.9 m high at the anchorage. Each of the two ends of the bridge consisted of a piece of steel that had almost reach over the center of the canyon from a bank. The booms were each supported near their midpoints by a steel pillar, of the two support arms went out: one who reached the shore, while the other 53 m stuck in the canyon beyond. Since the outer arms had no support and just as exposed to the weight of the trains were like the shore side arms, they had to be firmly anchored in the rocks on the shore.

The bridge span was 151 m. The ends of the beams spanned 120 m, so that a gap of 37 m was created, which was closed with an ordinary, suspended from the ends of the cantilever truss bridge. To allow the bridge expansion and contraction by the temperature storage were incorporated.

Overall, the bridge has a length of 276 m. She had two tracks and could withstand the weight of two trains that simultaneously crossed the bridge. The railroad served aboard her 73 m above the Niagara River.