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This Old Railroad Bridge is
looking old and it should. It has been around for more than a half
century. Many a train has crossed the river on this old bridge. The
picture above is looking toward the Muhlenberg County side and the
bridge is in the raised position. This operation is remotely
controlled now and during periods of barge traffic, it is kept up
until a train approaches. Then from a central control office a
button is pushed and the bridge lowers, locks in position and
signals the approaching train that it is safe to cross. Other than
this feature and the bridge needing a good paint job, it is as I
remember when, as a lad, we would swim in the river and play on the
bridge. This was our playground.......
This picture is of the same
bridge and of the same time frame. It is a view looking toward the
Ohio County side of the river. It is still an old bridge and needs
painting. This view shows two piers while the previous view showed
the one pier on the Muhlenberg County side. Does any question enter
your mind while viewing the piers? One does mine. The middle pier
supports two spans and the Muhlenberg County pier supports the one
span and the mechanism and heavier bridge section, while the Ohio
County pier does not seem to support near the weight and it is a
larger pier. Notice how much larger the Ohio County Side pier is in
comparison to the others. I have always wondered why this pier was
not only larger, but also round. The other two piers are more oval
in shape. Well, stay tuned. I think that I finally found out the
reason.....
Swinging Bridge Over Green
River!
Well good, you say.
What does this bridge have to do
with Rockport?
Look Closely-It is
Rockport!
Rockport Railroad Turn
Table Bridge! Well, I never heard. View is looking upriver and
it appears to be during a flood period. The water is high and
surrounds the pier that is supporting the "Swinging" section. A tug
with several barges seems to be passing between piers. The tug is a
larger tug than what we used to see and appears to be pushing six
barges. Don't ever remember seeing six barges in tow, but they were
probably smaller then, than those today. Great job of the
photographer and someone has marked the picture to indicate that it
was taken before 1932. Thanks to Hilma for the picture.
Another picture of the Rockport "Swinging
Bridge".
Again thanks to Hilma.
As you
can see, someone has ID'ed this picture and have indicated that it
was being guarded by soldiers during World War I. If you will think
back, there is an old road that runs along the "High Bank" of the
river and runs from the Highway Bridge to the Railroad Bridge,
crossing under the Railroad Bridge and connecting to Old Highway 62.
This military encampment appears to be on this river side of the old
road. I just never knew, nor to my knowledge was I ever told of a
"Swinging Bridge" nor of the bridge being "Guarded" during World War
I.
Again, if you have reached this point, thanks for
looking. Please feel free to inform me if you do not want this
sort of e-mail in your mailbox. Hope this small message was
worth your time and effort and that you felt some enjoyment as
well. To be informed of a period of time, that most
of us were not yet on this earth, is more easily done when old
pictures are available. Thanks to Hilma for providing the
old pictures.
See you......
jrd
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