Lockport Railroad Bridge

"The Upside Down Bridge"

This bridge is a multi-span railroad bridge built in 1902 by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The main span which crosses the river is a Baltimore deck truss. The bridge was referred to as the upside down bridge because it was supposedly built as such to limit the size of boats that could use the Erie canal, to help benefit somebody, I am not sure who! Ships with tall masts might be unable to fit under this bridge. It turns out that this didn't matter, since by the 1910s all bridges built on the canal had far less clearance than this bridge. Also there is nothing unusual about seeing a deck truss in a location like this. Railroad companies often selected a deck truss for valley crossings. In an engineering sense, the bridge is not an upside down through truss, it is a deck truss, as is evidenced by the extensive bracing between the trusses. Compare the main span of this bridge to the Grand River Railroad Bridge.

The entire bridge is multi-span. Running from east to west, here is the span rundown:

1. A very tiny through plate girder span.

2. A large through plate girder span passing over Market Street.

3. A square-shaped Pratt deck truss span passing over some of the valley and a private road.

4. The main trapezoidal Baltimore deck truss over Erie Canal.

5. A deck plate girder span.

The supports for the main span are stone capped with concreter on the top. The connections on the truss spans are riveted, and l-lacing and lattice is on several members. The bridge carries one set of tracks. Span number one, as listed above is perhaps the smallest plate girder I have seen, and it is barely worthy of being called a through plate girder, as it is only perhaps six inches above the deck! The plate girder overpass is a nice classic through plate girder, with lots of rivets and curved ends. The approach deck truss is similar to the main span, save the perpendicular end posts and a standard Pratt configuration. The main span is fairly large, and is actually a Baltimore truss, which adds to the interest of the bridge. The deck plate girder span looks like an average deck girder span. All the spans appear to be original, and built at the same time. The bridge looks like it still carries trains, but not a bunch, based on how rusty the tracks were.