The Metropolis Bridge is a railroad bridge which spans the Ohio River at Metropolis, Illinois . Originally built for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad , construction began in 1914 under the direction of engineer Ralph Modjeski .
10-461: The bridge consists of the following: (from north to south) Total length of the bridge is 6,424 feet (1,958 m). The largest span stretches 708 feet (216 m), and remains the longest pin-connected simple through truss span in the world. Cost of the bridge when built was $ 4,000,000. Not long after completion in 1917, ownership of the bridge was passed on to the Paducah and Illinois Railroad ,
20-466: A CTC -controlled mainline with welded rail and even a section of multiple main track nearly 20 miles (32 km) long between Paducah and just east of Calvert City . This is a huge improvement from the little amount of traffic and poor condition the line was in by the time the ICG had sold it. Today it is a big regional class II railroad connecting with four class I railroads (listed above), as well as
30-419: A regional railroad , is a railroad company that is not Class I , but still has a substantial amount of traffic or trackage (and is thus not a short line ). The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has defined the lower bound as 350 miles (560 km) of track or $ 40 million in annual operating revenue. (The Class I threshold is $ 250 million, adjusted for inflation since 1991. ). As of 2021 ,
40-659: A few large grain elevators] and mine equipment suppliers, warehouses, transloads, bulk terminals, riverports, and one military base ." The parent company of the PAL, P&L Transportation , also operates the Appalachian and Ohio Railroad , Evansville Western Railway and the Midway Southern Railway . Regional railroad In the United States , a Class II railroad , sometimes referred to as
50-588: A newly formed railroad jointly owned by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway . In 1925, the Illinois Central Railroad purchased a 1/3 share of the Paducah and Illinois Railroad, and assumed operations and maintenance, as the bridge served as an important link in their newly completed Edgewood-Fulton Cutoff route. As of 2013, the bridge
60-537: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a bridge in Kentucky is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Paducah and Illinois Railroad 37°5′3″N 88°35′41.1″W / 37.08417°N 88.594750°W / 37.08417; -88.594750 The Paducah & Louisville Railway ( reporting mark PAL ) is a Class II railroad that operates freight service between Paducah and Louisville, Kentucky . The line
70-638: Is located entirely within the Commonwealth of Kentucky . The 270-mile (430 km) line was purchased from Illinois Central Gulf Railroad in August, 1986. The 223-mile (359 km) main route runs between Paducah and Louisville with branch lines from Paducah to Kevil and Mayfield, Kentucky and another from Cecilia to Elizabethtown, Kentucky . The PAL interchanges with Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and Canadian National (CN), formerly Illinois Central Railroad , in Paducah. In Madisonville ,
80-594: Is still owned by the Paducah and Illinois Railroad, with operations managed by Illinois Central Railroad successor Canadian National Railway and bridge maintenance/inspection managed by the BNSF Railway , where it continues to see heavy use. This article about a specific rail bridge in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a bridge in Illinois
90-609: The line interchanges with CSX Transportation (CSXT). In Louisville, the line interchanges with the Indiana Rail Road (INRD), CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Norfolk Southern (NS). Class III line connections are at Princeton with the Fredonia Valley Railroad (FVRR) and at Louisville with the Louisville and Indiana Railroad (LIRC). The line today carries over 200,000 carloads of traffic on
100-463: The three shortline connections it makes which are also listed above. It has 270 route-miles of track, of which 233 miles (375 km) are its mainline running between its namesake towns of Paducah and Louisville, as well as branch lines to Mayfield , Kevil , and Elizabethtown . The railroad serves "many chemical plants and other manufacturing companies, several coal mines, numerous clay and stone quarries, lumber and propane distributors, farm [including
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