Swift Creek Rail Bridge
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Railroad Bridge over Swift Creek | |
|---|---|
 Western Abutment of the Bright Hope Railroad Bridge over Swift Creek | |
| Coordinates | 37°21′01″N 77°30′41″W / 37.3502°N 77.5113°W |
| Carries | Steam locomotives. |
| Crosses | Swift Creek (Virginia) |
| Locale | Chesterfield County, Virginia |
| Owner | Clover Hill Railroad, Brighthope Railway, Farmville and Powhatan Railroad, and then Tidewater and Western Railroad |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Truss bridge |
| Material | Granite |
| Total length | 30 ft.[1] |
| Width | 20 ft. |
| No. of spans | 1 |
| No. of lanes | 1 |
| Rail characteristics | |
| Track gauge | Standard, 3 ft (914 mm) after 1881 |
| History | |
| Construction end | c.1841 |
| Closed | 1917 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 2 Passenger or passenger and freight trains each way six days a week. Up to six coal trains each way daily. |
| Location | |
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The Swift Creek Rail Bridge was a granite and iron truss bridge over Swift Creek in Virginia. The Tidewater and Western Railroad included a bridge over Swift Creek that had been built by an earlier railroad company, the Clover Hill Railroad. The bridge was used during the whole time the four railroad companies operated rails over the bridge. The metal on the bridge was sold as part of foreclosure of the final company in 1917.
The Swift Creek Rail Bridge in Chesterfield County crossed Swift Creek, one of the two major creeks in the county. The Bridge crossed the creek, east of Carver Heights Drive, Chester, past a landfill and behind a housing complex west of Bright Hope Road, which is near Beach Road. The creek is narrow, because this point is west, upstream, of the fall line and the creek is not tidal here.
Architecture
The remains of the bridge are granite abutments that are twenty feet wide indicating that it was a Truss Bridge. The bridge was one thirty foot span. The abutments were made of granite that was mined using star drills as shown by the drill holes. The Petersburg granite is readily available in the area.
