The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Bridge was a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

that carried the

Richmond and Petersburg Railroad The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad moved passengers and goods between Richmond and Petersburg from 1838 to 1898. It survived the American Civil War and eventually merged into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1900. History The Richmond and Pe ...

and several later railroads including the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...

and the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

over the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. It was first built in 1838 and after going through four different bridges was finally torn down in 1970. The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Company (R&P) was chartered on March 14, 1836, with available capital of $800,000. The company was unique in that its bridges could also be used for "travel by horseback, carriage, sheep, cattle, and hogs" in addition to the regular use by the train. This condition was not allowed at the James River unless the consent of the owners of Mayo's bridge (the first bridge of the James at Richmond and in 1836 the only) was secured. Work on the railroad began in summer 1836 with Moncure Robinson as chief engineer. In May 1838 the railroad had completed a track running from the south bank of the James River at Manchester to the north bank of the Appomattox at Pocahontas and in September of that year a bridge was completed over the James. Originally, the R&P did not have a bridge over the Appomattox River as they used the Manchester and Petersburg Turnpike Company's bridge to transport freight and passengers across the river. Thus, there was no railroad bridge over the Appomattox until 1867 when the R&P ran a line over the river to connect with the

Petersburg Railroad The Petersburg Railroad ran from Petersburg, Virginia, south to Garysburg, North Carolina, from which it ran to Weldon via trackage rights over the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad (later eliminated with a new alignment). History Founding In 183 ...

. The bridge was destroyed by the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

on April 2, 1865, in anticipation of the

Fall of Richmond The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cla ...

. Shortly after the war ended, the federal government and the railroad company rebuilt the bridge over the James River, a , trestle bridge. It opened on May 26, 1866, and was built at a cost of $118,245. The bridge was burned again in 1882 when sparks from a locomotive caused a fire on the bridge. It was rebuilt the following year. In 1898, the R&P merged with the

, which ran south from Petersburg, Virginia, to Garysburg, North Carolina (near the rail hub of Weldon), to form the Atlantic Coast Line of Virginia and in 1900 this company was merged into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, creating a non stop railroad from

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

to Richmond. Beyond Richmond, the ACL used the tracks of the

Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad comp ...

and other numerous railroads to extend their line to the Potomac River and subsequently

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

and all points north. Two years after the founding of the ACL, in 1902, the bridge was rebuilt for the fourth time. For some reason, the new railroad company decided to forsake the old, tall granite piers in favor of new, shorter concrete piers. This may have been because of the age of the granite piers or perhaps the concrete was thought to be stronger. An interesting historical note about these newer stone piers is that some have fallen over in the years since the bridge was taken down in 1970 while all of the original 1838 brick piers still stand tall. Throughout the first 15 years of the 20th century, the ACL continued to use the old R&P RR bridge at Richmond to transport passengers. Freight was transported on a connection line that split off from the RF&P line west of Richmond and went south to join the R&P line south of Manchester. This line predated the incorporation of the ACL and was operated jointly by both the RF&P and R&P. In 1916, this belt line was made into a double track to accommodate increased freight and passenger traffic (which was now too voluminous to go down the original connector railroad on Byrd St in the middle of Richmond). The line was serviced by the Broad Street Station which became a massive center of rail transportation in Richmond. The old connector railroad was torn up and the old R&P rail lines in and near Richmond were discontinued although the ACL maintained its headquarters at Byrd St Station, the original Richmond station of the R&P. In 1967, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company merged with its longtime rival, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company, to create a new railroad termed the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. This was brought upon by a decrease in passenger travel as the car became much more economical than a train. In 1970, the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad bridge was removed as it no longer served any purpose along with the original of the R&P as they had been superseded by other adjacent lines owned by the same company. Today, the concrete and granite piers of the bridge can still be seen just upstream of the Manchester Bridge. Its south side has been used for rock climbing since the 1980s. The former railroad bed, once on the outskirts of Manchester, has been greatly encroached on by development. Yet, from an aerial map, the former route can be vaguely traced out; from the ground, very little can be seen of the second steam railroad to service Richmond as it has been overgrown by shrubs, trees, and other plant life.

References

{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Bridge (demolished) , bridge signs = , upstream = T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream = Manchester Bridge , downstream signs= US 60

Bridges over the James River (Virginia) History of Richmond, Virginia Bridges completed in 1838 Bridges in Richmond, Virginia Railroad bridges in Virginia Viaducts in the United States Lattice truss bridges in the United States