The Chamberlain Rail Bridge is a railroad bridge located the state of
South Dakota which crosses the
Missouri River, spanning 4,890 feet (0.9 mi) from the city of
Chamberlain on the eastern side to the town of
Oacoma, located on the western side of the river. It is owned by the state of
South Dakota and operated by
Dakota Southern Railway.
History
The bridge formed the easternmost link of the
Milwaukee Road
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...
's Black Hills Division. This line, completed in 1907, connected
Rapid City, South Dakota to the company's Iowa and Dakota Division at Chamberlain. The present structure was constructed in 1953 to replace an earlier 1923 rail bridge that would have been submerged by the construction of dams on the
Missouri River and subsequent creation of
Lake Francis Case.
The bridge uses sections from the older bridge, which are easily visible today. The bridge measures 4,890 feet (0.9 mi) long, which made it the longest bridge in the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.
In 1980, the Milwaukee Road abandoned this line along with many others due to unprofitably and the looming corporate bankruptcy. The state of
South Dakota bought the line, which included the bridge, from the Milwaukee Road. Until 1987, the line sat dormant.
In 1987, the
Dakota Southern Railway, headquartered in Chamberlain, took over operations of the line, and it has been operated by them ever since, In the 1990s and early 2000s, due to lack of customers and grain not being profitable, no trains passed on this bridge westbound. However, with a 2005 agreement with the
BNSF Railroad
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
and a few repairs to the bridge,
trains have been using the bridge ever since for westbound customers.
References
{{coord, 43.7984, -99.3586, type:landmark_region:US-SD, display=title
Railroad bridges in South Dakota