Train on Sibley Railroad Bridge (cropped)

Santa Fe Bridge over the Missouri River, Sibley, Mo

The Sibley Railroad Bridge is a three-span

through truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

single-track railroad bridge belonging to the

BNSF Railway 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 ...

between

Jackson County, Missouri Jackson County is located in the western portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 717,204. making it the second-most populous county in the state (after St. Louis County). Although Independence retains ...

, and

Ray County, Missouri Ray County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,158. Its county seat is Richmond. The county was organized N ...

, at Sibley. The bridge carries the BNSF Marceline Subdivision over the Missouri River. It is the only single-track segment of the subdivision. The original 1887-88 bridge was a three-span Whipple through truss and was later reconstructed with Parker through truss spans. Besides the freight trains of BNSF Railway, it is also used by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff ...

''. After reaching the south bank of the river, the tracks curve west and pass Kansas City Power & Light Company's Sibley Operating Station, a coal-fired electrical generating plant. A now-removed loop track around the plant formerly allowed coal delivery to the plant by rail. The plant's 757-foot chimney is visible from several miles away. The bridge can be viewed from the observation deck of the

Fort Osage Fort Osage (also known as Fort Clark or Fort Sibley) was an early 19th-century factory trading post run by the United States Government in western Missouri on the American frontier; it was located in present-day Sibley, Missouri. The Treaty of ...

visitor's center.

References

Bridgehunter.com profile
{{coord, 39.1801, -94.1793, display=title Buildings and structures in Jackson County, Missouri Buildings and structures in Ray County, Missouri BNSF Railway bridges Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Railroad bridges in Missouri Parker truss bridges in the United States

See also

References