The Atchison and St. Joseph Railroad would complete the St. Joseph-Winthrop portion in 1861; and begin construction on the North Kansas City-Weston portion of the line in 1863.
The Weston and Atchison Railroad would complete the lines between Weston and Winthrop. These two railroads would be merged back together in 1867 to form the Missouri Valley Railroad; which completed the North Kansas City-Weston portion of the line.
In 1867, the St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad built an 81 mile line from St. Joseph, Missouri to the Iowa border. The entire line would parallel the Missouri River from Kansas City northwards.
By 1870; the railroad would be reorganized as the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad. This railroad also built a number of other branch lines and relocated significant portions of trackage along the Missouri River.
In 1901, the railroad would be formally merged into the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad; which had constructed a large amount of trackage around the region. The line was critical for connecting Council Bluffs to Kansas City.
The CB&Q continued to operate this as a mainline; until 1970. In 1970, the CB&Q would merge with Great Northern and Northern Pacific to form Burlington Northern; a large railroad which operated a consierable amount of trackage through the area.
In 1996, BN merged with the struggling Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to form BNSF Railway; the current operator of the line.
This portion is currently the southern part of the St. Joseph subdivision.
11/15/21
This small truss crosses Brush Creek as part of a parallel set of bridges. They are located near NW River Road and I-435.
The original construction here consisted of a single, riveted 5-panel Baltimore Through Truss. This span was set onto concrete substructures and approached by wooden trestle spans.
In 2005, BNSF decided to redouble track this segment of line. The previous double track had been removed in the 1950s. As part of this project, a parallel modular concrete bridge was built alongside the existing truss; and the approaches were replaced with a pair of modular concrete spans.
This new development with a parallel span indicates that this bridge may be replaced within the near future. As a small crossing, it would be a prime target to remove and replace with a single through girder span.
While the author hopes that this will not be necessary, it is also hoped that it could be available for reuse to nearby parks should it be replaced.
There is a missing plaque of an unidentified builder. The author hopes to do more research on this bridge to confirm the build date.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair to good condition. Some strengthening of the truss was noticed previously.
Historic photo of the bridge, from The Railroad Gazette: Volume 42 Issue 11
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common nature and small size of this structure.
The photo above is an overview.