Niagara Cantilever Bridge
Encyclopedia
The Niagara Cantilever Bridge or Michigan Central Railway Cantilever Bridge was a cantilever bridge
across the Niagara Gorge
. An international railway-only bridge between Canada
and the United States
, it connected Niagara Falls
, New York
, and Niagara Falls
, Ontario
, located just south of the Whirlpool Bridge, and opened to traffic in 1883, it was replaced by the Michigan Central Railway Steel Arch Bridge
in 1925.
in Germany (1867), with a central span of 38 m.
The next important cantilever was built by American engineer C. Shaler Smith, ten years later in 1877. It provided the first practical test of the application of the cantilever principle to long-span bridge design. He built what was then the world's longest cantilever for the Cincinnati Southern Railway over a 366 m wide and 84 m deep gorge of the Kentucky River
near Dixville, Kentucky.
Other important counterbalanced spans are the Michigan Central Railroad bridge over the Niagara Gorge (this bridge), designed by Charles Conrad Schneider
/Apolda
in 1883. With cantilever arms supporting a simple suspended truss, this 151 m span and, the nearly identical Fraser River Bridge in British Columbia
, Canada
, directed the attention of the engineering world to this new bridge form. These two were the prototypes for subsequent cantilevers, the Poughkeepsie Bridge
over the Hudson River
in New York, Young's High Bridge over the Kentucky River, the Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland, and the Quebec Bridge
in Canada.
The Michigan Central Railway Bridge was the dream of financier and railway developer Cornelius Vanderbilt
. Vanderbilt needed a rail link between Canada and the USA, but was not prepared to pay the high rental price which the owners of the Lower Arch Bridge (the first railway bridge across the gorge) were asking for in lieu of using their bridge.
Mr. Vanderbilt owned the Michigan Central Railway and had controlling interest in the Canada Southern Railway
. In lieu of paying rent, he decided to build a new bridge. Vanderbilt formed the Niagara River Bridge Company and received a charter to build a new bridge from both the Canadian and US authorities.
On April 9, 1883, the Niagara River Bridge Company signed a contract with the Central Bridge Works Company of Buffalo New York to build this bridge. The chief engineer was Charles C. Schneider. This first bridge of cantilever design at Niagara, was built across the Niagara Gorge by engineer Edmund Hayes, of the Central Bridge Works Company, at a site just south of the Lower Arch Bridge. (the Whirlpool Bridge)
Construction of this bridge began on April 15, 1883. The contractors were working against a deadline of November 1. Every day afterwards, the contractor had to pay a penalty of $500 per day. The 40.3 meter (132.6 ft) high towers were completed on October 11. The contractor soon realized that it would not be possible to complete the bridge and railway tracks by November 1. They anticipated they could put 25 foot (7.6 m) sections onto each side of the bridge every two days and connect the center span in five days.
Each cantilever measuring 99 meters (325 ft) long and 7.9 meters (26 ft) high where they were anchored were in place by November 18. Two 7.5 meter (25 ft) long sections were attached and extended from each cantilever. The center span was measured and sent to the company's Buffalo, New York plant for fabrication. Each end was made of a section constructed of steel extending from each shoreline nearly half way across the gorge. Each section was supported near its center by a steel tower from which extended two lever arms, one reaching the shore while the other extended over the river 175 feet (53 m) beyond the towers. By the outer arm having no support and being subjected the same as the shore arm to the weight of the trains, a counter advantage is given to the shore arm being firmly anchored to the rock on shore. The towers on each side rose from the water level below. The bridge span was 495 feet (151 m). The ends of the cantilevers extended 395 feet (120 m) from the abutments leaving a gap of 120 feet (37 m) which was filled by an ordinary truss type bridge hung form the ends of the cantilever.
Provisions had been built into this bridge to allow for expansion and contraction, allowing the ends to move freely as the temperature changed. The total length of the bridge was 906 feet (276 m). It had a double track and had the capacity to bear the weight of two trains crossing at the same time producing a side pressure equal to a 75 mile per hour (120 km/h) wind. The railway was 240 feet (73 m) above the Niagara River.
On November 21, media reports indicated that the bridge had been completed, linking Canada and the USA together. On December 1, 1883, the bridge was officially completed. The bridge had cost $700,000 US dollars. On December 6, 1883 at 11:41 a.m., the first crossing of this new bridge was made. It consisted of an engine pulling a tender and passenger car. The passenger car carried a number of dignitaries including railway Superintendent G. H. Burrows.
Schneider's bridge had a useful life of over 40 years during a period when rolling stock on the railroads grew much heavier. The speed of erection of a new style bridge coupled with its performance made it one of the most innovative and significant bridges built in the world up to that time.
The Niagara River
saw the following crossings in the 19th century (in chronological order):
Cantilever bridge
A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from...
across the Niagara Gorge
Niagara Gorge
Niagara Gorge is a gorge carved by the Niagara River along the US-Canadian border in New York and Ontario. As Niagara Falls recedes upstream toward Lake Erie, the river has gouged the hard dolomitic limestone of the Niagara escarpment to form the gorge...
. An international railway-only bridge between Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it connected Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, located just south of the Whirlpool Bridge, and opened to traffic in 1883, it was replaced by the Michigan Central Railway Steel Arch Bridge
Michigan Central Railway Bridge
The Michigan Central Railway Bridge is a steel arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge was designed by William Perry Taylor, Chief Engineer J.L. Delming and consulting Norwegian-born engineer Olaf Hoff.Construction on the bridge...
in 1925.
Background
Although British engineers suggested using the cantilever form as a replacement for non-statically determinate trusses as early as 1846, the first modern cantilever actually built was Heinrich Gerber's Hassfurt Bridge over the Main RiverMain river
Main rivers are a statutory type of watercourse in England and Wales, usually larger streams and rivers, but also include some smaller watercourses. A main river is defined as a watercourse marked as such on a main river map, and can include any structure or appliance for controlling or regulating...
in Germany (1867), with a central span of 38 m.
The next important cantilever was built by American engineer C. Shaler Smith, ten years later in 1877. It provided the first practical test of the application of the cantilever principle to long-span bridge design. He built what was then the world's longest cantilever for the Cincinnati Southern Railway over a 366 m wide and 84 m deep gorge of the Kentucky River
Kentucky River
The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long, in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The river and its tributaries drain much of the central region of the state, with its upper course passing through the coal-mining regions of the Cumberland Mountains, and its lower course passing through the...
near Dixville, Kentucky.
Other important counterbalanced spans are the Michigan Central Railroad bridge over the Niagara Gorge (this bridge), designed by Charles Conrad Schneider
Charles Conrad Schneider
Charles Conrad Schneider , often referred to as C. C. Schneider, was an American civil engineer and bridge designer.-Biography:Schneider was born in Apolda in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. He graduated from the Royal Technical School at Chemnitz, Germany, in 1864, and came to the United...
/Apolda
Apolda
Apolda is a town in central Thuringia, Germany, the capital of the Weimarer Land district. It is situated in the center of the triangle Weimar - Jena - Naumburg near the river Ilm, c. 15 km east by north from Weimar, on the main line of railway from Berlin via Halle, to...
in 1883. With cantilever arms supporting a simple suspended truss, this 151 m span and, the nearly identical Fraser River Bridge in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, directed the attention of the engineering world to this new bridge form. These two were the prototypes for subsequent cantilevers, the Poughkeepsie Bridge
Poughkeepsie Bridge
The Poughkeepsie Bridge is a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie, New York on the east bank and Highland, New York on the west bank...
over the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
in New York, Young's High Bridge over the Kentucky River, the Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland, and the Quebec Bridge
Quebec Bridge
right|thumb|Lifting the centre span in place was considered to be a major engineering achievement. Photo caption from [[Popular Mechanics]] Magazine, December 1917...
in Canada.
Construction History
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt , also known by the sobriquet Commodore, was an American entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads. He was also the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest Americans in history...
. Vanderbilt needed a rail link between Canada and the USA, but was not prepared to pay the high rental price which the owners of the Lower Arch Bridge (the first railway bridge across the gorge) were asking for in lieu of using their bridge.
Mr. Vanderbilt owned the Michigan Central Railway and had controlling interest in the Canada Southern Railway
Canada Southern Railway
The Canada Southern Railway was a railway in southern Ontario, Canada, founded on February 28, 1868 as the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway. It adopted the Canada Southern Railway name on December 24, 1869. In 1904 the railway was leased to the Michigan Central Railroad for 99 years; in 1929 it...
. In lieu of paying rent, he decided to build a new bridge. Vanderbilt formed the Niagara River Bridge Company and received a charter to build a new bridge from both the Canadian and US authorities.
On April 9, 1883, the Niagara River Bridge Company signed a contract with the Central Bridge Works Company of Buffalo New York to build this bridge. The chief engineer was Charles C. Schneider. This first bridge of cantilever design at Niagara, was built across the Niagara Gorge by engineer Edmund Hayes, of the Central Bridge Works Company, at a site just south of the Lower Arch Bridge. (the Whirlpool Bridge)
Construction of this bridge began on April 15, 1883. The contractors were working against a deadline of November 1. Every day afterwards, the contractor had to pay a penalty of $500 per day. The 40.3 meter (132.6 ft) high towers were completed on October 11. The contractor soon realized that it would not be possible to complete the bridge and railway tracks by November 1. They anticipated they could put 25 foot (7.6 m) sections onto each side of the bridge every two days and connect the center span in five days.
Each cantilever measuring 99 meters (325 ft) long and 7.9 meters (26 ft) high where they were anchored were in place by November 18. Two 7.5 meter (25 ft) long sections were attached and extended from each cantilever. The center span was measured and sent to the company's Buffalo, New York plant for fabrication. Each end was made of a section constructed of steel extending from each shoreline nearly half way across the gorge. Each section was supported near its center by a steel tower from which extended two lever arms, one reaching the shore while the other extended over the river 175 feet (53 m) beyond the towers. By the outer arm having no support and being subjected the same as the shore arm to the weight of the trains, a counter advantage is given to the shore arm being firmly anchored to the rock on shore. The towers on each side rose from the water level below. The bridge span was 495 feet (151 m). The ends of the cantilevers extended 395 feet (120 m) from the abutments leaving a gap of 120 feet (37 m) which was filled by an ordinary truss type bridge hung form the ends of the cantilever.
Provisions had been built into this bridge to allow for expansion and contraction, allowing the ends to move freely as the temperature changed. The total length of the bridge was 906 feet (276 m). It had a double track and had the capacity to bear the weight of two trains crossing at the same time producing a side pressure equal to a 75 mile per hour (120 km/h) wind. The railway was 240 feet (73 m) above the Niagara River.
On November 21, media reports indicated that the bridge had been completed, linking Canada and the USA together. On December 1, 1883, the bridge was officially completed. The bridge had cost $700,000 US dollars. On December 6, 1883 at 11:41 a.m., the first crossing of this new bridge was made. It consisted of an engine pulling a tender and passenger car. The passenger car carried a number of dignitaries including railway Superintendent G. H. Burrows.
Schneider's bridge had a useful life of over 40 years during a period when rolling stock on the railroads grew much heavier. The speed of erection of a new style bridge coupled with its performance made it one of the most innovative and significant bridges built in the world up to that time.
List of bridges across the Niagara River
The Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
saw the following crossings in the 19th century (in chronological order):
- John Roebling's Niagara Falls Suspension BridgeNiagara Falls Suspension BridgeThe Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge was the world's first working railway suspension bridge. It spanned and stood downstream of Niagara Falls from 1855 to 1897...
, - Samuel Keefer's Honeymoon Bridge,
- Edward Serrell's Lewiston-Queenston BridgeLewiston-Queenston BridgeThe Lewiston–Queenston Bridge is an arch bridge that crosses the Niagara River gorge just south of the Niagara Escarpment. The bridge was officially opened on November 1, 1962. It is an international bridge between the United States and Canada. It connects Interstate 190 in the town of Lewiston,...
, - Schneider's cantilever (this bridge),
- Leffert Buck's arch bridge at the falls
- Buck's Niagara Railway Arch Bridge, built under and into the Roebling's suspension bridge.
See also
- Michigan Central Railway BridgeMichigan Central Railway BridgeThe Michigan Central Railway Bridge is a steel arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge was designed by William Perry Taylor, Chief Engineer J.L. Delming and consulting Norwegian-born engineer Olaf Hoff.Construction on the bridge...
— 1925 arch bridge that replaced the Niagara Cantilever Bridge
External links
- Francis E. Griggs, Jr., Niagara Cantilever, Journal of Bridge Engineering, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 2-11 (January/February 2003)
- Niagarafrontier.com article on Michigan Central Cantilever Bridge
- "The Test of Cantilever" poem by James Walton Jackson
Image links
- From niagara.edu library collection construction image showing tower bent, shoreside falsework, and cantilever section with traveling cantilever crane
- from niagara.edu library collection operation image showing two trains crossing
- small image showing stabilising guy wires
- Samuel J. Dixon crossing the Gorge on a high-wire on July 17, 1891
- The Bridge in 1894
- Action shot from Niagarapoetry.ca
- Cantilever Bridge in front of Whirlpool Bridge arch railway bridge
- other way round both from Niagara Falls Railway Museum
