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Though I was really out there to photograph the Muon G-2 ring, I was tickled to find another photographic subject very much inline with my interests at canal side: this 1898-built railroad swing bridge. Though I often talk about things like Art Deco and Neo-classical when I talk about architecture, this beautiful, raw 19th century industrial metalwork really calls to me too.
I wanted the mass of the steel to show in the way the superstructure seems to press down onto the corridor of travel, shaping it into a steel-lined tunnel.
Span and Trusses - Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
This style of movable bridge is called a swing bridge because the entire span of the bridge swings away clear of the canal to make room for tall vessels. This is a picture of the turntable on the north bank of the canal that functions as the bridge's pivot point.
I look at this and imagine the engineers who designed this kind of machinery and the people who built it in an age of steam-power and horse-drawn wagons.
Turntable - Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
Despite being a venerable 115 years old, this is a functioning railroad bridge. Here, Burlington, Northern, and Santa Fe number 4152 leads a freight train over the Sanitary and Ship Canal. The resiliency of the metalwork would make my grandfather happy.
BNSF 4152 Crossing the Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
The canal is place with a long history of work and industry right up to the present as well. Here a workboat and her crew pass westward under the bridge, down the canal and away from Chicago and Lake Michigan.
The tug pushing the ring I was there to photograph came from the opposite direction, pushing the ring on a journey northward from New Orleans up the Mississippi. The Sanitary and Ship Canal is the only shipping link between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes.
Workboat Under the Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
After hours of waiting, the main attraction finally arrived. Seeing this enormous piece of 21st century cutting-edge engineering juxtaposed with a beautiful, and equally functional piece of 19th century craftsmanship was a really satisfying feeling. I wish I had a picture that put them in a better, more interesting visual relationship.
Past and Future in the Present Moment at the Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
I wanted the mass of the steel to show in the way the superstructure seems to press down onto the corridor of travel, shaping it into a steel-lined tunnel.
Span and Trusses - Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
This style of movable bridge is called a swing bridge because the entire span of the bridge swings away clear of the canal to make room for tall vessels. This is a picture of the turntable on the north bank of the canal that functions as the bridge's pivot point.
I look at this and imagine the engineers who designed this kind of machinery and the people who built it in an age of steam-power and horse-drawn wagons.
Turntable - Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
Despite being a venerable 115 years old, this is a functioning railroad bridge. Here, Burlington, Northern, and Santa Fe number 4152 leads a freight train over the Sanitary and Ship Canal. The resiliency of the metalwork would make my grandfather happy.
BNSF 4152 Crossing the Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
The canal is place with a long history of work and industry right up to the present as well. Here a workboat and her crew pass westward under the bridge, down the canal and away from Chicago and Lake Michigan.
The tug pushing the ring I was there to photograph came from the opposite direction, pushing the ring on a journey northward from New Orleans up the Mississippi. The Sanitary and Ship Canal is the only shipping link between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes.
Workboat Under the Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013
After hours of waiting, the main attraction finally arrived. Seeing this enormous piece of 21st century cutting-edge engineering juxtaposed with a beautiful, and equally functional piece of 19th century craftsmanship was a really satisfying feeling. I wish I had a picture that put them in a better, more interesting visual relationship.
Past and Future in the Present Moment at the Lemont Swing Bridge
Copyright Stormdog 2013