Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1
History and
Development of Steel
Railway Bridges
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The need for reliable transportation systems evolved with the industrial revolution.
By the early nineteenth century, it was necessary to transport materials, finished
goods, and people over greater distances in shorter times. These needs, in conjunction
with the development of steam power,
∗
heralded the birth of the railroad. The steam
locomotive with a trailing train of passenger or freight cars became a principal means
of transportation. In turn, the railroad industry became the primary catalyst in the
evolution of materials and engineering mechanics in the latter half of the nineteenth
century.
The railroad revolutionized the nineteenth century. Railroad transportation com-
menced in England on the Stockton to Darlington Railway in 1823 and the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway in 1830. The first commercial railroad in the United States
was the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad, which was chartered in 1827.
Construction of the associated railroad infrastructure required that a great many
wood, masonry, and metal bridges be built. Bridges were required for live loads that
had not been previously encountered by bridge builders.
†
The first railroad bridge
in the United States was a wooden arch-stiffened truss built by the B&O in 1830.
Further railroad expansion
‡
and rapidly increasing locomotive weights, particularly
in the United States following the Civil War, provoked a strong demand for longer
and stronger railway bridges. In response, a great many metal girder, arch, truss,
and suspension bridges were built to accommodate railroad expansion, which was
∗
Nicolas Cugnot is credited with production of the first steam-powered vehicle in 1769. Small steam-
powered industrial carts and trams were manufactured in England in the early years of the nineteenth
century and George Stephenson built the first steam locomotive, the “Rocket,” for use on the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway in 1829.
†
Before early locomotives, bridges carried primarily pedestrian, equestrian, and light cart traffic. Railroad
locomotive axle loads were about 11,000 lb on the B&O Railroad in 1835.
‡
For example, in the 1840s charters to hundreds of railway companies were issued by the British
government.
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