RailroadsUnder Review

Twin Bollman truss bridges replace the Fink crossing at Rowlesburg

The Rowlesburg B&O crossing entered its Bollman-truss generation in 1870, following the earlier Fink bridge, according to HAER. A Smithsonian archival image dated circa 1870 records two adjacent bridges over the Cheat River, each carrying one track across two spans, with water spouts beside the tracks. The image provides a view of the crossing between its Fink and Warren generations; its later repair and replacement history still requires investigation.

Rowlesburg Cheat River Preston County

Research status

This entry is under review.

Questions have been raised about its identification or supporting evidence. See the research notes below for the issue being investigated.

How verification works

Sources and further reading

Where this entry comes from

Historic American Engineering Record, HAER WV-13, B&O Railroad, Rowlesburg Bridge, written historical and descriptive data (transmitted 1984); Smithsonian Institution, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, NMAH.AC.1086

Read the HAER bridge history Library of Congress — HAER WV-13 catalog and photographs The Kanabec County Times, July 19, 1888, page 2 — flood report

Research notes

What the evidence establishes

Identification under review. The Smithsonian catalogs this photograph as twin single-track Bollman bridges over the Cheat River at Rowlesburg, circa 1870. Questions have been raised about the identification based on the history of double-tracking and the track alignment visible in the photograph. PCTT is reviewing additional railroad and local-history evidence before treating the identification as settled.

Contemporary newspaper coverage of the July 1888 flood reported an iron B&O bridge at Rowlesburg washed away. How that report fits HAER’s three-bridge chronology remains unresolved: the affected structure or span and any subsequent rebuilding have not been established.

The Smithsonian dates Box 18, Item 697 to circa 1870. The image date is approximate. This entry does not assume that the bridges shown remained unchanged until the Warren bridge was built.

From the Smithsonian collections

Twin Bollman bridges over the Cheat River

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records · Circa 1870

Smithsonian’s catalog describes twin single-track, double-span Bollman bridges and water spouts at the 21st section, 253 miles from Baltimore at Rowlesburg.