Forest Street Bridge (S)

Trestle and I-Beam over Forest Street

Eau Claire, Wisconsin

In 1870 and 1871 the Western Wisconsin Railway and St. Paul and Taylors Falls Railway began a joint project to build a line connecting St. Paul, Minnesota to Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The line also connected to Augusta and points east via a line that was built the same time.

Starting in St. Paul, the line would leave on the east side, cross the St. Croix River at Hudson, and continue through such towns as Roberts, Baldwin, Woodville, Knapp and Elk Mound before arriving on the north side of downtown Eau Claire. The main terminal was east of Eau Claire in Altoona.

The railroads were purchased by the Chicago, St. Paul Milwaukee and Omaha, which later started to dissolve into the Chicago Northwestern.

Over the next 40 years the line experianced major changes. Many sections of the line were relocated.

Also, in 1911, 1912 and 1913 a second mainline track was built. This resulted in many relocations, and many new bridges.

Perhaps the most famous of all these is the relocation off of the 1880 bridge over the Chippewa River in Eau Claire, and onto a new bypass around the north side of town. This also meant a new double track bridge was built about a mile above the old bridge. This happened in 1903, and the bridge was rebuilt in 1911.

The line was heavily used to get to Milwaukee from places such as Sioux City via the Twin Cities.

The second mainline was removed in many places around 1963. Although some segments of it still exist.

The Union Pacific came into control of the Chicago Northwestern in 1995. Today this line still is a mainline, and is known as the Altoona Sub. It sees a half-dozen trains a day.
05/20/12

This is the southern of the 2 bridges that cross Forest Street in this area. The other is the Forest Street Bridge (N)

This is also the highest. This one served the branch line that went from the mainline just east of here to the mainline just east of present day WI-312. Along the way the line crossed the Chippewa River at the Northwestern Railroad Bridge

There isn't anything too unusual about this bridge. It is just a simple bridge.

The photo above is looking at the north face.



The photo above is looking at the main span. The photo below is looking at the south face with the Forest Street Bridge (N) in the background.






The photo above is looking at the west pier. The photo below is looking at the east pier.






The photo above is looking at the east approach. The photo below is looking from Forest Street again.

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