Trail Creek Swing Bridge

State: Indiana
Route: Norfolk Southern Railway, Amtrak
Status: Active (Railroad)
Type: Swing Truss, Warren Through Truss

The Trail Creek Swing Bridge carries the Norfolk Southern Railway over Trail Creek in Michigan City, Indiana.

The Trail Creek Swing Bridge carries the Norfolk Southern Railway over Trail Creek in Michigan City, Indiana. It is the only remaining bridge of its type in the state.

The rail line was originally developed as part of the Central Railroad of Michigan’s westward expansion toward Chicago. The route from Kalamazoo, Michigan, to New Buffalo was completed by 1849, and the extension to Michigan City, Indiana, opened in 1850. To facilitate further expansion, the company acquired the Joliet & Northern Indiana Railroad in 1851. ¹

After about 1867, control of the railroad passed to the New York Central Railroad. It later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. Following the breakup of Conrail in 1998, Norfolk Southern Railway acquired much of the former Michigan Central trackage.

The Trail Creek Swing Bridge itself was constructed circa 1905 as a replacement for an earlier structure. The structure is a Warren swing through truss. While J. A. L. Waddell’s 1898 recommendations generally called for 225- to 300-foot swing spans to be built as pin-connected Pratt through trusses with broken top chords, this bridge reflected changing engineering practice in the early twentieth century. Its more limited use of pin connections likely reflected experience showing that movable spans placed added wear on pinned connections.

Today, the bridge remains in railroad service under Norfolk Southern and is also used by Amtrak’s Wolverine service.