Turnertown Railroad Bridge

State: West Virginia
Route: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
Status: Abandoned or Closed
Type: Pratt Through Truss
Total Length: 157'

The Turnertown Railroad Bridge carried the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and Monongahela Valley Traction over the West Fork at Turnertown, West Virginia.

The Turnertown Railroad Bridge carried the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and, earlier, the Monongahela Valley Traction Company interurban over the West Fork River at Turnertown, West Virginia.

The Monongahela Valley Traction Company completed its interurban extension from Clarksburg to Weston in 1913, which required a crossing over the West Fork River at Turnertown. ^{1 2 3} The interurban branch remained in service until its abandonment in 1947.

The following year, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to reroute its Richwood Subdivision traffic between Jane Lew and Weston over the former Monongahela Valley Traction alignment. The proposed realignment allowed the B&O to bypass the steep grade over Fisher Summit. The commission approved the request, and the rerouted line officially entered service in 1952.

The West Fork River bridge was most likely replaced as part of the realignment. To support heavier locomotives and coal-loaded hopper cars, the B&O appears to have reused a Pratt through truss bridge built in 1894 by the Pencoyd Bridge & Construction Company of Pencoyd, Pennsylvania, relocating it to Turnertown from another railroad property.