Louisville Railfanning: A vertical lift bridge in action and drone video of two century old bridges

For this railfan trip, we’re heading 90 minutes southwest to Louisville.
We’ll be focusing on the 14th Street Bridge and the Kentucky and Indiana Terminal bridge, with a little about Norfolk Southern’s Youngtown Yard.
I’ve driven by the 14th Street Bridge many times and always wanted to learn more about it.
It was a Sunday, so I didn’t know if I would see anything come across.
The bridge was in its raised position, but within a few minutes of arriving, I heard a loud siren blast from it.
I figured that meant a train was coming and sure enough it started to lower.
I hurried to get set up and just barely caught this CSX as it slowly made its way across the bridge.
A short time later, I was able to get my drone in the air and pace the train as it crept along.
The bridge is also known as the Ohio Falls Bridge among several others.
The truss drawbridge connects Louisville and Clarksville.
It was originally built in 1870 but was rebuilt around 1919. During the rebuild, the drawbridge replaced the original swing span.
It’s about 60 feet shy of a mile in length. Its longest span is more than 640 feet long and is about 100 feet above the river.
It was built for two tracks and carried double tracks but currently only has one track.
The Louisville and Indiana Railroad purchased the bridge from Conrail in 1994, after buying its line between Louisville and Indianapolis.
The draw span is across the upstream end of the Louisville and Portland Canal. The canal leads to the McAlpine Locks and Dam, which empty near the Kentucky and Indiana Terminal Bridge.
The distant signal to the bridge at the 11th street crossing is a fixed approach, but looks like it was originally designed to show two aspects.
I caught a westbound as it was approaching the Kentucky and Indiana Terminal Bridge. It doubled out and then headed west into Indiana.
Then a CSX local popped its head out for a second but then backed down. I got several pictures of the engine turning the wye a little later but didn’t see what happened with the train.
I grabbed a quick lunch and when I came back there was an eastbound train just sitting there.
A westbound intermodal started to double out and I was able to get some drone video of it and of the bridge.
Finished in 1912, this bridge replaced a previous one built in 1886. It connects Louisville and New Albany.
Not as long as the 14th Street bridge, this one is just over 4,500 feet long. That’s including the approaches though, the actual river span is about 2,400 feet in length.
It has a lane for auto traffic on each side. Originally fitted with a wooden road surface, that was replaced with steel decking in 1952. The northbound lane was closed in 1979 after part of it collapsed because of an overweight dump truck, but supposedly employees are still allowed to use the southbound lane to cross the river.
It was built with a swing span but it only opened twice before being permanently locked down in 1955. The cylindrical pier it sits on is visible toward the Indiana side.
Like the 14th Street bridge, this is also about 100 feet above the river.
The Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad, was owned by the Baltimore & Ohio, Southern and Monon. It was eventually folded into the Norfolk Southern, which now owns also Youngtown Yard.
From Youngtown Yard, cargo makes its way to Evansville, St. Louis and Kansas City.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much information on the yard. What I could find, says it was used by the Monon as the terminal to its traffic, along with the B & O and Southern. It is a flat track sorting yard, no hump. It does have a roundtable though.
I noticed that the control point between the yard and the bridge is DI Tower. I didn't find any information specifically to Youngtown Yard but it appears that is used elsewhere. I found a mention of it on CincyRails.com.
It says “All trains arriving at Gest Street yard must call "DI" Tower.”
So, I assume it has something to do with yards.
Please let me know if you have more information, I would really appreciate it.
I’ll be back in Louisville soon. We will focus on CSX, as well as the L & N and its history in the city.
For our next trip though, we’re heading northeast to Columbus. We’ll take a closer look at the bridges crossing the Scioto River in Downtown and Norfolk Southern’s Buckeye Yard, as well as, CSX’s Parsons Yard.
I hope you’ll join me. Until then, have a great day.
Here are the sources I found the information contained in this video.
http://bridgehunter.com/ky/jefferson/...
https://monon.org/bygone_site/bygone/...
http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com...
https://bridgehunter.com/ky/jefferson...
http://www.trainweb.org/kitrrhistory/...