The Swift Creek Rail Bridge was a granite and iron

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

over Swift Creek in Virginia. The Tidewater and Western Railroad included a bridge over Swift Creek that had been built by an earlier railroad company, the Clover Hill Railroad. The bridge was used during the whole time the four railroad companies operated rails over the bridge. The metal on the bridge was sold as part of foreclosure of the final company in 1917.

Geography and settings

The Swift Creek Rail Bridge in Chesterfield County crossed Swift Creek, one of the two major creeks in the county. The Bridge crossed the creek, east of Carver Heights Drive,

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, past a landfill and behind a housing complex west of Bright Hope Road, which is near Beach Road. The creek is narrow, because this point is west, upstream, of the

fall line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is noticeable especially the place rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the ...

and the creek is not tidal here.

Architecture

Eastern Abutment of the Bright Hope Railroad Bridge over Swift Creek

The remains of the bridge are granite

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s that are twenty feet wide indicating that it was a

Truss Bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

. The bridge was one thirty foot span. The abutments were made of granite that was mined using star drills as shown by the drill holes. The Petersburg granite is readily available in the area.

History

The Swift Creek Rail Bridge was owned by four railroads.

Clover Hill Railroad

The bridge was constructed for the Clover Hill Railroad and Mining Company to get coal trains over Swift Creek in 1841. The tracks were standard gauge at that time. The State of Virginia declared this bridge sound in 1878.

Brighthope Railway

The Brighthope Railway bought the Clover Hill in bankruptcy and became the new owners of the bridge in 1877. The new owners increased passenger travel. In, 1881, the Brighthope owners converted the gauge to narrow gauge.

Farmville and Powhatan Railroad

The

Farmville and Powhatan Railroad In 1886, Randolph Harrison, of the Virginia department of Agriculture, cited Cumberland Mining Company, stating that businessmen would soon open a hotel at Lithia Springs, Farmville, VA for people seeking the healing waters. The Brighthope railway ...

became the new owners in 1884. The Farmville and Powhatan allowed a telegraph to be added to the rails, which would have had a powered telegraph line across the bridge.

Tidewater and Western Railroad

The

Tidewater and Western Railroad The Farmville and Powhatan Railroad went bankrupt in 1905 and became the Tidewater and Western Railroad. The line survived until 1917 when it was pulled up and sent to France for the World War I effort. The Tidewater and Western Railroad carried ...

bought the bankrupt Farmville and Powhatan in 1905 and went bankrupt themselves in 1917. Creditors sold the rails and other assets to the World War One Effort in France. Only the granite abutments remain today. Another bridge takes Beach Road across Swift Creek. A residential road named Bright Hope is nearby.

References

{{Reflist Railway services discontinued in 1917 Rail freight transportation in the United States Defunct Virginia railroads Former railway bridges in the United States Iron bridges in the United States Truss bridges in the United States Railroad bridges in Virginia Buildings and structures in Chesterfield County, Virginia