We ran across this abandoned railroad bridge out in the middle of Kendall County, near Waring, Texas, while helping with a bicycle ride. It crosses the Guadalupe River, which looks pretty peaceful right now, but can turn into a roaring torrent when flash flooding occurs. Unfortunately, the spot we chose to fly from (paved area on the side of the county road) was apparently private property and we got “asked to leave” after about 20 minutes of flying. But we still managed to capture some great footage while we were in the air.
According to the locals, this bridge was commissioned in 1860 by a local landowner / rancher, but wasn’t completed until the early 1900-1906 date range. In fact, one of the Truss Spans has “1906” cut into the top, visible from the drone. The locals called this bridge the Devil’s Bridge because of the construction. Apparently there’s a safety reason why this bridge got abandoned, just saying…
The bridge was used by 2 Railroads:
– San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway (SA&AP)
– Southern Pacific Railroad (SP)
Design
Three section abandoned R/R Through Truss Bridge. The Eastern approach span is a 135ft long Pratt Through Truss dated 1906. The center span is a 200ft long Pin-Connected Parker Through Truss dated 1900. The main span is a 200ft long replacement section of riveted Parker design (no date). The span is longer than the original and rests on a concrete pier 20 ft beyond the abandoned original stone pier. The Truss sections are approached by wooden trestles on both ends. Total length of bridge is 1070 ft. But there isn’t any sign that there was any train tracks leading up to either end of the bridge, other than the wooden trestles on each end. All rails have been removed.