By 1880, the Des Moines & Knoxville would complete the line a remaining 32 miles to Des Moines. Both routes became part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
CB&Q had built a number of routes throughout southern Iowa. In 1968, a new Des Moines River crossing opened near Runnells, and the CB&Q route into Des Moines was abandoned. In 1970, they merged with Great Northern and Northern Pacific to form Burlington Northern.
By 1996, the BN merged with Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe to form BNSF Railway, who currently operates this route as the Des Moines Subdivision.
10/24/21
Located near Harvey, this large through girder bridge is the eastern crossing of English Creek.
The girder span was originally built in 1892 by Keystone Bridge Company at an unknown location. The steel stringer span on the east approach was also secondhand material, but it is unknown where or when it was originally built.
In 1939, the two steel spans were moved here to replace a trestle, and were set onto concrete piers. The through girder was also strengthened at this time. Trestle approaches remained on either side of the steel spans.
However, the west approach was replaced by modular concrete beam spans in 2001, and the east approach was replaced in 2020, including the steel stringer span.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in good condition. The piers of the bridge are unusual, as they are a shape more commonly seen on highways.
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.