General George C. Marshall Railway Bridge

Destroyed Bridge - New Bridge 1945


1st Bn. crew driving 16-inch piles to support the Mainz abutment and retaining wall.


Footing from ready for pouring. Note reinforcing and pile tops.

25-ton test load on driven timber pile.

View of 1st Bn. job site and RR siding.


Pouring footings for LST piers. The lower twelve-inch bearing beams were hung from wood joists and adjustzed to correct level by surveys prior to pouring concrete. In all, 520 cu. yds were poured.


Erecting one of the 16 prefabricated LST piers with the aid of a 3/4 yd. rig. Footing beams are set four inches in concrete and tied with twelve-inch drift pins.

Setting first meter beam on Mainz side,
14 November 1945.


Setting footing sills for LST piers.

Surveyor checking center to center of completed Light Standard Trestling with capping steel welded in place.

Normal 70 feet span with four meter beams in place bearing on three layers of capping steel.


First beam set by 2nd Bn. on 3 November 1945 between piers 23 and 24.

Welders working on meter beam cross-bracing from underslung scaffolding.

2 yd. rig with Vulcan No. 1 air-hammer driving piles for first water pier on 1st Bn. side.

Fastening ties to floor beams and safety rail to ties on the truss.


2nd Bn. driving pier 19 of navigation span with steam rig-supply barge alongside composed of 3-25 ton pontoons supporting lengths of 50-foot piles.

View of through truss setting on piers 19 and 20, spanning navigation channel. Pier 20, in foreground, shows welded cross-bracing completed.


Finishing touches! Laying ties, track, walkway and guardrail on the 15th of December 1945.

Congratulation! First train across on 19 December 1945. Left to right, M/Sgt Sherlock, Cpt Sauls, Capt Baker, Colonel Heath Twichell, Lt Col E.H. Smith, Major R.G. Sieder, M/Sgt S.D. Smith.

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