The Quincy Rail Bridge carries rail lines across the Mississippi River between West Quincy, Missouri, and Quincy, Illinois, USA. It was originally constructed for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, a predecessor of BNSF Railway.
From the 1950s until 1971 it served the Kansas City Zephyr and American Royal Zephyr daily passenger trains between Chicago and Kansas City. It served Amtrak's Illinois Zephyr from Chicago to West Quincy, Missouri, from 1971 to 1993.
Since the Great Flood of 1993 the Amtrak Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg services terminate at the Quincy station, although after the passengers have disembarked the trains do cross the bridge to the BNSF Railway yard in West Quincy, where the equipment is oriented in the proper direction for the return trip on the wye and is stored until the next departure. This Mississippi River crossing does serve as a backup route should the Fort Madison Toll Bridge crossing be unavailable.
Famous quotes containing the words rail and/or bridge:
“Old man, it’s four flights up and for what?
Your room is hardly any bigger than your bed.
Puffing as you climb, you are a brown woodcut
stooped over the thin rail and the wornout tread.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“I was at work that morning. Someone came riding like mad
Over the bridge and up the road—Farmer Rouf’s little lad.
Bareback he rode; he had no hat; he hardly stopped to say,
“Morgan’s men are coming, Frau, they’re galloping on this way.”
—Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894)