Belle Isle railroad bridge explained

Bridge Name:Belle Isle railroad bridge
Carries:Richmond and Danville Railroad
Crosses:James River
Locale:Manchester, Virginia and
Richmond, Virginia
Design:trestle bridge
Open:1872
Closed:1948

The Belle Isle railroad bridge was a bridge that carried a spur of the Richmond and Danville Railroad across the James River and Belle Isle in Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1872 to haul iron from the Old Dominion Iron and Nail Works mills on Belle Isle and the Tredegar Ironworks on the north side of the James. The line ran from the R & D in northwest Manchester and immediately started across a railroad trestle bridge to Belle Isle and the Old Dominion Works and the onto the Tredegar works. From Tredegar, the railroad line ran east to intersect with the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad.

This bridge was burnt in 1909 and its remnants were finally removed in 1948 because they were a fire hazard.[1]

Notes and References

  1. News: From the Archives: 250 photos of Richmond in the 1940s . 15 June 2020 . Richmond Times-Dispatch . June 6, 2019.