C & O Bridge, Covington, Kenucky

a.k.a. The Clay Wade Bailey Bridge

A timeline, to keep various C&O Bridges straight.
1886-1889	The Original C&O Railroad Bridge Built
1929	A new railroad bridge is built next to the old one; it's still used as the bridge for the railroad.
1929	The original RR bridge is sold to Kentucky; converted for use by auto traffic.
1970	Original RR bridge (auto traffic since 1929) is blown up. New bridge is built; named for Clay Wade Bailey

The original C&O Railroad Bridge, c. 1890's

"Chespeake" & Ohio Bridge, looking toward Covington

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Bridge
Note foreground on card on left
1920 is the date on the one on the right

C & O Bridge Construction (late 1880's)

C & O Bridge Traffic, circa 1945

C & O Bridge, 1937

Construction and grand opening of 1929 Bridge

The first locomotives, and crews to go over the first 1889 C&O Bridge, and the rebuilt
C&O RR Bridge on April 3, 1929. You can click on the captions under the pictures

The above four images are all from the 1929 L&N Magazine. The accompanying story is here.

Under the C&O Bridge, looking toward Covington

The L & N had trackage rights over the C & O Bridge.
This image is from 1965.

C & O in the 1950's

left, C & O Railway Bridge
right, Cities Highway Bridge
both from the US Army, Chief of Engineers, 1934

Photo by Jack Klumpe

The End of the C&O Bridge

Building the caisson on the Kentucky Side

The Steamer Longfellow ran into a C&O bridge pier in 1895, and sank in three minutes. The story is here.
The New York Times version of the story is here, and has a partial list passengers who drowned.

The Cincinnati Transit site has a page on the history of the
C&O Bridge, here, and on the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, here.