| SCadaddle |
10-16-2020 09:51 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by GH85Carrera
(Post 10899892)
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This one brings back recent memories for me. In 1964 the GM&O Railroad hired my Dad, a newly self employed Structural Civil Consulting Engineer, to design a railroad bridge over I-20 near Newton MS. Dad was a Navy Veteran in WWII that was in charge of a floating dry dock in Saipan-Tinian Island 44-45. He was well versed in welding technology at that time. When the GM&O hired him, as told to me by my Dad, "they had an older Engineer from Germany, and he insisted that the bridge be designed so that it could be field constructed with hot rivets. I tried to talk him out of it and let me design a welded structure but he wouldn't have any of it. So I designed the bridge to use hot rivets assembling plate girders and field assembled. I got the design to him, and he said "what do you think about building it using welded plates instead of rivets?" Dad told him oh no no no, I'm not going to redesign and redraw this project! The bridge was finally built in 1968.
I lost my Dad in 2018 at the age of 98. He practiced engineering until September of 2016. He wanted me to get all of his bridge plans in the hands of those he did the work for, so after sorting all the flat files for the plans, I called the local Engineers with the CN Railroad, the Kansas City Southern and the MS Export Railroad to get the plans to them for their archives. Otherwise, the rest of his bridge plans went to the MS Dept. of Archives and History. 2 of the 3 railroads stepped up. The KCS Engineer, a young fellow, was really happy to get the set of plans for this bridge Dad had done for the GM&O as they were the current owners of the bridge. The engineer for the CN railroad looked at the set of plans of the GM&O bridge and told me:
"Pretty much all steel construction in the US had gone to welding by about 1958. Plate girders and hot rivets were history. This bridge, built in 1968, is more than likely the last steel structure ever built in the US using plate girders and hot rivets."
I drive east on I-20 every now and then in my travels and pass under Dad's bridge, and with a tear in my eye give it a thumbs up and exclaim "that's your bridge Dad!".
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