CHAPTER TWELVE
Circular Bridge
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Circular Bridge was another phenomenon of modern railroad engineering (considering the time). Had it not been for the Macpherson Trestle having been already built, Circular Bridge could have very well been named Macpherson Bridge. This bridge is more like a trestle in so much as it is gapping the same land mass, or, in this case, is circumventing it. The function of this bridge was to accommodate an electric traction trolley – in gaining 12 feet of elevation – over 500 feet of track – through a 340° turn– at an optimum 4% grade. This turn, by any other means of locomotion, is nothing more than a switch back, but certain extensive considerations had to be made for this particular type of train. Over the years Circular Bridge had taken on several appearances and had been traversed by a variety of train styles. The color picture above features the 1912 Pacific Electric's No. 33. The bridge is painted white, but it has not had its ties ballasted yet as we had seen on High Bridge in a previous chapter. |
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In the photo above we see one of the early open motor cars used from 1894 -1898. Note the piers are built of stone as was done in Lowe's time, and the bridge is not yet painted |
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| In the next photo above we see one of the later 30 class cars before the bridge was painted and ballasted, but after the newer concrete piers were installed. At the bottom of the photo black arrows indicate the concrete piers installed by Pacific Electric standing along side of the original stone piers of the Lowe period shown by the white arrows. |
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Here is open motor No. 5 from the early period. This resembles the side seater we saw in the chapter on the Opening Day. There's a lady sitting on the outboard bench which probably peers over a five or six hundred foot drop. |
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Some of the more notable features of the Mount Lowe Railway were featured on colorized postcards which are collectors' items today. So it was with Circular Bridge in the above photo as well as the one at the top of the page. Most of these cards were produced in Germany, so it might be interesting to note that someone elected to take the white marker flag and paint an American flag in its place (dead center of the photo). These cards are refinished directly from photos so we can still enjoy the accuracy of the railways construction. As you can see that this switch back doesn't exhibit any more than a 30 or 40 feet in elevation gain between tracks even standing back 300 yards from the point. From here our trip will continue deep into Millard Canyon not to be seen again…until the return trip, of course. |
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Automotive manufacturers used to take advantage of the MLR to road test their vehicles on as a form of promotion. In three different instances motor cars were taken up the incline and driven along the tracks. Here we have a 1914 Metz roadster negotiating the great turn of the Circular Bridge. Note that the ties have been ballasted by now. Taking that, and knowing the year of the car, we have clues to dating this snd other photos with similar content.
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