I would like to thank everyone for their birthday wishes and for your interest in my Festival of Bridges which is running from today until October 31.
Sandy, from the great blog Hoarder Comes Clean, sent two stunning photographs to set us on our way.
This the old railroad bridge is just west of my hometown in northwest Missouri. The Missouri bridge is one we used to play on as kids, and walk out on the rafters. The trains don’t go through anymore, so the old railroad tracks have been taken up and it’s just a walking path where they were. This is the only bridge left.
And here’s her second amazing contribution from a trip to Alaska a few years back.
I’m absolutely enthralled by these photographs and love the idea that they’ve come from places and in weather so different to Tramore here in the Sunny South-East of Ireland.
I am really looking forward to being able to bring contributions about bridges, loosely defined ~ in words, art, photography, music, or a combination of same ~ to the world through this Festival of Bridges over the coming weeks. Please email me at jeantubridy@aol.com with the bridges that matter to you!
SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland 
Beautiful pictures. I bet those bridges get slippery.
I will give some thought to the matter of bridges of various kinds and, if I think of something, will email it to you.
Sarah, many thanks for writing and I’d love to hear from you about bridges of any kind that are of significance to you.
OH! yes Jean they are amazingly beautiful aren’t they!!
Simply gorgeous, I absolutely agree. Sandy certainly has good taste!
Wow, these bridges are beautiful.
Echoing your words all the way, Andrea.
Awesome pictures of bridges. They were built way back when the materials could not support any length of road/rail over distance. Each section had to be supported by crossing timbers all the way to the bottom. Such an amazing feat to build these with such an intricate geometrical pattern. And they’ve lasted so long.
Great post and pictures. Thank You.
Hi Paul, thanks for this great reminder about the art of bridge building.
Jean, thanks so much for featuring my bridge photos — now I just found one with the railroad bridge on the other side of town in the background. It was taken in the late 1920’s and in the foreground are a group of girls. One of them is my mother. I had forgotten I’d scanned this photo, so thanks for mentioning bridges, as otherwise it would have continued to be forgotten for a while. — Sandy
You’re more than welcome, Sandy. They are beautiful and I’m delighted that the whole idea sparked you into new discoveries.
As Paul says, these old railroad bridges were a great feat of engineering. Also they were the result of much hard labour in often inhospitable environments. I wonder what those lads would have thought had they known that their great works would become obsolete within a few short years. Fortunately there seems to be no urge to rip them down, yet anyway.
Roy, I’m sure it would be pretty soul-destroying, especially if they felt an attachment to the bridges.
We’re definitely fortunate that there’s no great urge to rip them down but it’s not great to see them decay.
Talk about WOW-factor!
Many thanks, Dale.