The Bollman truss found occasional use elsewhere than on the B. & O.
lines, but generally only when erected on contract by Patapsco Bridge
and Iron Works. However, the fact that Bollman could profitably erect
this bridge in the severely competitive 1870's indicates that the harsh
criticism of the system by authorities of such stature as Whipple was
not necessarily justified. Bollman's advertisements, in fact, refer to
the favorable recommendations of other such renowned engineers as
Herman Haupt and M. C. Meigs.
[Illustration: Figure 22.--BOLLMAN DECK TRUSSES in the North River
Bridge built in 1873 at Mount Crawford, Virginia, on the Valley Railroad
of Virginia (B. & O.). Each end span is 98 ft. 6 in.; the river span is
148 ft. 9 in. (Photo 756, Baltimore and Ohio Collection, Museum of
History and Technology.)]
An interesting application of the system was in a drawbridge, formed of
two Bollman deck spans, over an arm of the Mississippi at Quincy,
Illinois (see fig. 17). The first iron bridge in Mexico was erected by
Bollman over the Medellín River about 1864. Another work of this period,
which attracted considerable attention, was a pair of bridges that
Bollman erected over North Carolina's Cape Fear River in 1867-1868.
These bridges were notable for their foundation on cast-iron cylinders,
sunk pneumatically. This was one of the first instances of the use of
the process in America, and the depth of 80 feet below the water surface
reached by one cylinder was considered remarkable for years afterward.
In the last active decade or so of his career, Bollman produced hundreds
of minor bridges and other structures. In 1873 he supplied the castings
for the splendid iron dome of Baltimore's City Hall and erected the
ingenious water-main truss which carries Lombard Street over Jones Falls
in that city. In this structure the top and bottom chords of the central
line of trussing are cast-iron water mains, bifurcated at the abutments,
and joined by cast- and wrought-iron web members (see fig. 20).
In the mid 1870's Bollman saw his truss pass into obsolescence. This was
due primarily to the generally increasing distrust of cast iron for
major structural members due to its brittleness, but advances in
structural theory, availability of a greater variety of rolled
structural shapes, and the increasing loading patterns of the period all
contributed.
[Illustration: Figure 23.--THE ONLY SURVIVING BOLLMAN TRUSS BRIDGE, at
Savage, Maryland. The bridge was built elsewhere in 1852 and was moved
to this now-abandoned Baltimore and Ohio industrial siding in about
1888.]
Although no Bollman trusses were built by Bollman or the B. & O. after
1875, those in use were only removed as required by heavier motive
power. The Harpers Ferry span, as noted, remained in full main-line
service until 1894. Bollman trusses on feeder lines were continued in
use until much later; a number of them on the Valley Railroad of
Virginia (see fig. 22) were not removed until 1923. However, only on the
most isolated spurs was the Bollman truss permitted to reach really ripe
age. The sole known remaining example (fig. 23) stands on such a
branch--ironically, at Savage, over the Little Patuxent, the site of the
first Bollman span. This is not the 1850 bridge, but one built in 1852
and moved to the present site 30 years later. The fate of the first span
is not known.
[Illustration: Figure 24.--HOT-WATER AND CHOCOLATE PITCHERS of the
10-piece, silver tea service presented to Bollman by his fellow
employees when he resigned from the Baltimore and Ohio in 1858. A
railroad motif was used throughout, each piece being circled at top and
bottom by a track, complete with rail of accurate section and ties.
Spouts are in simulation of hexagonal sheet-iron chimneys, with seams
riveted, and the handles are in the form of a surveyor's telescope. On
the various pieces are engraved the designs of the more important B. &
O. bridges. Throughout is a wonderful profusion of bits and objects of
railroadiana in low relief, high relief, and fully modeled. In Board of
Directors Room, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, Baltimore, Md.
(_Photo courtesy of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad._)]