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I don’t know anything about the bridge at all but a good strategy might be similar to what is called good police work. First, find out what railroad this actually was, it might not be the MP and could be a predecessor road to whoever it was at the end. Then, try to locate construction data and contracts to find out who physically built that section of road, bearing in mind that the bridge that’s there today may be a replacement of an original as often happened. If the road abandonment was recent enough, an ex employee or someone may still be alive who remembers information, although the possibility recedes every day. To wit:
At this late date I wonder all the time about how MP passenger service was handled in my home town before it was discontinued in 1935. The (now removed) track layout and (still standing) freight depot location don’t support any theory very easily. No separate passenger station shows on historic maps. And the freight house is at the end of what was a quite long dead end industrial spur line. When I was a kid in the early 60’s I could have asked anyone about it, including my father who moved there in 1933. But I didn’t realize the value of an interview. Today it is a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in more mystery.
Pat Flory
