Another PD&A Screenshot

[landnrailroader]

Colleagues,

Tonight, John Collinson has put his office car on the rear of a hotshot intermodal train
headed east from Goulding Yard (Pensacola, FL) to Jacksonville in order to get a good
look at the bridge named in his honor.

(True History: Collinson was a a former Chief Engineer and Pres. of Chessie System and
had retired around the time CSX was consolidated in Florida. When a low level, often
damaged by hurricanes, bridge with a swing span over Escambia Bay, northeast of
Pensacola, was replaced with a modern high level concrete bridge in the 1980s, it was
named the John Collinson bridge and bears that name to this day. Until late August
of 2003, one could usually see this bridge in daylight, eastbound on the Sunset Ltd.
Westbound, if on time (a rare event) it crossed this area around 2 am.

The bridge to the left is the InterState 10 bridge.



J. H. Sullivan
(aka landnrailroader)

[Salsocided]

I've seen this bridge on numerous occasions, never saw a train on it though!! Looks to have a short stiff grade coming out of Pensacola, at least it appears that way.

[landnrailroader]

There is approximately a 1% grade from either shore, for about 2/5 of the length. The middle, roughly 1/5 is rounded over
and the top of the grade is over the channel. There is a paper mill and some other industry, west of the bridges and so
both the RR and I-10 have this peak over the channel so barges etc. can go underneath. Escambia Bay is a prong off
of Pensacola Bay, which is in turn off of the Gulf of Mexico. You can easily see this bridge on Google Earth by starting
at Pensacola and working northeast along the bay shore. The tracks are no more than a few feet above high tide for
most of the distance.

J. H. Sullivan
(aka landnrailroader)