Talk:St. Cloud Rail Bridge

Name
I think that I chose the name on the List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River based on the naming convention used on the other rail bridges. Most have no formal name or were called by the name of the company that built it or by who owned it. They change hands often enough that it doesn't make sense to name it BNSF Bridge 17 or something like that. There is no USGS GNIS entry for it and there doesn't appear to be any other rail bridges in the area, so I would say that name is just fine. As for it being a neologism? I suppose it is, but I doubt that I'm the first one to call it that. After all it is very descriptive and less wordy than Northern Lines Railway Saint Cloud Mississippi River Bridge. Does anyone have a suggestion for a better name? --Dual Freq 00:10, 24 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Given that it's not an official name, how about St. Cloud, Minnesota rail bridge? --SPUI (T - C) 23:06, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
 * That name is still wrong. --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 23:10, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Stop trolling. --SPUI (T - C) 23:20, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I strongly disagree with a name change without some kind of reference from a St. Cloud or SP&P historical document. Dual Freq 23:27, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
 * What does Mary Charlotte Costello's book call the bridge? The TOC isn't showing up for the book on Amazon, it shows book 1 instead of book 2. Must be some Amazon problem. --Dual Freq 23:42, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I'd have to go back to the library and look it up. It may have been just "St. Cloud Rail Bridge".  Nevertheless, just because Mary Charlotte Costello gives a bridge a name doesn't mean it's the right name.  --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 00:21, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
 * It says "Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Bridge, St. Cloud," (It ends with a comma, not a period.  I'm not sure why.)  The upstream bridges are listed as "Sauk Rapids Highway Bridge, Minnesota, County Road 33" and "'Bridge of Hope,' Minnesota Highway 15".  The downstream bridges are listed as "St Germain Street or Veteran's Bridge, St. Cloud, Minnesota" and "'DeSoto' Highway Bridge, St. Cloud, Minnesota, SR 23".  Further downstream, there's "Clearwater Bridge, Minnesota Highway 24", "Monticello Highway Bridge, Minnesota 25", "Southbound Highway 101, Elk River Bridge, Minnesota", "Northbound Highway 101 Elk River Bridge, Minnesota", "Anoka/Champlin Highway Bridge, Minnesota, US 169", and "Coon Rapids Bridge, Minnesota, Highway 610".  --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 01:41, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

That was quick, thanks for looking that up. A recent story from the M-SP Star Tribune says "south of the railroad bridge in St. Cloud" That sounds like there is no specific name for the bridge. Someone I don't know, on a forum I probably can't trust, says it's owned by Northern Lines Railway since 1991. They also number the bridges from the Mississippi River's source. I'm sorry if I've screwed up the naming somewhere along the line, but it seems quite sufficient in the context of Mississippi river bridges to call it St. Cloud Rail Bridge. At the time, it never occurred to me that there were at least 7 other Saint Cloud's in the US. Right now it doesn't seem to be causing a problem with disambiguation, but maybe there's a rail bridge in St. Cloud, Florida. If the name is changed, I would suggest not using a comma in the title and not using a company name as they tend to change. Thanks again. --Dual Freq 02:14, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Trains Magazine reports that this bridge opened June 12, 1872. The 1892 date appears to be when the Great Northern took over the St Paul, Minneapolis, & Manitoba. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.41.215.142 (talk) 23:24, 29 September 2007 (UTC)