Abandoned Sycamore Creek Railroad Bridge, Lansing
WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.
(The above warning is there for your protection and safety. A gate was put up here but jimmied open.)
The Lansing area has more cool stuff in the area if you know where to look…..or even if you don’t.
One of Lansing’s little hidden treasures lies off the Lansing River Trail just south across the road from Hawk Island Park. It’s the abandoned Sycamore Creek Railroad Bridge.
Many years ago, there used to be a railroad spur that connected the Jackson and Lansing Railroad over Sycamore Creek. Looking at it from satellite views, you can’t see the bridge at all…you can’t even see where the railroad tracks used to be (long since removed), but the grade is still there to see if you walk the trail. It’s a steel stringer bridge constructed with wooden piers and deck. Not sure of the exact construction date, but info says it was erected "sometime before 1968" in order to get to Standard Block and a lumber company. The east side had two tracks, the west side just one.
Finally, in the year 2000, the bridge was deemed unsafe to use and abandoned, left to sit alone in the small woods along Sycamore Creek and the Lansing River Trail.
Winding our way down the River Trail, the melted snow and rain overflowed the river. Treading water for about a hundred feet and soaked shoes, the bridge suddenly appeared, giving an eerie appearance among the bare trees, ice, and water. The bridge is easy to see – and find – in winter and fall when there are no leaves on the trees and the bushes and weeds have given way to the weight of the precipitation.
I didn’t see any remains of a grade, but the old bridge is a very cool thing to see. On the west side of the bridge, the rails stop abruptly with no signs of former tracks at all…at least, I didn’t see any. By the way, it’s easy to get your foot caught between the railroad ties over the river and walking across the bridge is not recommended.
Take a look at the photo gallery below.
It’s a very cool sight to see.
Abandoned Sycamore Creek Bridge, Lansing
MORE LANSING STUFF!