The transportation museum in Riverside Park is home to the only existing Fink Deck Truss Bridge in the United States.

Designed by Albert Fink, the bridge was originally part of the mainline used by the Norfolk and Western Railroad for its trains from 1870 to 1893. In 1893, it was moved to Old Forest and Halsey Roads and used for vehicular traffic to cross over the Norfolk and Western mainline. It was moved again in 1985 to its present location in Riverside Park and is used as a pedestrian bridge. It is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Albert Fink

Railroad engineer Albert Fink (1827-1897), was born on October 27, 1827 in Lauterbach Germany, a town located in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. The young Fink received his education at the Polytechnic School at Darmstadt, and graduated with honors in engineering and architecture in 1848.

Fink immigrated to the United States in 1849. That same year he began work for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Fink’s skills as an engineer were soon recognized and he was given responsibility for the design and erection of bridges, stations and shops for the section of the railroad that ran from Grafton, Virginia to Moundsville, Virginia (now West Virginia).

Fink designed a bridge truss, the Fink Truss, which was used in the 1852 construction of the bridge that spanned the Monongahela River at Fairmont, Virginia, (now West Virginia). The bridge had three spans, each 305 feet long, and was the longest iron railroad bridge in existence at this time in the United States.

Fink was soon promoted to section engineer and later to division engineer. In 1857 he accepted the position of construction engineer of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad at Louisville, Kentucky, becoming the chief engineer in 1860.

Much of the property belonging to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was destroyed during the Civil War, although the company itself was in good condition. By 1865 Fink had become general superintendent of the railroad, and in 1869 he was appointed vice-president and general superintendent. During this time period he completed his greatest project: a bridge that crossed the Ohio River from Louisville to Indiana. At its completion, this bridge was one mile in length and stood 400 feet above the Indiana channel of the river. It was the longest truss bridge in the world.

Fink became known as the father of railway economics and statistics through his work with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad where he published information regarding the real cost of transportation. He standardized freight rates and brought organization to the railway industry. Fink tried to retire twice, but both times he returned to work, first to regulate the economics of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association and then as a commissioner for the Trunk Line Association to fix standardized freight rates for the four railroads that headed west from New York City.

Citations:
http://www.answers.com/topic/albert-fink
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Fink
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/207409/Albert-Fink