<p>In this work, two structural components from a railway bridge were analyzed. These components were obtained from Brazilian Desengano´s Bridge built in the nineteenth century and today is also used for vehicles and pedestrian transport. The microstructural characterization revealed that these components are made of puddle iron, a material developed during the Industrial Revolution and produced until the early twentieth century. The puddle iron has a heterogeneous microstructure primarily consisting of ferrite and coarse non-metallic inclusions and is mainly affected by phosphorus and nitrogen elements as a consequence of technological limitations of the time. Thus, this research aims to evaluate these microstructural characteristics using light optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, allowing a qualitative correlation between the local microstructure and mechanical properties. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy was employed to determine the chemical composition of the inclusions, while computerized microtomography provided insights into their distribution within the material matrix. Additionally, computational thermodynamic simulations were conducted to assess the influence of certain elements on these materials properties. The results indicate that a local microstructure analysis can give information about the local hardness, tensile strength, and toughness for this material.</p>