My Favorite Railroad Bridge

Chris......Love that bridge, too!

Peter

Another favorite - the old New York Central lift bridge across the Harlem River connecting the Bronx to Manhattan. It was the prototype for the catalogued, but never -produced, Lionel lift bridge in the postwar years. It was finally made in the Lionel modern era, complete with sound effects.

My own favorite. just south of Boston. Plus a nice model.

Isn't it actually called the Park Avenue Bridge?

True, but when we lived in the Bronx back then, it was just called the 138th St railroad bridge (from the Bronx POV).

Jim

Jim,

Perhaps off topic, but why is it called 'The Bronx' and not just 'Bronx'.  I have wondered this my whole life, but never knew anyone who lived there to ask.  Thank you.

Mark,

From Wikipedia:

The name for this region, apparently after the Bronx River, first appeared in the Annexed District of the Bronx created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County and was continued in the Borough of the Bronx, which included a larger annexation from Westchester County in 1898. The use of the definite article is attributed to the style of referring to rivers.^[29][30] Another explanation for the use of the definite article in the borough's name is that the original form of the name was a possessive or collective one referring to the family, as in visiting The Broncks, The Bronck's or The Broncks'.[

On a railroad related note, I wondered why the railroad names Amtrak and Conrail didn't ring true to me when I first heard them.

Then, I realized that it was because you couldn't put the article "the" in front of them as in "the Santa Fe" or "the New York Central".  

Jim

Jim,

Good old Wikipedia.  Yes, I see that makes sense.  I also see what you mean about Amtrak and Conrail not having 'the'.

History of names and spelling changes can be interesting.

Thank you.

I forgot one other cool bridge. The Western Pacific Keddie Wye Bridge is like no other....

Mark, same reason that Des Moines is pronounced DA Mowing and Des Plaines is pronounced DES Planes but they are both good railroad towns.

Paul,

Sort of like DuBois, Pennsylvania means 'of the woods' which is exactly what my last name means.

Very interesting. Thinking about this, I'd have thought that this explanation could have applied to Harlem as well, given that there is a Harlem River. However, the derivation of the name Harlem is not originally from a river, but from a city, as follows:

"The first European settlement in what is now Harlem was by Dutch settlers and was formalized in 1658 as Nieuw Haarlem (or New Haarlem), after the Dutch city of Haarlem."

The river's name came after the city's name, not the other way around, as with the Bronx. If Harlem's name derivation had instead been from the river, it could have been the District of the Harlem, then the Borough of the Harlem, and then the Harlem. 

Also historically important in the use of "the" with Bronx is that Bronx originally referred to a region - like the Highlands, or the Everglades.

Enough wandering thoughts about that. Here's the RR bridge tie-in: 

The Broadway Bridge, connecting Manhattan with Da Bronx, spanning the Harlem River.-

I spent some time trying to decide.  There are so many incredible bridges, it can be a hard choice.

I decided on this.  It's the Merchants Bridge over the Mississippi in St. Louis.  I chose it because I rode a lot of passenger trains over this bridge before Amtrak.

Here is a picture I took on a Southern 4501 steam excursion, around 1970.

Letchworth gorge bridge over the Genesee river in Portageville, NY. One I have walked over a few times.

Pete

Howard - I love the "drama" in that picture.  Just something about it.

Art

Since we were looking at old New York Central bridges earlier today, let's not forget the Spuyten Duyvil bridge that brought the West side freight line into Manhattan.

Peter

Thanks Art.  When I was going through old slides a few years back I was happy to find that picture.  I like it too.

BTW, that bridge opened in 1889. 

Rouge River, Detroit Mi., NYC/Conrail.

And my second favorite, the Delray connecting, isn't far away. Rouge River, Detroit.

How about the first ABT built? You guessed it Rouge River, Detroit. 

 The Rouge River feeds into the Detroit river and I love taking the time to venture off course once in a while just to see these (and more) while out fishing.    

  There was also a Michigan Central bridge "attempted" across the Detroit River during the 1800s. "Attempted" because it was washed out right away by the spring ice flow. With Google Earth you can still make out the pilings from Gross Isle(South of Detroit) to Canada. That's a long way. Id love to see a picture/drawing of that if any of you bridge nuts has one.

Good to hear you like the vista, Mark. That area is the most whimsical I got on the whole layout, so hearing this approval matters.

FrankM.

Thanks, Brother Love, good to hear from you. Your approval adds to the fun for me. FrankM.

P.S. How different (!!!!!!) this hobby of ours would be without www forums, and the shows and meets, small and large. The wealth of information exchanged, the camaraderie and socializing, the characters with whom we have a chance to interact, the feedback and help with ideas and decisions, etc. are immeasurable in value, IMHO.

The Carrizo Gorge's Goat Canyon Trestle. Just magic that it was built.

Thanks Alan.

  How long ago did we get together on this bridge project?

I never realized it was your favorite due to all of the other great bridges you have.

Jim r

Wow! This is a blast from the past..........many of you will remember, this past May, I detoured off 95 to take my own pics.....here is one I have handy.......I will dig up the others tomorrow.

Peter

I always feel like a troll. I design bridges for a living....lol....I am just thankful the bride has not booted me and then I would to sleep under a bridge......

Being from Richmond VA,  I always liked the triple crossing.

I was going to say this one too because I have it on the layout well a shortened version of it but still 60 inchs

Times change,  but the path of the triple crossing remains:

Hi Jhainer

This type bridge is called a Cantilever. Ive been considering making this type bridge. It is all designed, is modular in concept, and can be made in 4, 6, 8 foot lengths depending on customer needs. See a few computer rendered drawings attached. Id appreciate any comments from everyone.

tks. jim r

Mt favorite bridge was not very imposing and as far as I know, it doesn't even have a prototype! Fairly small and fairly level with the grade going off below it. It was on the late Ed Reutling's small point to point pike, and it demonstrated what could be done in limited space and that less definitely is more! RIP Ed, we still love ya man!

Simon

I love this thread!  Don't have anything to add.  Thanks for keeping it up to date.

One of my favorite railroad bridges would have to be this swivelling bridge on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad.

This bridge used to swivel to allow riverboats on Bennett Lake to make their way to the Yukon river.

That swivel bridge reminded me of another nearby gem.

  At Grosse Ile (S. of Detroit) this 1932 MCRR swiveling bridge is now just for road traffic.

http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0...1188-28908--,00.html

 Gross Ile was once the gateway to this region, and Canada if you traveled by rail.

If you use a satellite map(gooogle/bing maps etc) , you can follow this old RR road bed turned paved road, right across the island.

  And on a clear day, there on the other side of the island, in the water of the Detroit River, you can see the pilings of a rail bridge leading to Canada. 

 It was swept away by the rivers spring thaw in the 1800's, very soon after it was built actually.

  Ferries and the tunnel provided enough passage another was never built.

Gross Ile did keep the station active for decades after though.   

Here are the rest of my pics shot this past May of the B&O arch bridge in Relay MD.

Peter

I go along with Jhainer and the others on the old P&LE bridge spanning the Ohio River in Beaver Co., Pa.  They cleaned out an old scrap yard at Rochester, Pa. and you can stand on the rive bank there or at the park and watch CSX trains roll over it-or, go to the old RR station in Beaver and watch them come off it. Over 100 years old and going strong.  But there are  dozens of beautiful RR bridges around.

The Eads is one of my favorites.

http://bridgehunter.com/mo/st-louis-city/eads/

http://builtstlouis.net/eads01.html

.

Built by my favorite railroad, and being raised not far from it ...... my favorite was the Newark Bay Bridge. A vertical lift bridge between Bayonne and Elizabeth NJ, built by the Central Railroad of NJ back in the 1920's to replace older bridges.

ConRail abandoned the line ... the Coast Guard deemed the bridge a hazard to navigation ... and it was torn down (actually, blown up). Four tracks ... four separate lift sections ... closer to 2 miles long than 1 .... I thought it was pretty cool.

*****

Since I now live not far from it, I'll include this reinforced concrete viaduct that was built by the Lackawanna a hundred years ago over the Paulinskill River in northwestern NJ. Long abandoned, now just illegal activities ... kids racing dirt bikes and atv's on it, and people exploring its inner structures.