Railway Preservation News
https://rypn.org/forums/

The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
https://rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35563		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  Bruce Duensing [ Wed Sep 11, 2013 4:40 pm ]
Post subject:  The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
It goes without saying that abandoned bridges are historical artifacts when it comes to railways. However, it goes without saying, that for a variety of good reasons, a vast majority are not preserved saved or readopted to new locations. Most vanish or become adjuncts to bike paths. I came across this site http://bridgehunter.com/category/railroad/interurban/ and that posed a question. How many, if any, bridges have been physically moved to new locations? What of the logistics and cost? Is it more pragmatic to build one than to preserve one? There are many notable reuses of non railroad bridges as well as relocation. I apologize in advance for my idle curiosity.
I can recall a couple of groups dismantling certain bridges to preserve them without specifics. Have any tourist roads done this?
An example is the Echo Park Bridge as found on the website, presumably still extant.

Image
Author:  wesp [ Wed Sep 11, 2013 7:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
Bruce,

The photo is the streetcar bridge at Glen Echo Park in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. Several bridges remain in place on this route over 50 years after abandonment.

Wesley
Author:  robertmacdowell [ Wed Sep 11, 2013 7:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
Also, the Ohio Interurban Bridge... http://bridgehunter.com/oh/lucas/interurban/

Attachments:
Farnsworth_Metropark.jpg
Farnsworth_Metropark.jpg [ 63.02 KiB | Viewed 14453 times ]
Author:  weekendrailroader [ Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
Doesn't CSRM have one inside their roundhouse, with a locomotive displayed on it? Or is that one replica?
Author:  imrl [ Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
The big one that comes to mind is an old Alton and Southern bridge in Kansas Ciry, MO that has been moved and turned into a pedestrian walkway from Kansas City Union Station over Kansas City Terminal trackage to Jack Stack Barbeque resteraunt.
Author:  Brian Norden [ Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
weekendrailroader wrote:
Doesn't CSRM have one inside their roundhouse, with a locomotive displayed on it? Or is that one replica?
No real bridge in the CSRM. The upstairs display of the narrow gauge freight train is surrounded by architectural elements that make one think of a bridge.
Author:  o anderson [ Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
Well there is this pin truss set up as a display at CSRM with V&T Genoa #12. It does not have a restored deck however, and merely supports itself. I seem to recall an old pin truss has been re-established somewhere else, but it may not be at a railroad museum.
Image
http://aroundcarson.com/2007/01/25/californias_vt_engines/

The Bridge of Flowers was an early re-use of a concrete arch interurban bridge...
http://www.bridgeofflowersmass.org/history.html

IRM has utilized some parts from an old railroad viaduct for its new picnic shelter... Other I-beams from this bridge remain for planned use to cross a creek at one point or another.
http://ktransit.com/museums/United%20States/illinois/il-irm-grounds.htm
Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
There WAS a real cast-iron pony truss one in the Smithsonian, with the John Bull parked on it.

Yes, bridges can be moved for reuse or preservation. Go to the Federal Highway Administration, and you'll find an entire manual on wooden covered bridges:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/re ... res/04098/

Another on bridge preservation:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/preserva ... /guide.pdf

Yes, bridges can be moved. The railroads reused bridge structures frequently. See, as examples from BridgeHunter:

http://bridgehunter.com/md/baltimore-city/bh44051/

http://bridgehunter.com/md/howard/bollman/

http://bridgehunter.com/pa/snyder/klinepeter/

http://bridgehunter.com/pa/york/valley-road/

http://bridgehunter.com/nh/grafton/bh49924/

http://bridgehunter.com/az/yavapai/bh56211/

The whole subject you raised could be an entire article, both technical and philosophical, in a future ATTRRM issue or seminar. But it's as broad as saying "how to restore and run a steam locomotive". What kind? How big? What gauge? What use? What fuel? we have a whole thread on boiler treatment alone here!
Author:  David Johnston [ Thu Sep 12, 2013 2:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
The bridge at CSRM is from the Southern Pacific's San Roman branch. It was located in Walnut Creek. There was two of them, one is still there used for a bike trail. As I recall these bridges were second hand to the San Ramon branch.

The problem with reusing railroad bridges is few of the new users are prepared to do the required maintenance. Eventually the bridge will deteriorate to where it is not safe and will be torn down or fall down.
Author:  Bruce Duensing [ Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
My thanks for all the topic specific responses.
Until I viewed the site in question, it had never occurred to me just to what extent bridges are a portion of the historical fabric of railroading, as well as being one of the less visited subjects. One technology aiding and abetting the other.
Author:  robertmacdowell [ Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
David Johnston wrote:
The bridge at CSRM is from the Southern Pacific's San Roman branch. It was located in Walnut Creek. There was two of them, one is still there used for a bike trail. As I recall these bridges were second hand to the San Ramon branch.

Find Ygnacio Valley Road and Civic Drive, and go a tick southeast, if you're searching it on Google Earth.
Author:  JimBoylan [ Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
There are tales of a tugboat being sent to retrieve a covered bridge that washed downstream in a flood. "The Builders of the Bridge", a biography of the Roeblings, tell of that happening in Cincinnati.
Railroad turntables and flatcars, etc. are sold and recycled as bridges. Long Island Rail Road had a used bridge towed from Florida to Long Beach, N.Y. late in the last century. You can ride across it in a passenger train today.
Author:  G. W. Laepple [ Fri Sep 13, 2013 3:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
The Pennsylvania Railroad maintained a bridge yard at Canton, Ohio for many years, where they stored bridges that had been removed for possible reuse at other locations. There are sections of very old former railroad bridges in use as overpasses or footbridges in several locations in Pennsylvania.
Author:  Al Stangenberger [ Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
This isn't an abandoned bridge, but it is a case of re-use:

The Sonoma-Marin Rapid Transit District has purchased a used drawbridge from BNSF which is replacing a bridge in Galveston, TX.

The bridge will be used to replace the historic Northwestern Pacific bridge across the Petaluma River at Haystack Landing north of San Francisco.

http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20120214/community/120219800
Author:  Randy Gustafson [ Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Reuse of Abandoned Railroad Bridges
We did the engineering and design for relocating two ex-NYC(PC/CR) steel through girder spans to a local shortline to replace a very old and lightweight capacity 70-ton pin-connected steel truss that had been a limiting factor on the railroad for decades. The hard part was designing the abutments and piers backwards to fit the existing bridges. The spans were relocated by truck.

Most of your 1920's and newer steel girder structures are quite reusable, as long as they haven't been subjected to things like excess moisture from debris, or having the misfortune to have been on a railroad that had brine-dripping refrigerator cars on it to dump salt on the spans.

My 'favorite' discovery of a relocated railroad bridge for highway use is here.
http://www.historicbridges.org/bridges/ ... ysersroad/

Legend has it it was on the Central Pacific, and this is its third home; these were pin-connected and could be relocated. It's narrow enough that you can pretty much tell the railroad heritage.
Page 1 of 3 All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/