Monday, June 19, 2017

1911 Aban/Erie-Lackawanna/DL&W Cut-Off: Paulinskill Viaduct

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, B&TSatellite (128 Photos); RR Aban Satellite)
The maps and contemporary newspapers spell it Paulinskill, but the bridge web sites spell it Paulins Kill. It was spelled Paulin's Kill.

DL&W = Delaware, Lackawanna & Western

28 photos  (shared) "When completed in 1910, it was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world."

"Built 1908-1911 as part of the 28.5 mile New Jersey Cut-Off." The last train was in 1978, and the tracks were removed in 1984. The state of NJ now owns the right of way. But the only they do is pay for state troopers to try to keep people off of it. [nj.com, Bridge Hunter] There is a longer viaduct three miles east of here.
"The Paulin's Kill Viaduct is a reinforced concrete structure, 1100 ft. long, composed of five 120-ft and two 100-ft arches carrying the new double track cut-off of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad across the Paulin's Kill valley....The completed structure will contain 43,000 cu. yd. of concrete and about 500 tons of reinforcement steel....The base of the rail is about 110 ft. above high water  and about 120 ft. above ordinary stages." The Cooper's loading is hard to read, but I think it is E50. [eBook, p66]
 
Andrew Satkowski posted
Paulinskill/Hainesburg Viaduct along the Lackawanna Cutoff in Blairstown NJ.

DL&W photo taken in 1911 via Bridge Hunter
 
Geoff Hubbs, Dec 2019, via Bridge Hunter, License: Released into public domain

M'ke Helbing shared
Paulins Kill Viaduct seen from the former NYS&W Railroad bed.
 
nj.com
An eastbound freight train crossing the Paulinskill Viaduct en route to Hoboken in March 1952. John Treen, from the collection of Mike Del Vecchio / Tri-State Railway Historical Society

eBook, p66

eBook, p67

eBook, p68

Metrotrails posted two images with the comment:
Metrotrails Then and Now Series: Historic 1910 image by Watson Bunnel, from the Steamtown NHS Archives, showing the construction of the Paulins Kill Viaduct in Hainesburg, New Jersey, compared to the same scene on our 2021 visit.
At the time of its completion, the bridge was the largest concrete structure in the world.
In the background, Hainesburg Station on the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad can be seen.
M'ke Helbing shared
1

2

Bridges & Tunnels posted six photos with the comment:
The Paulinskill Viaduct is a massive open-spandrel concrete arch viaduct in Warren County, New Jersey. It once carried the Lackawanna Cut-Off line of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W) between Port Morris, New Jersey, and Slateford, Pennsylvania. The high-speed short-cut opened to revenue traffic in 1911 and was abandoned by Conrail in 1979.
There are talks about resuming operations over the Cut-Off for passenger trains on a proposed Amtrak New York City to Scranton route, but for now, this bridge stands unused and deteriorating.
🔖 Read on about the Lackawanna Cut-Off: https://abandonedonline.net/.../delaware-lackawanna-and.../
Bridges & Tunnels shared with the same comment







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