1924 CSX/NYC Smith and 1958 Road Bridges over the Hudson River near Castleton-On-Hudson, NY

1924 NYC: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite), Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge

1958 NY-912M: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite), Castleton-On-Hudson Bridge

The lengths of the railroad trusses are 598.6' and 403.7'. [HistoricBridges]

The 5,255’ long railroad bridge features two main long span steel trusses with spans of 602 feet and 409 feet. In addition, there are 52 steel girder approach spans. The substructure consists of 25 steel towers ranging in height from 30’ to 135’. The structure was originally constructed in 1921. [bergmannpc]

The above two sources have an interesting discrepancy concerning the length of the trusses.

Geoff Hubbs, 1979, via Bridge Hunter, License: Released into public domain

Street View

"Lacking extensive photography, it was not possible to do a detailed analysis of the structure type. However, based on the photos available, it does not appear that this bridge exhibits any hinges that would allow it to function as a cantilever truss. Therefore, it appears to function as a continuous truss even though it has the shape of many cantilever truss bridges. The bridge may have been built using the cantilever method, but if it lacks hinges, it will not function as a cantilever under traffic." [HistoricBridges]

But...

"In June 2016, the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge was indefinitely closed to all traffic after a routine inspection discovered several cantilever hinges, which support the truss superstructure, about to fail. The failure of two or more of these hinges could lead to a complete and catastrophic collapse of the entire structure....Fortunately, the repairs on the Castleton Bridge did not take as long as originally expected, and the bridge was reopened to all traffic within a month." [AmericanBridge]

So I added the bridgeCantilever label to these notes.

Geoff Hubbs, 1979, via Bridge Hunter, License: Released into public domain

1923 Railway Review via Historic Bridges
[This article has a lot of construction photos and shows that this bridge was just part of the effort to build the Castleton Cutoff.]

Debbie Newsom Hampton posted
Great picture by Dave Blaze of the A.H. Smith Bridge in Castleton, NY.

Randall Hampton shared
Couldn't find a date for this, but the diesels tell us it's modern era. It looks like the two main spans might have been built at different times. Maybe somebody here who lives closer to Castleton, NY knows more about it. This is former New York Central Railroad, over the Hudson River.
C Kent McKenzie Also undergoing rehabilitation by CSX Contractors: https://www.bergmannpc.com/project/csx-castleton-bridge

Dave Blaze Rail Photography posted

P001 Over The Hudson

CSXT's OCS approaches the west end of the massive A.H. Smith bridge over the Hudson River at MP QG 9.5 on modern day CSXT's Castleton Subdivision. Much to the disappointment of local fans CSXT decided to cap their splendid and newly repainted rebuilt F40PHs in matching Baltimore and Ohio style paint with a pair of run of the mill modern Gevos, but hey at least they were clean! The office car special is running as train P00109 from Worcester to Waycross via the ex NYC water level route to Cleveland then south toward Indianapolis, Nashville and Atlanta. Allegedly CSX was hosting UPS on board but I don't know for certain or how far the train was occupied.

The nearly 5300 ft long bridge is 139 feet high and was opened in 1924 by the New York Central. Named in honor of Alfred Holland Smith, the president of the New York Central Railroad who authorized the construction of this bridge as part of an extensive project known as the Castleton Cut-Off. He died in a horse-riding accident in Central Park in 1924, prior to the completion of the bridge in that same year. He is sometimes confused with Alfred E. Smith, New York's governor at the time.

This is now the southernmost place a freight train can cross the Hudson River (excepting NYNJ's barge service) and is used by all CSXT traffic heading toward the old Boston and Albany into New England as well as any traffic direct to NYC down the old NYC Main, now Amtrak and Metro North's Hudson Line and can see up to twenty trains per day.

Coeymans, New York

Wednesday June 9, 2021

Roger Riblett posted

 

Dave Blaze Rail Photography posted

Castleton Crossing Question?

So I have a question for my friends here that work for CSXT and run across the Berkshire and Boston Subs?  Does the Castleton Bridge have a special instruction restriction limiting it to only one train at a time despite being double tracked? 

The last few times I've personally observed meets here they've happened like this in the photo.  CSXT train I019 (Worcester to Bedford Park, IL intermodal) is crossing the Hudson River on Main 4 of CSXT's Castleton Sub while at the far west end of the bridge holding at the signal at MP QG9.1 on Main 3 is train M426 (Selkirk to Rigby manifest). 

So why didn't or couldn't they have pulled east to CP SM at MP QG9.5 to wait for I019 to clear the single track at the end of the Berkshire Sub instead of holding back off the structure until they'd cleared? 

The massive double tracked Alfred H. Smith Bridge is in total 5255 ft long and 139 feet above the Hudson River below. In 1921 a contract for the main grading and drainage work and for all the actual bridge construction except its steel superstructure was awarded to Walsh Construction Company, a well-established Iowa-based railroad builder that would later go on (in 22 joint venture with others) to build the Grand Coulee Dam and, still later, to achieve national prominence as a builder of urban skyscrapers. The 23,000 tons of structural steel required for the bridge would be fabricated in Pittsburgh and erected by Bethlehem Steel's McClintic Marshall subsidiary under a direct contract with the railroad.  Physical work began in early 1922 and two years later on November 20, 1924 the first train crossed the bridge.  It was named in honor of Alfred Holland Smith, the president of the New York Central Railroad who authorized the construction of this bridge as part of an extensive project known as the Castleton Cut-Off. He died in a horse-riding accident in Central Park in 1924, only a few months before completion of the bridge. He is sometimes confused with Alfred E. Smith, New York's governor at the time who was aboard that first train and christened the structure in honor of the other fallen Mr. Smith. 

This bridge is now the southernmost place a freight train can cross the Hudson River (excepting NYNJ's barge service) and is used by all CSXT traffic heading into New England via the old B&A as well as any traffic direct to New York City via the historic NYC Main, now Amtrak and Metro North's Hudson Line and on a typical day 18 to 20 trains will cross.  The parallel structure beyond is Castleton-on-Hudson bridge opened in 1959 to carry the New York State Thruway's Berkshire extension connection to the Massachusetts Turnpike. 

Schodack, New York

Saturday October 26, 2024

Steve Crossman:As a former Selkirk based conductor and engineer and one of three, Amtrak engineers qualified across that bridge it all comes down to one simple thing. She loves to wiggle when a train goes over it and when you’re sitting there on a stopped train and somebody’s going by next to you she gets to dancing pretty good and it’s not gonna cost you any time to just sit at automatic nine and wait for the train to go by and your light to pop in at SM to go east. On a moving train you don’t notice it. I’ve met Hudson Green trains and Oak point trains headed east across the Briggs to go south to the Hudson line while I’ve come in from the BNA and we’ve passed on the bridge and you don’t notice the sway but when you’re sitting still, everything starts moving. Still not the worst bridge out there Pont Victoria  across the St. Lawrence in Montreal, bounces and swings more than any bridge I’ve ever seen in my life.

[I'm surprised that only three Amtrak engineers are qualified to cross this bridge. Do they do crew changes before and after the bridge?]

William Rositzke: There are no restrictions on the bridge except 30 mph. Most eastbound crews "choose" to hold at automatic 9 the west end of bridge until cp sm is green to go east.

Evan DeWaele: When I was working there in 2016 there was no instructions prohibiting two trains on the bridge at once. Parking on the bridge didn’t give lots of room for error so that’s why most crews hold back. Sometimes you had no choice though. Pretty freaky how much that bridge moves when another train is going over it while you are parked on it.

Matthew Mello: 2 main reasons. 1) many engineers are nervous about it. I have pulled up many times if there was an intermodal or autorack train coming. I try and avoid freight trains because of reason 2) close track centers. It's tight on the bridge. Some of those C&D cars are bowed out or have crap hanging off them which can take out a mirror or visor.

I have had a few occasions when a train is going down or coming up from the Hudson and I was coming off or heading onto the B&A.

Mark Nottirb commented on Dave's post
So back In day when I worked at CSX I was qualified from CP-2 in Boston all the way to Selkirk and most of the Riverline. I spent years as a surfacing foreman. They would use me to do patrols when the I and R guys were off, heat/cold patrols, and as a pilot foreman. (I was also a qualified track inspector up to CP-SM. I’ve been over that bridge many times and have also waited hours for trains to clear at the WAS CP SM. Talk about cheek puckering when you’re hi railing in a 3/4 ton Chevy over the mighty Hudson as a freight growls by you. CSX just recently did some extensive repairs to that bridge evident by all the black paint on the steel they replaced and the new concrete footings. That pic was from 2011.

bergmannpc
[Hands-on inspection of one of the towers.]

Brianna82 via AmericanBridge via Bridge Hunter

? via AmericanBridge
[On the left is an interesting tower for a power line.]

Caleb Lindquist posted
just saw a post about the alfred h smith bridge. here’s a take of the bridge, with a new york central mile marker in the foreground.

Peter Richmond posted
Alfred H. Smith bridge this afternoon, from beneath, on the East Bank side.

(new window)  This was taken in 2016. I noticed there are still some construction barges moored in the river. It looks like while they had the equipment (cranes) at the bridge to fix the hinges they then did other maintenance. I didn't realize how tall and long the approaches are until I watched this video.