CSX/NYC Smith and 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 length 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

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.