Industrial History: DCR/NS/Pennsy Bridge over Chesapeake & Delaware Canal near Summit Bridge, DE

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

DCR/NS/Pennsy Bridge over Chesapeake & Delaware Canal near Summit Bridge, DE

1910s?: (Bridge Hunter) Steel girder swing span

1925: (Bridge Hunter) Lift bridge

1966: (Bridge Hunter; John A Weeks III; Satellite) Lift bridge with Warren span

Why yet another RR lift bridge? Because this one goes over a canal of which I was unaware. The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal connects the two bays of its namesake near the tips of the bays.

This 1966 bridge replaced a 1925 lift bridge when the canal was enlarged and straightened.

John Weeks
The new lift bridge is a monster. For example, railroad lift bridges on the Mississippi River typically raise to about 50 feet above the water. In comparison, this bridge is 40 feet above the water in its fully down position. In the up position, it raises to 138 feet above the water.
Railfans tell me that the Conrail Bridge is normally maintained in the open position unless a train is due. If the bridge is down, boats can contact the bridge operator via marine radio. The operator is located in Philadelphia and runs the bridge by remote control. The bridge was in the down position during my visit, but did lift up briefly to allow a sail boat to pass under the structure. It is reported that most of the rail traffic is scheduled to take place at night when canal traffic is the lowest.
The photo above is a view looking east down the channel of the C&D Canal towards the west face of the Conrail Bridge. Due to a slight curve in the channel, our vantage point on the north shore of the canal makes it look like we are in the middle of the channel. The bush in the lower left corner gives away our true position on the edge of the canal bank.

Even though it is remote controlled, the bridge went only as high as needed to clear the boat. I've seen other lift bridges still going up after the boat had already passed under the bridge! Or is the bridge still going up in this photo? I guess I can't tell how how good the remote control is of this bridge.

John Weeks

Jonathan Konopka posted
This is the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Lift Bridge, which is located about 15 miles southwest of Wilmington, Delaware. It is a vertical lift bridge that was built in 1966 and carries a Delmarva Central Railroad rail line over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.

Here we can see the channel under the 1925 lift bridge is being filled in so that it can be removed. It was removed in 1972.

BridgeHunter-1925

The rest of the old channel was not filled in. The west side is now used by a marina.

Satellite

Ed Sharpe posted
April 20, 2017 near Summit Bridge, Delaware
Northbound Norfolk Southern train crossing Canal Moveable Bridge over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal with train picked up from Delmarva Central Railroad at Clay siding north of Clayton, Delaware.
Photograph by Ed Sharpe
Ed Sharpe shared

Photo taken by Timothy and Joann Phillips in October 2018 via Bridge Hunter-1966, License: Released into public domain

By Anthony Bley, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public Domain, via Wikipedia
A RORO ship passes underneath the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Lift Bridge. The bridge carries a single railroad track across the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal in New Castle County, Delaware, USA.