This was the fourth bridge at this location. See below for the previous two bridges.
""The Penn Central Railroad Bridge at Coatesville is a ten-arch bridge spanning the west branch of the Brandywine Creek. Each arch is ninety-six feet high, and has stone voussoirs over its entire length. Regularly coursed rusticated stonework fills the spaces between arches; the bridge has nine piers. The bridge carries four tracks." [Historic Places Inventory via Historic Bridges]
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| Metrotrails posted Historic mid 1903 image of the base of the Coates High Bridge going up, the final step of the quadruple tracking of Pennsylvania Railroad on the old main line. From Lukens Inc negatives, Library of Congress |
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| Metrotrails posted |
Historic 1904 image of the completed construction of the Coatesville High Bridge with a locomotive passing over, while the 1890 deck truss predecessor [see near the bottom of these notes] is being dismantled, from Eugene DiOrio collection.
The 1000 ft long, 100 ft tall Viaduct over the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek took only a little over one year to build, completed in 1904.
Highly skilled Italian Stone masons, Masters of their art, were brought in by the Pennsylvania Railroad to undertake this incredible task.
The first railroad bridge to spend this Valley was that of the Philadelphia and colombia, completed here in 1834. That first Bridge was a single track, and it was rebuilt as a double track bridge in 1854.
The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the Philadelphia and Columbia in 1857. Among the many improvements made were the replacement of this bridge with an iron deck truss structure in 1867. It was partially rebuilt with wrought iron in 1883, and then replace entirely with another metal truss bridge in 1890.
The magnificent stone arches carry trains over them daily to this day.
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| Metrotrails Historic 1870s W. T. Purviance stereoscopic photos of the second Coatesville High Bridge, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, over the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek. The Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad came through first in 1834 and constructed a wooden, single track trestle. This was rebuilt in 1854 as a double track wooden trestle. The Pennsylvania Railroad purchased P&C in 1857, and replaced the wooden structure with the iron structure seen here a decade later. This bridge was upgraded with new wrought iron in 1883, but then replaced entirely with another similar deck truss iron bridge in 1890. The current bridge at this site is a nearly 1,000 ft long, 8 arch stone viaduct completed in 1904. It still carries passenger trains daily. |
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| Metrotrails posted Historic 1904 image of the near completed construction of the Coatesville High Bridge, from Eugene DiOrio collection. [The rest of the description is a repeat of the above post.] |
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| Metrotrails posted Historic early 1900s image of the Coatesville High Bridge, from Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, showing a locomotive crossing the eight arch stone viaduct completed in 1904 by the Pennsylvania Railroad. [The rest of the description is similar to the above.] Dave Vollmer: That's a B60b behind that K4 so the very earliest this could have been photographed was 1925. More likely to be the 30s though. |
Ed Hollowell commented on Bridge Hunter:
It occurs to me that this must have been very near the end of the era of stone construction and the start of concrete. I can name some structures in Indiana that were built in the 1905 period that were all concrete and the most remarkable part of that was the fact that the railroad they were built for was owned by a man who owned stone quarrys not far away. (Kitton Ditch Bridge)
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| Photo via Auntie LuAnnie |
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| Robert Wanner commented on a post |
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| Sixth of 80 stories after filtering out "People" on a timeline 1834: High Bridge Across the Brandywine The High Bridge across the Brandywine River is built for the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad, expanding marketing opportunities for Rebecca's mill |
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| Fred Lannert commented on a post Equally impressive is where the picture [of the steel mill] was taken from. The Coatesville High Bridge is an engineering marvel. |
I include the retaining wall along Lumber Street because this is the first time I have seen buttresses for a retaining wall.
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| Street View |
The 1867 and 1890 Bridges
There were three predecessor bridges. The first was built in 1834 for the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad (P&CRR) (a photo further below). The second was a cast iron truss bridge built in 1867. The third bridge was built in 1890, and the railroad was still the P&CRR. The 1904 bridge was built by Pennsy.
The description for this post also documents the bridges.
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| Metrotrails posted A view west on Lumber Street in Coatesville Pa, where a coaling trestle used to cross, with the Coatesville High Bridge in view ahead. The 1000 ft [305m] long, 100 ft [30.5m] tall Viaduct over the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek took only a little over one year to build, completed in 1904. Highly skilled Italian Stone masons, Masters of their art, were brought in by the Pennsylvania Railroad to undertake this incredible task. The first railroad bridge to [span] this Valley was that of the Philadelphia and colombia, completed here in 1834. That first Bridge was a single track, and it was rebuilt as a double track bridge in 1854. The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the Philadelphia and Columbia in 1857. Among the many improvements made were the replacement of this bridge with an iron deck truss structure in 1867. It was partially rebuilt with wrought iron in 1883, and then replace entirely with another metal truss bridge in 1890. The magnificent stone arches carry trains over them daily to this day. |
1867 Bridge (Second)
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| History's Mirror posted The Coatesville Bridge, circa 1870s, is a remarkable piece of Pennsylvania's history, standing as a testament to the engineering and architectural skills of the time. Located in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, this bridge, captured in an image by WT Purviance, was part of the region’s early infrastructure that supported both transportation and commerce. [The rest of the description is just platitudes.] |
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| Metrotrails posted Historic 1880s view of the second Pennsylvania Railroad bridge to cross the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek in Coatesville Pennsylvania, built in 1867, seen here after the Pratt deck truss was upgraded in 1883. |
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| Metrotrails posted Historic late 1870s or early 1880s view of the second Pennsylvania Railroad bridge to cross the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek in Coatesville Pennsylvania, built in 1867. From Greystone Society. |
1890 Bridge (Third)
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| Metrotrails posted Historic circa 1900 view of the third Pennsylvania Railroad bridge to cross the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek in Coatesville Pennsylvania, from Greystone Society. |
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