Friday, December 13, 2024

1883+1905 NYC Wilbur Bridge over Rondout Creek at Kingston, NY

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; B&T; 3D Satellite)

It was built by the New York, West Shore & Buffalow Railroad (NYWS&B).

2011 Flickr Photo taken by Joseph via BridgeHunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)
Rondout Railroad Bridge
This impressively high bridge spans the Rondout Creek in Kingston, New York. CSX freight trains still frequent it heavily.

I include this view from the Wurts Street Bridge because I was studying that suspension bridge and noticed this bridge.
Street View, Oct 2019

In fact, the Wurts Street Bridge appears in the left background of this photo.
1 of 3 photos posted by Bridge & Tunnels
The Wilbur Bridge is a testament to the undervalued significance of railroad bridges within transportation infrastructure. Despite its lack of ostentation, the bridge has a rich history dating back to its construction in 1882-1883 by the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railway. It was initially built with three Whipple through trusses and a towering height above Rondout Creek. The line was later reorganized as the West Shore Railroad by the New York Central in 1885, leading to plans for a new viaduct to accommodate increased weight in 1901.
The replacement of the Wilbur Bridge was carried out seamlessly, with no disruption to freight or passenger lines. The American Bridge Company was responsible for its construction between 1904-1905, utilizing a main Parker through truss span and a deck truss, among other configurations. One of the original spans from 1883 was repurposed for the Mahopac Branch of the New York & Harlem Railroad, while another was dismantled and relocated downstream.
➤ Check out more photos of this impressive bridge at 
Dennis DeBruler: I like that you included the Wurts Street Bridge in the background.

B&T
The steel towers are 155' [47m] tall and the total height was 195' [60m].
HistoricBridges

Dave Blaze Rail Photography posted
M218 On High
I shared a couple of track level head on shots from earlier this same day but then returned after a sojourn to the east side of the river to capture this view from below. 
I'm standing along the north bank of Rondout Creek off of Abeel Street upstream of the railroad looking up at the 1228 foot [374m] long Wilbur bridge standing some 198 feet [60m] above water level.  CSXT train M218 (Selkirk to Philadelphia East Side Yard unit auto racks) is passing thru the 400 ft [122m] tunnel out of sight at left and sailing high over the creek at MP 87.5 on modern day CSXT’s very busy River Sub mainline. 
To learn more about the history of this spectacular structure and see some historic photos and drawings check out these links: 
CSXT's River Sub (ex Conrail, Penn Central, New York Central, nee West Shore) dates from 1883 in this area and despite being a relative latecomer its mainline up the west bank of the Hudson has only grown in importance over the decades as traffic patterns have shifted.  Today this line between northern New Jersey and the Albany area is by far the busiest north south route in the northeast, while conversely virtually the entirety of the West Shore's route to Buffalo along the south side of the Mohawk River has long been abandoned. 
Kingston, New York
Saturday October 26, 2024

This is obviously during construction of the 1905 bridge.
BridgeHunter

"The main span is listed as pin-connected, but some of the diagonals are rigidly riveted to gusset plates, showing a transition from pin connected to rivet connected thinking. This bridge replaced a very impressive Phoenix column through truss bridge that included "Triple Whipple" (Triple Intersection Pratt) truss spans. One of the approach Whipple (Double Intersection Pratt) spans was relocated and still exists as the Goldens Bridge." [HistoricBridges]

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