1930 CSX/(Lehigh Valley+Pennsy) Upper Bay Bridge over Newark Bay

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

The predecessor bridge was a swing bridge built by Lehigh Valley in 1913.

Street View

It's always good to catch a train on a bridge because that means the route is still used.

Street View

Jonathan Konopka posted
This is the Upper Bay Bridge, which connects Newark, NJ and Bayonne, NJ. It is a vertical lift bridge that was built in 1930 and carries the CSX National Docks Branch over the Newark Bay.
James Kenney: AKA Lehigh Valley bridge.

EN via BridgeHunter

William Billson posted
Today [May 1, 2024] at 3pm Conrail Terminal Dispatcher assuming control of Upper Bay interlocking and Garden switches. The operators are staying at the bridge, but will be bridge tenders.

Ken Jamin: If the signals governing movement over the bridge clear automatically when the bridge is down and locked, the bridge centers are not under the HOS and can work indefinitely. However if the bridge tender has to line the signal manually, they are under DS HOS. (Nine hours in 24).

[I decided that HOS means Hours of Service.]

William Billson: Ken Jamin dispatcher handling signals and unlocks bridge for operator.

This bridge would be the one marked on this diagram. Greenville Yard is little east of here.

Johnny Martin posted
Handrawn map of Conrail North Jersey Terminal yards, trackage and connectors showing how Big Blue got the trains through this quagmire after sorting everything out. I got this map from the former operator of HUDSON Tower.
[The big yard is Oak Island. It stills has some tracks, but much of it is now intermodal, auto terminal and airport stuff.]

I got this map because I could not figure out where Garden Yard was. It appears that Newark Airport is built on landfill. The bridge at the south end of Newark Bay no longer exists.

1947/47 Elizabeth Quad @ 24,000

Canadian Pacific (CP), Kansas City Southern (KCS) and Merger (CPKC) Overview

According to a Facebook comment, they CPKC also got the Panama Canal Railway.

Ted Gregory posted, cropped

It looks like CN found some partners to help it compete.

UP (source)
[I sure hope the intermodal interchange between CN and UP in Chicago is done with steel wheels rather than rubber wheels. (CSX forces interchange to be done with rubber wheels.)]

 

safe_image for New Transcontinental Rail Route Announced Through Chicago
This article implies the interchange will be done with steel wheels using CN's EJ&E route.

I guess CN will be beefing up this connector between their GM&O and EJ&E properties.

MBTA SOC Bridge over Saugus River at Lynn, MA

1911,1989: (Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER; 3D Satellite)

SOC = Strauss Overhead Counterweight

"Significance: The Saugus River Drawbridge is a single-leaf Strauss overhead counterweight bascule which is believed to be the oldest known example of its type in Massachusetts. It is particularly significant for its innovative engineering design and association with a prominent bridge engineer, Joseph Baermann Strauss, whose company designed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco." [HAER-data]

3D Satellite

HAER MASS,5-SAUG,2--5
5. VIEW OF DRAW SPAN CLOSED, LOOKING WEST - Saugus River Drawbridge, Spanning Saugus River at MBTA Railroad Eastern Route, Saugus, Essex County, MA

HAER MASS,5-SAUG,2--8
8. VIEW SHOWING DRAW SPAN PARTIALLY OPEN, LOOKING WEST

HAER MASS,5-SAUG,2--9
9. VIEW SHOWING DRAW SPAN FULLY OPEN, LOOKING WEST

 

MBTA Commuter Rail posted
Here’s an eastbound (outbound) train being pulled by a 4-6-2 “P2” steam locomotive thundering across the Saugus Draw in West Lynn in early- to mid-1956. Today, this is next to River Works on the Newburyport/Rockport Line. This train’s likely destination is Marblehead or Danvers, now closed branches of the commuter rail network. These were some of the last routes to use steam locomotives before the full replacement with diesel.
📸: Russel F Munroe, Jr
Douglas Butler posted

Street View, Oct 2021

Trail/Erie/D&H Quadrangle Lattice Bridge over Starrucca Creek

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; B&T; Satellite)

"1904 lattice through truss over Starrucca Creek. A parallel plate girder bridge was added in 1929. It appears that the truss was abandoned prior to the abandonment of the line itself." [BridgeHunter]

It was renovated for use by the D&H Trail in 2019-20. [B&T]

2015 Flickr Photo by Russ Nelson via BridgeHunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)

1 of 4 photos posted by Bridges & Tunnels

The Starrucca Creek Bridge, a unique quadrangular lattice through truss, was erected over Starrucca Creek on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad in northeast Pennsylvania. The quadrangle lattice through truss was built in 1904, and a parallel plate girder bridge was added in 1929. The route between Carbondale and Lanesboro, including this bridge, was abandoned in 1982.

The unique crossing has since been renovated and incorporated into a scenic rail-to-trail.

More on this bridge can be found at http://bridgestunnels.com/location/starrucca-creek-bridge/

A history of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Penn Division can be found at my partner site, Abandoned, at https://abandonedonline.net/.../delaware-hudson-railway.../

Jarrett Spamiels: I thought the Penn division was Closed by Guilford in 86.
Bridges & Tunnels shared

 

1 of several photos in B&T

We can see from the exposed eastern abutment that the girder bridge has been removed.

Satellite

This bridge is just a little over a 1000' upstream from the famous Erie Starrucca Viaduct. In fact, the viaduct went over the D&H.

Satellite

dcnr

(GMRC+NECR)/Rutland Railroad Tunnel in Bellows Falls Tunnel

(Bridge Hunter; Satellite, it is about 150' long)

Steven J. Brown posted
Amtrak Vermonter #55 at Bellows Falls, Vermont - January 27, 2023.
Steven J. Brown shared

This route "originally carried the Rutland Railroad (RUT). It now carries the Green Mountain Railroad (GMRC) and the New England Central Railroad (NECR). Rutland used to terminate in Bellows Falls with a connection to Boston & Maine. B&M was on both sides of the Connecticut River south of town and on the east side of the river north of town. GMRC/RUT goes up the west side of the river north of town." [Dennis DeBruler]

 

Satellite plus Paint

Dennis DeBruler commented on Steven's post
The topology of that town must be rather interesting. There is a hydroelectric plant about a block to the right (East) of here.
 https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...

1982 Photo by Geoff Hubbs via BridgeHunter, License: Released into public domain

BridgeHunter
Photo appears to depict clean-up after The Great Flood Of March, 1913.

Green Mountain/Rutland Bridge over Williams River and Hurricane Irene

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Even though the bridge is aways southeast of downtown Chester, the bridge is in the town because the town's boundaries include a lot of farmland.

I've seen this photo many times, but this time enough information was provided to find the bridge.

I Love Trains posted
Bridge in Chester, Vermont, after hurricane Irene [in 2011].
[I keep finding states that Hurricane Irene devastated.]

Luke Harden commented on BridgeHunter
This is a screencap from a post Hurricane Irene PDF the Vermont Rail System put out.
[lcpb, p45]

lcpb, p19

lcpb, p20

lcpb, p21

 

lcpb, p31

 

lcpb, p35

 

vrs

lcpb, p44

 

lcpb, p55

 

15:46 video @ 7:01, dumping started at 6:52
[I couldn't find any more side-car dump action in the video. The rest of it is just typical railfan footage.]

lcpb, p27

Brightline+FEC over Turkey Creek in Palm Bay, FL

(no Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

These notes show the construction of the second bridge for a second track.

Street View, Sep 2022

The blue yellow and blue girders above are for the temporary work trestle. The crane is reaching over the current right-of-way. This is what the bridge normally looks like.

Street View, May 2021

I was going to simply add this as a bonus to the Sebastian river notes. But then I noticed that this one was the last girder for the whole Brightline project. But more significantly, I noticed the mix of using steel and concrete girders.

safe_image for Brightline Construction: Final Girder Installation at Turkey Creek - January 20, 2023
This GoBrightline construction update looks at the installation of the final girder at the Turkey Creek bridge in Palm Bay, FL. In addition to being the final girder at this bridge, it is also the last of 108 total girders required as part of Brightline's Orlando expansion. 

The Roaming Railfan confirmed that a steel beam is used to span the navigation channel while concrete beams are used for the other spans. This taught me that steel beams are stronger than concrete beams. Not only is the steel beam longer, it is not as deep. But I'm sure steel is more expensive or we would never see the use of concrete beams.

8:08 video @ 0:00

This was the satellite image I accessed. I was confused because it looks like there already is a second bridge.

Satellite

So I fired up Google Earth. The above image was taken Jan 2021. This later image shows that they evidently removed a steel bridge to replace it with this new bridge.

Google Earth, Jan 2022

Eppenberg SBB Railway Tunnel Between Olten and Aarau in Switzerland

West Portal: (Satellite)

East Portal: (Satellite, the southern tracks)

"The railway line between Olten and Aarau is located on the main route between the cities of Berne and Zurich. On account of high demand for both passenger and goods traffic, the SBB is upgrading this link. The route is being widened from two to four tracks in order to increase capacity. As the existing route cannot be upgraded within the communities located along it owing to a lack of space, a twin-track rail tunnel is required through the Eppenberg." [tunnel-online]

I recommend watching this video from the beginning. I chose this screenshot because the map provides a nice overview.

20:01 video @ 0:24

herrenknecht
It finished the 2.6 kilometers of tunnelling on Feb 2, 2018 after just over a year of work. It finished three months earlier than planned.

The tunnel opened on Dec 13, 2020. They had been running test trains since Sep 11, 2020. [SwissTopo]

Brightline+FEC over Sebastian River in Roseland, FL

(no Bridge Hunter; Satellite, see below for an image that captured the work trestle)

(Update: in Jan 2023, the last of 108 girders was placed in the Turkey Creek Bridge.)

The Roaming Railfan posted eight photos with the comment:

Here are a few pictures to go with my latest video of the installation of the final two girders at the Sebastian River bridge in Roseland, FL. This completed the second half of the new double track bridge and is being built as part of the GoBrightline Orlando expansion which is on track to open in 2023. 

Check out the full video of the installation here: https://youtu.be/88gaGo1t4HA

Austin Stenecky shared

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The current satellite image is worth capturing because it shows the work trestle, crane, spans that have yet to be installed and a train.

Satellite

The Liebherr is a LR1300, and the Manitowoc is a 999.

20:38 video @ 7:32