Farmington River Railroad Bridge on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Farmington River Railroad Bridge spans the Farmington River in
The Farmington River Railroad Bridge is located north of the village center of Windsor, spanning the east-flowing Farmington River in a north–south direction, just north of Pleasant Street. It is a masonry structure long, built out of locally quarried sandstone, with seven arches mounted on piers and abutments of similar stone. The stone is formed into dressed rectangular blocks of varying sizes. The sides of the piers are articulated as pilasters, with a captstone set on a stone balustrade over each one. The upstream sides of the piers have triangular projections to minimize damage caused by ice floes.
The bridge was built in 1867 by the
Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population of Windsor was 29,492 at the 2020 census.
Po ...
, just west of Palisado Avenue and north of Pleasant Street. It carries two tracks of the main railroad line between Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
and Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
. Built in 1867, it is one of the state's finest examples of a stone arch railroad bridge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1972.
Description and history
The Farmington River Railroad Bridge is located north of the village center of Windsor, spanning the east-flowing Farmington River in a north–south direction, just north of Pleasant Street. It is a masonry structure long, built out of locally quarried sandstone, with seven arches mounted on piers and abutments of similar stone. The stone is formed into dressed rectangular blocks of varying sizes. The sides of the piers are articulated as pilasters, with a captstone set on a stone balustrade over each one. The upstream sides of the piers have triangular projections to minimize damage caused by ice floes.
The bridge was built in 1867 by the Hartford and New Haven Railroad
The Hartford and New Haven Railroad (H&NH), chartered in 1833, was the first railroad built in the state of Connecticut and an important direct predecessor of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The company was formed to connect the ...
, and has carried the main line between Hartford and Springfield since then. This is particularly noteworthy, because the weight and force of modern trains is substantially greater than those at the time of its construction. The bridge was designed to allow for the transit of barges beneath it on the river.
See also
*National Register of Historic Places listings in Windsor, Connecticut __NOTOC__
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Windsor, Connecticut.
This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Windsor, Connecticut, Unit ...
* List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
References
{{National Register of Historic Places Bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut Bridges completed in 1867 Bridges in Hartford County, Connecticut Windsor, Connecticut Stone arch bridges in the United States Railroad bridges in Connecticut