The Housatonic River Railroad Bridge is a historic bridge carrying

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

New Haven Line The Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line is a commuter rail line running from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. It joins the Harlem Line at Mount Vernon, New York and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven ...

trackage across the lower

Housatonic River The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United S ...

in the U.S. state of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. The bridge is also used by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

for its

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

services. 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 1987, which also refers to the bridge as the Devon Bridge. It is also referred to as the Devon Railroad Bridge by the state

Department of Environmental Protection This article lists subnational environmental agencies in the United States, by state. Agencies with a variety of titles and responsibilities are included, e.g. Department of Environment, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of E ...

It is a "Scherzer Rolling Lift Bascule"-type

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or ...

. It has a steel superstructure and block stone piers. The moveable span is a Warren through truss span. and The Connecticut River Railroad Bridge is another bridge of this type in Connecticut which is also NRHP-listed. It is one of eight moveable bridges on the Amtrak route through Connecticut surveyed in one multiple property study in 1986. The eight bridges from west to east are: Mianus River Railroad Bridge at Cos Cob, built in 1904;

Norwalk River Railroad Bridge The Norwalk River Railroad Bridge (also known as the Walk Bridge) is a swing bridge built in 1896 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. It currently carries Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad trains over the Norwalk River. The current ...

at Norwalk, 1896;

Saugatuck River Railroad Bridge The Saugatuck River Railroad Bridge, also known as Saugatuck River Bridge, is a railroad bridge carrying trackage of Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line over the Saugatuck River in Westport, Connecticut. It is one of eight moveable bridges on th ...

at Westport, 1905;

Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge The Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge is a railroad drawbridge (movable bridge) over the Pequonnock River in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Owned by the State of Connecticut and maintained and operated by both Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad, it is als ...

at Bridgeport, 1902; Housatonic River Railroad Bridge, at Devon, 1906; Connecticut River Railroad Bridge, Old Saybrook-Old Lyme, 1907; Niantic River Bridge, East Lyme-Waterford, 1907; and Thames River Bridge, Groton, built in 1919.

History

The current bridge is the fourth railroad span in the same location, originally known as Naugatuck Junction. The original bridge was the first railroad bridge over the Housatonic river, built by the

New York and New Haven Railroad The New York and New Haven Railroad (NY&NH) was a railroad connecting New York City to New Haven, Connecticut, along the shore of Long Island Sound. It opened in 1849, and in 1872 it merged with the Hartford & New Haven Railroad to form the New ...

, and was a single-track wooden covered

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

, in length and a draw of , built in 1848. It was the longest covered bridge ever built in the state of Connecticut. The second bridge was a double-track cast iron Whipple truss, in length and a draw of , built in 1872 by the Keystone Bridge Company for the

. The third bridge was a double-track wrought iron Pratt truss, in length and a draw of , built in 1884 by the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

. The current bridge, a four-track steel with Warren through truss spans, Scherzer Bascule bridge, in length and a draw of , was completed in 1906 by the American Bridge Company for the

. Its completion finished the quadruple-tracking of the New Haven mainline from Woodlawn Junction to New Haven. Repairs were planned for six months starting April 25, 2015.

References

External links

9 HAER photos of the bridge, photos #49-#57
{{National Register of Historic Places Bridges completed in 1904 Buildings and structures in Milford, Connecticut Buildings and structures in Stratford, Connecticut Bridges in Fairfield County, Connecticut Bridges in New Haven County, Connecticut New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad bridges Bascule bridges in the United States Drawbridges on the National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Bridges over the Housatonic River Steel bridges in the United States Warren truss bridges in the United States Howe truss bridges in the United States

History

See also

References

External links