The Lyman Viaduct is a buried railroad

trestle ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Laborato ...

built over Dickinson Creek in

Colchester, Connecticut Colchester is a New England town, town in New London County, Connecticut, New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 15,555 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. In 2010 Colchester became the first town in Connecti ...

in 1873. Along with the nearby

Rapallo Viaduct The Rapallo Viaduct is a buried railroad trestle in East Hampton, Connecticut which carries the Air Line Trail across Flat Brook. The viaduct was built as part of the New Haven, Middletown and Willimantic Railroad's line from New Haven to Will ...

, it is one of the few surviving

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

railroad trestles from the first generation of such structures. It was built for the

Boston and New York Air-Line Railroad The Boston and New York Air-Line Railroad (commonly known simply as The Air Line, known as the New Haven, Middletown and Willimantic Railroad before 1875) was a railroad in Connecticut. Envisioned as a direct route between New Haven and Boston, i ...

, whose successor, 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 ...

(NYNH&H), buried it in sand rather than replacing it with a stronger structure. The viaduct was added to 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 1986, since it is capable of providing detailed information about construction methods of the period. The viaduct now carries the multiuse

Air Line State Park Trail The Air Line State Park Trail is a rail trail and linear state park located in Connecticut. The trail is divided into sections designated South (25 miles: East Hampton to Windham), North (21 miles: Windham to Putnam) a piece of the East Coa ...

.Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection
"Air Line State Park Trail: Overview."
Accessed 2012-11-25.

Description and history

The Lyman Viaduct is located in a rural setting of northwestern Colchester. Its center is about west of Bull Hill Road on the state-maintained Air Line Trail. It is a

post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

deck truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

design, long with a maximum height of . The structure consists of bents formed out of three quarter-round rolled wrought iron sections, with flanges designed to facilitate riveted assembly. At the point of the stream crossing, there are four columns. Each tier of the trestle is joined horizontally and laterally to adjacent members. The entire structure is buried in earthen fill and topped by a dense pack of cinder blocks, now somewhat overgrown on the sides. With . The viaduct was built in 1873 by the Phoenix Iron Works for the

, which aimed to provide service between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and Boston, Massachusetts via

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settler ...

. The viaduct was one of the largest single capital expenses of the railroad venture, which was beset by cost overruns and failed after just ten years of operation. Taken over by the NYNH&H, the viaduct was filled as a comparatively inexpensive means of strengthening the structure for use by heavier equipment in the early 20th century. The line remained in operation into the 1960s, and has since been adapted as the multiuse Air Line Trail by the state. This trestle and the nearby

, which was similarly buried, were among the world's first examples of wrought iron railroad trestles, and are the only known ones of that period that are believed to be in good condition, due to their entombment. The only earlier known examples of this technology include the

Verrugas Bridge The Verugas Bridge is a bridge in Peru. It has a height of 253 feet and is 574 feet in length. History The first bridge - a wrought iron viaduct - was designed by Leffert L. Buck and completed in January 1873.Mahmoud, p. 461 In March 1889, after ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, begun before these, completed in 1873, and washed away in 1889, and the

Kinzua Bridge The Kinzua Bridge or the Kinzua Viaduct (, ) was a railroad trestle that spanned Kinzua Creek in McKean County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The bridge was tall and long. Most of its structure collapsed during a tornado in July 2003. B ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, later rebuilt in steel. Because records of its construction are incomplete, forensic analysis of the structure (for example, by excavating a portion of the embankment) is expected to provide significant information about its design and construction, in particular how its construction may have deviated from known plans.

References

Bridges completed in 1873 Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Bridges in New London County, Connecticut Colchester, Connecticut New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad bridges Railroad bridges in Connecticut Truss bridges in the United States Viaducts in the United States National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut Wrought iron bridges in the United States Trestle bridges in the United States Buried viaducts

Description and history

See also

References