Pennsylvania Railroad, Connecting Railway Bridge is a stone

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct (a ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, that carries

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

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, ...

rail lines and

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates transit bus, bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people ...

and NJT commuter rail lines over the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It ...

. It is located in

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with ...

, just upstream from the

Girard Avenue Bridge The Girard Avenue Bridge is an automobile and trolley bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that carries Girard Avenue ( U.S. Route 13) over the Schuylkill River. It connects the east and west sections of Fairmount Park, and the Brewerytown neigh ...

. It is also known as ''Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Division, Bridge No. 69''. Other names include ''Connecting Railway Bridge'', ''Connection Bridge'', ''New York Connecting Bridge'', ''New York Railroad Bridge'', and ''Junction Railroad Bridge''.

Initial bridge

The bridge was built in 1866 and 1867 by the

Connecting Railway The Connecting Railway was a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, incorporated to build a connection between the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad and the PRR in the city of Philadelphia. Construction and assembly Connecting Railway The PRR ...

, a company affiliated with the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

and formally purchased by the PRR in 1871. Its purpose was to connect the PRR's southern and northern lines, and to be part of an eventual direct PRR line from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. Before the bridge's construction, PRR trains took a circuitous route between PRR's West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia Stations. The bridge was probably designed by John A. Wilson, chief engineer of the Connecting Railway Company, who surveyed the route in 1863. Following Wilson's 1864 resignation, PRR First Vice-President

George Brooke Roberts George Brooke Roberts (January 15, 1833 – January 30, 1897) was a civil engineer and the fifth president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (1880–96). Early life and education Roberts was born at his family's farm in the Pencoyd region of Bala ...

, an engineer, took over the project and saw it through to completion. (He later became president of the PRR.)

Thomas Seabrook Thomas W. Seabrook (c. 1817 – February 24, 1897) was a 19th-century American civil engineer who was most known for his work on the construction and extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal na ...

was the masonry contractor. The bridge opened to traffic on 2 June 1867. The bridge was narrow, with only 2 tracks and an iron truss at mid-river. This was a cast- and wrought-iron, arch-reinforced, double-intersection

Whipple 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 (mechanics), tensi ...

. In 1873, PRR slightly reduced the truss's span by widening the stone piers at each end. Probably at the same time, PRR removed the truss's reinforcing arch. In 1897, PRR replaced the Whipple truss with a

Pratt 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, o ...

of the same length.

Expanded bridge

Between 1912 and 1915, PRR more than doubled the width of the bridge to 5 tracks, and replaced the mid-river iron truss with two massive stone arches. Alexander C. Shand was the designer of what was essentially a new bridge, built to look like the original. Eyre, Shoemaker, Inc. was the masonry contractor. Reiter, Curtis & Hill built the reinforced concrete bridges over Lansdowne Drive and West

Girard Avenue Girard Avenue is a major commercial and residential street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For most of its length it runs east–west, but at Frankford Avenue it makes a 135-degree turn north. Parts of the road are signed as U.S. Route 13 and U. ...

, and the viaduct curving around the

Philadelphia Zoo The Philadelphia Zoo, located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, is the first true zoo in the United States. It was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859, but its openi ...

In art

The Connecting Railway Bridge, with its line of stone arches, was a frequent subject for painters. It appears in works by Carl Philipp Weber,Beth Kephart, ''Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River'' (2007), p. 101. Edmund Darch Lewis,

Thomas Moran Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...

, and, most famously, '' Max Schmitt in a Single Scull'' (1871) by

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

. File:Max Schmitt in a Single Scull.jpg, '' Max Schmitt in a Single Scull'' (1871) by

. File:Edmund Darch Lewis A View of Philadelphia from Belmont Plateau 1873.jpg, ''A View of Philadelphia from Belmont Plateau'' (1873) by Edmund Darch Lewis. File:US-PA(1891) p718 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD BRIDGES.jpg, 1891 engraving by Moses King.

Other images

File:Schuylkill river.jpeg, 1872 Schuylkill River map. File:N. Y. Connecting Bridge, Philada, by Purviance, W. T. (William T.).jpg, Connecting Railway Bridge (circa 1867-73) with original reinforced-arch truss. File:Girard Avenue bridge, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views 4.jpg, Connecting Railway Bridge (circa 1867-73) from the south. File:Falls Bridge, Fairmount Park, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, East River Drive (circa 1873) approaching the Connecting Railway Bridge. File:R. R. bridge & tunnel, Fairmount Park, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, East River Drive going under the Connecting Railway Bridge. File:View in Fairmount Park. New York R.R. bridge, by Hemple, A. H. (Alfred H.).jpg, Connecting Railway Bridge (after 1873) with reinforced-arch removed from truss. File:PumpingStation.jpg, Spring Garden Pumping Station (after 1873) with the Connecting Railway Bridge in the background. File:Detroit Photographic Company (0757).jpg, Colorized photograph of the East River Drive (circa 1900). File:HABS 206147.jpg, Aerial view of the

(2003). The Pennsylvania Railroad, Connecting Railway Bridge is at bottom.

References

External links

* * by Jack Boucher, 1995. {{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Pennsylvania Railroad, Connecting Railway Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream =

Columbia Railroad Bridge Columbia Railroad Bridge, also known as "Columbia Bridge", is a 1920 concrete arch bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that carries CSX Trenton Subdivision rail lines over the Schuylkill River. Located in Fairmount Park, upstream of the Pennsy ...

, upstream signs = , downstream =

/ Girard Avenue Trolley , downstream signs = US 13

Bridges in Philadelphia Bridges completed in 1867 Bridges completed in 1915 Railroad bridges in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Railroad bridges Bridges over the Schuylkill River Historic American Engineering Record in Philadelphia Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia 1867 establishments in Pennsylvania Viaducts in the United States Stone arch bridges in the United States Pratt truss bridges in the United States NJ Transit bridges SEPTA Amtrak bridges Northeast Corridor