The Morrisville–Trenton Railroad Bridge is a rail bridge across the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

between Morrisville,

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, ...

and Trenton, Mercer County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. The bridge carries the

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 ...

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 ...

trains and

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

Trenton Line The Trenton Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail (commuter rail) system. The route serves the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with service in Bucks County along the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey. Route Trenton L ...

as well as non-revenue trains for

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

Northeast Corridor Line The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Railroad ...

that have terminated at the

Trenton Transit Center Trenton Transit Center is the main passenger train station in Trenton, New Jersey. It is the southernmost stop in New Jersey on the Northeast Corridor. It is the terminus for NJ Transit trains to and from New York City and SEPTA Trenton Line ...

bound for the

Morrisville Yard Morrisville Yard is a rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parall ...

History

A series of

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 ...

(PRR) predecessors operated trains across the nearby

Lower Trenton Bridge The Lower Trenton Toll Supported Bridge, commonly called the Lower Free Bridge, Warren Street Bridge or Trenton Makes Bridge, is a two-lane Pennsylvania (Petit) through truss bridge over the Delaware River between Trenton, New Jersey and Mor ...

from 1834 until 1903, when PRR completed a

grade separation In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...

project through Trenton, including this 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 ...

on a new alignment. In 1953, the Morrisville approach to the bridge was blocked when eight cars of an eighty-three-car freight train operated by the

derailed at 11 p.m. on January 13. No one was injured in the incident; however, four of the derailed cars were described in news reports as "smashed across the four tracks," along with a steel pole that "was knocked across the tracks, tearing down the lines feeding current to express and local trains." As a result, the railroad's main line to New York was inoperable for five hours, forcing the cancellation or delay of more than twenty passenger trains.Wreck Blocks PRR Main Line
" Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', January 14, 1953, p. 1 (subscription required).

References

External links

*
An Icy Delaware River
(photo of the Morrisville–Trenton Railroad Bridge). Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania: ''Press Enterprise'', January 31, 2014, p. A3 (subscription required). {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrisville-Trenton Railroad Bridge Amtrak bridges Bridges completed in 1903 Bridges in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bridges in Mercer County, New Jersey Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Bridges over the Delaware River Buildings and structures in Trenton, New Jersey Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Trenton, New Jersey Pennsylvania Railroad bridges Railroad bridges in New Jersey NJ Transit bridges Viaducts in the United States Stone arch bridges in the United States 1903 establishments in New Jersey 1903 establishments in Pennsylvania Interstate railroad bridges in the United States SEPTA Regional Rail

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links