CSX Mohawk river bridge at Hoffmans, NY

roadster wrote:Matt, this is East of CP 169 and will not effect Amtrak at all. In fact during the shutdown, Amtrak wouldn't have to deal with hardly any CSX traffic so they should be running fairly on time. Nice thought, eh?

That is excellent news. It looks my Amtrak trip will be Labor Day weekend.

I'm uncertain about the standards for construction of piers, but I checked the historical topos on mytopo.com and there is no bridge there in 1895 so it would seem that the piers were created for this bridge.

Leo_Ames wrote:I don't think Ironman thought this was that bridge. He was just mentioning some of the other projects that were related to the construction of this cutoff to establish a rough timeframe for when the bridge in question was constructed.

This.

Someone asked when the bridge was built, I didn't know the exact date so I brought up the project it was built for.

joshuahouse wrote:I'm uncertain about the standards for construction of piers, but I checked the historical topos on mytopo.com and there is no bridge there in 1895 so it would seem that the piers were created for this bridge.

This is why I brought up the Castleton Cutoff, this bridge (which doesn't have a name) is a part of that whole project. The bridge was not a part of the original NYC main line, it was built much later so freight trains could by pass West Albany.

It doesn't show in 1895 because it wasn't built until the 1920's.

in any case this project looks like it might be worth seeing weather from the boat or from the shore line.

For sure this will be neat to watch... anybody have a legitimate photo of the correct bridge ? At the very least, it would be nice to understand what I'm reading about.

Too bad I'm now stuck paying for my only home to live, an expensive home in Alabama after the local gov "mistakenly" eliminated my private sector job, otherwise I'd consider travel and possibly moving back to NY. To think I thought NY was crooked and messed up !? Wow, it's worse in other states... such as Alabama. I am afraid to even step out of my vehicle anymore, there are so many cops looking to be heroes you can't hardly watch a train go through without being detained for at least 20 minutes. Save what cash you can and if you can afford it, get yourselves some gear, because things are about to soon go haywire. It's really so bad to the point the lawyers here won't risk their reputations to fight for your right to have a job and afford payments for a 1900 sq ft brick home in the middle of nowhere.

PM me...

pumpers link from April 5th is the correct bridge.

Thanks Roadster for clearing that up. Previous posts were just a lil bit unclear, whether that was indeed the bridge or not. I wonder what span that is... it looks to be 970 ft.

161pw165 's link is good too, as it's the same bridge. I'm not really sure where the confusion was, but I'm glad you guys cleared it up.

pumpers wrote:

Leo_Ames wrote: Wouldn't stone bridge piers be a bit rare for 1920's railway construction? I would've thought concrete was the norm by that date for something such as this.

Good questions, JS

My first thought is that concrete piers submerged in the river would not hold up well to freeze/thaw cycles, as concrete is porous. Also there is the issue of ice floes being abraiding, which would chew on the piers. Stone would withstand this much better.

we don't like this news.

signed,
railfans planning a memorial day weekend trip to the mohawk valley

Memorial day weekend was only mentioned to me in 3rd person. Nothing in stone yet. When I here an aboslute correct date, I'll post it asap. Besides, what a show this will be.

roadster wrote:Memorial day weekend was only mentioned to me in 3rd person. Nothing in stone yet. When I here an aboslute correct date, I'll post it asap. Besides, what a show this will be.

Kind of reminds me of the Bridge replacement on track 2 in Palmyra a few years ago. Me and a few buddy's went over and set up camp on a Saturday morning and stayed late into the we hours on Sunday. We even had Marks Pizza make a delivery out there!

Just a tidbit of info., no actual date has been confirmed yet. But today I noticed a crew along the South side next to the abutment taking core samples on the ground next to the abutment.

Just wanted to say, as Memorial Day Weekend approaches. I have neither heard nor seen any further activity regarding the CSX Mohawk River bridges replacement. While we do expect it to happen. The lack of preparation on the site, leads me to believe that the date mentioned to me was simply RR rumor mill BS. I expect traffic to be at normal levels this weekend. If I happen to hear some substancial, confirmable information. I will post it here as soon as I am able to confirm it. Sorry for any misunderstanding.