Moveable Bridges on New Haven Line

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... ns_newyork

When the weather gets very hot or very cold, Metro-North Railroad has to deal with a rather 19th-century-style problem: Drawbridges get stuck.

As the railroad's New Haven line trains runs along the Connecticut coast, they cross five bridges that the U.S. Coast Guard says must be lifted for boats. All but one of them were built more than a century ago. Three were constructed when the railroad that would eventually become part of Metro-North was controlled by John Pierpont Morgan.

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That's what happened one snowy day in January, when the U.S. Coast Guard asked the railroad to lift the 115-year-old bridge over the Norwalk River four times to allow an icebreaker to pass underneath it. On each occasion, it took between 36 minutes and an hour and a quarter to get the bridge back down. More than two-dozen trains were delayed. Incidents like that are part of the cause of the New Haven line's relatively low on-time performance. Its trains are late more often than the two Metro-North lines that run only in New York state.

The state of Connecticut owns the bridges and is responsible for maintaining, rehabilitating and replacing them. It cost more than $100 million to rebuild a crumbling bridge over the Pequonnock River in Bridgeport in the mid-1990s. The state is in various stages of designing and studying rehabilitation projects and replacements for the other New Haven line bridges.

Are those that are doing the complaining willing to give CDOT $100 million to replace WALK Bridge? It is not out of any great joy that these 100 year old drawbridges are still in service, it is the lack of funds. Personally, I'm amazed that they work at all considering how many years of neglect (NHRR, PC, ConRail) they had to endure.

Clean Cab wrote:Are those that are doing the complaining willing to give CDOT $100 million to replace WALK Bridge? It is not out of any great joy that these 100 year old drawbridges are still in service, it is the lack of funds. Personally, I'm amazed that they work at all considering how many years of neglect (NHRR, PC, ConRail) they had to endure.

do you ever think that the Cos COb Railroad bridge could become a Walkway from Cos Cob to Riverside like Westport (saugatuk) has?

not unless you are willing to reengineer the bridge, MNCR really does not want people just a few feet from trains.
it would be invite to disaster,.
how come no one suggest bike riders go play on I-95 ???

theozno wrote:do you ever think that the Cos COb Railroad bridge could become a Walkway from Cos Cob to Riverside like Westport (saugatuk) has?

No, I never think that. What does this have to do with the original post?

Cob Bridge does have a walkway across it on the track 3 side. But it is not for public use. It's not like this area doesn't have roads nearby that people and cars can use instead.

Clean Cab wrote:Cob Bridge does have a walkway across it on the track 3 side. But it is not for public use. It's not like this area doesn't have roads nearby that people and cars can use instead.

The point of the walkway at Westport is to get from the neighborhood on the east side of the river to the station on the west side. Since there are stations on both sides of the Mianus River bridge-- at Cos Cob and Riverside-- there's no need for a walkway.

Connecticut has a number of rivers that run North-South into the Long Island Sound. the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in CT (aka the MTA New Haven Line) runs East-West and has a number of bridges. I am interested in starting a thread on bridge shots and/or information on bridges along this section of track.

Here is a photograph of a Northbound Amtrak train crossing the West River which creates a border between West Haven and New Haven, CT.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/editPi ... id=2645931

bigblue5277 wrote:Connecticut has a number of rivers that run North-South into the Long Island Sound. the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in CT (aka the MTA New Haven Line) runs East-West and has a number of bridges. I am interested in starting a thread on bridge shots and/or information on bridges along this section of track.

Here is a photograph of a Northbound Amtrak train crossing the West River which creates a border between West Haven and New Haven, CT.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/editPi ... id=2645931

In Westport, the bridge over the Saugatuck River has the added benefit of a PUBLIC walkway right alongside the tracks... from watching videos on Youtube, it provides a great close up vantage point.

Are you saying you can still, today, walk across the NEC train bridge? This is some great info. I checked this out on Bing.com and this is right next to the Westport station. Nice spot! I'd love to see pictures if anyone's got them.
Thanks for sharing.

[/quote] In Westport, the bridge over the Saugatuck River has the added benefit of a PUBLIC walkway right alongside the tracks... from watching videos on Youtube, it provides a great close up vantage point.[/quote]

bigblue5277 wrote:Are you saying you can still, today, walk across the NEC train bridge? This is some great info. I checked this out on Bing.com and this is right next to the Westport station. Nice spot! I'd love to see pictures if anyone's got them.
Thanks for sharing.

Off the bat I know of many Youtube videos taken on the bridge of passing trains from recent months - am I correct in assuming the public walkway connects directly to the New Haven bound platform [Track 4]?

It doesn't connect directly, as there is a catenary support structure in the way. But it does connect directly with the parking lot.
The path is a nice bike shortcut to Compo Beach. I've had the pleasure of crossing this bridge while there was track work, and had a nice conversation with one of the track workers.

thats shot at the west haven/new haven line is very easy to get. just go to the lot next to the fire academy. just dont trip over the guys fishing

The bridge walkway along track 4 dates back well in to the New Haven Railroad days. When Westport had a low level platform it was simply an extension of the platform although it was not possible to board or detrain on the bridge. The interlocking machine for the bridge had a lever that lowered the movable platform when it was necessary to open the bridge. Incidentally the bridge in the New Haven days was diesel powered with two diesel engines inside the drawbridge building, only one was needed and they alternated in use. I wonder if the bridge is still diesel powered today?
Noel Weaver

Indeed it was very easy to get to. I looked for other pictures of the bridge on RRPA and railpics but couldn't find any. Do you know if any freight runs along this stretch?

kitn1mcc wrote:thats shot at the west haven/new haven line is very easy to get. just go to the lot next to the fire academy. just dont trip over the guys fishing