Anyone know anything about the NYNH&H's elevated crossing of Pleasant Street in downtown Northampton, MA?
I found the plans from 1888 to elevate the line and eliminate a bunch of grade crossings including that one, and the crossing of Bridge St/Main St (Rt 9) which today hosts the bought-from-catalog rail-trail bridge parallel to the CT River Railroad tracks: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... ampton.jpg
But the Pleasant street bridge is gone and its abutments torn back for substantial distance, sometime between when the line was deactivated and when it became a rail trail. Given the trail climbs up and back down the built-up ramp along Hampton Avenue that would have lead to the crossing, its clear that removal of the bridge would have made the line permanently impassable, and had to happen after abandonment, and after the various mid-century railfan trips and later freight movements sometimes reported.
I found the plans from 1888 to elevate the line and eliminate a bunch of grade crossings including that one, and the crossing of Bridge St/Main St (Rt 9) which today hosts the bought-from-catalog rail-trail bridge parallel to the CT River Railroad tracks: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... ampton.jpg
But the Pleasant street bridge is gone and its abutments torn back for substantial distance, sometime between when the line was deactivated and when it became a rail trail. Given the trail climbs up and back down the built-up ramp along Hampton Avenue that would have lead to the crossing, its clear that removal of the bridge would have made the line permanently impassable, and had to happen after abandonment, and after the various mid-century railfan trips and later freight movements sometimes reported.
