Old Put In Eastview

Were there twin bridges over both the Saw Mill River Parkway and Saw Mill River Road in Eastview?

My Family has a cemetery plot in Kensico Cemetery. At the time I was growing up we were liviing in Closter and Haworth, NJ. Route into Kensico from Tappan Zee Bridge at the time took us on road that went under the Put at Eastview. I haven't been up that way since my Grandmother died in December 1982.

Best regards,

DocJohn
Macon, GA

What do you mean by "twin bridges?" Anyway, the Put bridge over the SMP which was replaced by the present I-beam bridge for the bikeway about 10 years ago, was a heavy plate girder with a masonry center support. I recall it was 2 tracks wide, as the Eastview runaround siding extended across this bridge.

Correct- the original bridge over the Saw Mill was one span, wide enough for two tracks. The single span was put in when they made the bike trail. I'm sure the old bridge could handle the stress of bicycle traffic... replacing the bridge with a lighter one ensures that the railroad tracks wont be put back, no doubt!

-otto-

Believe it or not, guys...

The bridge that goes over the Saw Mill IS part of the original bridge. It has been "trimmed down" in width, but the steel girders are the originals. I was on the construction crew that did the Saw Mill Pkwy improvements at that time (working for ECCO III Enterprises). We also filled a lot of the old Eastview site with the excess fill, creating a large berm that borders the parkway. We also cut up the boxcar. A sad day indeed!

Regards,
Tony

Now THAT is a surprise. I have been driving underneath that bridge twice a day for years. and those girders that are there now look totally different!! However, I have to respect that your story is accurate!

I asked because it's obvious the line was double tracked along that stretch (track left in place just north of Saw Mill River Road, Eastview), but the Trailway bridges are only wide enough for one track.

Next time you go over that bridge, look over the sides at the bridge abutments on either side of the Saw Mill Parkway. You'll get a clearer visual idea on just how wide the bridge was. The abutments were modified after narrowing the bridge by "stepping" them. Look at the width of the bases of the abutments...that will give you a general idea of the original width.

Regards,
Anthony

For the record, that box car was a NYC PACEMAKER before all the paint rusted off the sides. They ran that car up the line, dumping all the contents of the stations in it, then left it parked there at Eastview. I got a lot of NYC papers out of it, and when I moved out of my parents house, my father tossed it all!

Dieter.

Quick! Find Dieter's parents' dumpster and START DIGGING!!

-otto-

For the record the boxcar at Eastview was a surplus NYC X car (Formerly used by B&B) that I had ordered to store methanol in and menthanol heaters that were used to heat A&P Potato Cars...normally the MDT cars came in with heaters installed and while they were held on the RN TT we had to service them......often charcoal heaters were used...no one ever explained how dangerous both were since they consumed oxegen in a sealed car and it was necessary to wait after opening the bunker hatch b4
going in.......Lew C.

Interesting thing about the heaters... I just learned about these a little while ago. Up in Rochester we have an MDT ice reefer on display at our museum, and inside are some examples of the heaters Lew is talking about. They are more or less like a kerosene space heater of today... and I learned that they were used to keep the reefers from getting "too cold" in the dead of winter. And thank you, Lew, for clearing up the "mystery" of the East View boxcar once and for all!

-otto-