Amtrak/Springfield Terminal Railroad Bridge

Infobox Bridge
bridge_name=Amtrak/Springfield Terminal Railroad Bridge

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carries=Amtrak New Haven-Springfield Line
crosses=Connecticut River
locale=Enfield and Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut
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design=girder bridge with a truss main span
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complete=1866 (rebuilt 1903)
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coordinates= coord|41|56|36|N|72|36|50|W|display=inline,title|region:US_type:landmark
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The Amtrak/Springfield Terminal Railroad Bridge, also known as Warehouse Point railroad bridge, is a rail girder bridge with a truss main span crossing over the Connecticut River, connecting the towns of Enfield, Connecticut and Suffield, Connecticut. It is one of the earliest iron bridges erected in the United States.

History and construction of the bridge

A wooden Howe truss railroad bridge was originally constructed in 1843 at this site by the Hartford and Springfield Railroad Company. In 1865-66, a new bridge was constructed to replace the old one. [H.G Tyrrell, [http://books.google.com/books?id=l0pDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA144 History of Bridge Engineering] , (H.G. Tyrrell, 1911)] The bridge was built in sections in England and shipped to the United States. The pieces were then riveted together on site.A.J. Bianculli, [http://books.google.com/books?id=l0pDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA144 Trains and Technology: The American Railroad in the Nineteenth Century] , Vol. 4] The bridge was rebuilt and double-tracked in 1903-04. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=zHE2AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA374 22nd annual report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of New York] (1905)]

See also

* List of crossings of the Connecticut River

Notes

Cnote|A| James Laurie (1811-1875), the Society founder and first President of the American Society of Civil Engineers, was born near Edinburgh, Scotland. He came to the United States in 1833, quickly becoming engineer or chief engineer on many early railroad projects in the Northeast. Among his earliest professional engagements were appointments as a Consulting Engineer for railway location and surveys, dams, bridges and wharves (circa 1848). Living in Boston, in July 1848, he helped to found the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, the oldest existing engineering society in this country. This initial experience with setting up an professional engineering society proved beneficial years later in the establishment of ASCE.

Perhaps Laurie's greatest work was the design of the bridge across the Connecticut River at Warehouse Point, Connecticut [Cite gnis|211815|Warehouse Point (PP), Broad Brook, Hartford, CT] [Cite gnis|1950866|Warehouse Point Station, Broad Brook, Hartford, CT] on the line of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. As the Chief Engineer for the railroad, he had the iron work for the bridge's structure imported from England, creating a notable American example of riveted bridge work whose mainspan was longer than Convert|177|ft|m. [Cite web
title=James Laurie - NY & NH RR Chief Engineer, Bridge Designer
publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers
url=http://www.asce.org/150/laurie.html
format=HTML
accessdate=2008-07-29]

Cnote|B|United States Geological Survey topographic map showing the bridge as the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad bridge. [Cite web
title=USGS 7.5 minute Broad Brook, Connecticut topographic map (North-West corner)
date=1942-1943
publisher=University of New Hampshire Library, Government Documents Collection
url=http://docs.unh.edu/CT/bdbk44nw.jpg
format=JPEG
accessdate=2008-07-29]

References

General references

*
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=25EOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA262 Manual for Railroad Engineers and Students (1881)] - contains detailed description of the engineering specifications and construction of the bridge.

Crossings navbox
structure = Crossings
place = Connecticut River
bridge = Amtrak/Springfield Terminal Railroad Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream = Enfield-Suffield Veterans Bridge
upstream signs =
downstream = Bridge Street
downstream signs =