Housatonic River Railroad Bridge

Devon Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Milford and Stratford, Connecticut
Coordinates:	41°12′19″N 73°6′37″W / 41.20528°N 73.11028°W / 41.20528; -73.11028Coordinates: 41°12′19″N 73°6′37″W / 41.20528°N 73.11028°W / 41.20528; -73.11028
Area:	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built:	1904
Architect:	American Bridge Company
Architectural style:	Scherzer Rolling Lift Bascule
Governing body:	State
MPS:	Movable Railroad Bridges on the NE Corridor in Connecticut TR
NRHP Reference#:	87000842[1]
Added to NRHP:	June 12, 1987

The Housatonic River Railroad Bridge is a historic bridge carrying Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line trackage across the lower Housatonic River in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, and in its listing was described as also being referred to as Devon Bridge.^[1] It is also referred to as the Devon Railroad Bridge by the Department of Environmental Protection.^[2]

Housatonic River Railroad Bridge, under the Moses Wheeler Bridge, as seen from Washington Bridge.

It is a "Scherzer Rolling Lift Bascule"-type bascule bridge. It has a steel superstructure and block stone piers. The moveable span is a Warren through truss span.^[3] The Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge is another bridge of this type in Connecticut which is also NRHP-listed.

It is one of eight moveable bridges on the Amtrak route through Connecticut surveyed in one multiple property study in 1986.^[4] The eight bridges from west to east are: Mianus River Railroad Bridge at Cos Cob, built in 1904; Norwalk River Railroad Bridge at Norwalk, 1896; Saugatuck River Railroad Bridge at Westport, 1905; Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge at Bridgeport, 1902; Housatonic River Railroad Bridge, at Devon, 1905; Connecticut River Railroad Bridge, Old Saybrook-Old Lyme, 1907; Niantic River Bridge, East Lyme-Waterford, 1907; and Thames River Bridge (Amtrak), Groton, built in 1919.

The bridge is also used by Amtrak for its Northeast Corridor services.

History

The current bridge is the third railroad span in the same location. The original bridge was the first railroad bridge over the Housatonic, and was a single-track wooden structure, which was replaced by a double-track cast-iron bridge and finally by the existent four-track steel bridge in 1905.^[5]

References

Connecticut portal

1. ^ ^{a b} "National Register of Historic Places". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-04-10. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natregsearchresult.do?fullresult=true&recordid=0. 
2. ^ Connecticut Boating Safety Regulations
3. ^ Anne Baggerman (August 11, 1977). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Housatonic River Railroad Bridge / Devon Bridge". National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/87000842.pdf.  and Accompanying one photo, from 1986
4. ^ Bruce Clouette, Matthew Roth and John Herzan (February 4, 1986). "Movable Railroad Bridges on the NE Corridor in Connecticut TR". National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/64000097.pdf. 
5. ^ Images of Stratford, Stratford Historical Society, 1997 p80 ISBN 0738500666

External links

• 9 HAER photos of the bridge, photos #49-#57