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Railroad Tunnels and Bridges Welcome to our Tunnels and Bridges WebSite |
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Here's a preview of some of the exciting projects we have put together for you:
Our feature articles are about New York City subway tunnels and railroad tunnels under water . We cover some specific bridges and tunnels, such as New Haven Railroad bridges along the Shore Line , the the Great Railroad Bridge at Poughkeepsie , the historic Old Colony railroad tunnel, Albany Bridges , and Montreal's Mount Royal Tunnel . Included are stories on Staten Island Bridge . abandoned tunnels in New York State , and the Hudson Tubes . See our story on the New York State Thruway bridge collapse . We have some interesting material on bridge tolls . Lot's of good pictures, like a wooden trestle near Millbrook, New York . Be sure to see our bridge and tunnel reference section . |
| Not only can you search hotels by city, but you can search by your favorite chain of hotels. Find a hotel room in Nice, Cannes, or Monaco,. |
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See our special section on
New Haven Railroad Bridges along the Shore Line
This section, also gives you: New Haven Railroad history from 1844 to 1967. How the Farmington Canal was converted to a railroad. Naugatuck Line and other abandoned railroads in Connecticut. The Essex Steam Train and when new steam came to Essex. Story of the 'Pullmans on a hill' |
From the collection of the late Austin McEntee Here is a portrait of the completed bridge with the City of Poughkeepsie in the background. Click here to see more about the Great Poughkeepsie Bridge |
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Traveling in Europe? You will probably need to make a FERRY RESERVATION. Stop by and see our Reservations Center. |
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Livingston Avenue Bridge (picture at right top) (sometimes referred to as the freight bridge or North Bridge) was built by
The New York Central Railroad
to carry freight trains over the Hudson.
Passenger trains came across to the station on the Maiden Lane Bridge (South Bridge) (picture at right bottom) . This bridge is gone and Amtrak uses the Livingston Avenue bridge now. These two bridges were owned by a separate corporation: HUDSON RIVER BRIDGE COMPANY AT ALBANY (THE) The two railroad bridges crossing the Hudson River between Rensselaer and Albany were owned nominally by a separate organization called The Hudson River Bridge Company at Albany, incorporated April 9, 1856. This ownership was vested in The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, three-fourths, and the Boston and Albany Railroad Company, one-fourth. Except for foot passengers, the bridges were used exclusively for railroad purposes. The north bridge was opened in 1866, and the south bridge in 1872. Back in the early 1900s, the Central found that traffic was growing beyond the capacity of West Albany Yard (which was geographically constrained from expanding), and that West Albany Hill had a tremendous detrimental effect on freight movements. With trains growing in length and weight, many needed helpers or even doubling to get up the grade. The result was the Castleton Cutoff (and the newest of the Hudson River bridges in the Albany Area) |
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A gap of less than a foot stands between the city and its goal of
rejuvenating rail freight traffic between Staten Island and the rest
of the country.
The snag has come in the renovation of an old lift bridge spanning the Arthur Kill between Staten Island and New Jersey. The span has gotten stuck during tests of its rehabilitated lifting mechanism, tilting it out of place by as much as 11 inches. Without the bridge, trains cannot come and go. So after years of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars of public investment, the city is hoping that a specialist being brought in can fix it. The bridge — nearly a half-century old and almost two football fields long — is the longest lift bridge in the country. But now when the bridge’s movable platform is raised and then lowered back into the down position, it sometimes does not dock perfectly into the deck. The Economic Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have finished rebuilding rail lines at Howland Hook on the northwest corner of Staten Island and at the nearby Arlington Yards, as well as a seven-mile rail line to a trash transfer station, and rail connections on the New Jersey side of Arthur Kill. The entire rail link was originally scheduled to open last fall. If delays continue for many more months, the city’s goal of generating more than $200 million in net economic benefits by 2010 by reactivating rail service could be jeopardized. The rail link over the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge is also important to the city’s hopes of reducing truck traffic. |
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WHAT'S IN IT FOR US?
We sell temporary portable housing.. JWH Rapid Response Temporary Housing offers a superb temporary housing product. Our buildings become residential accommodation, offices and much more. The market for our shelters include: military training camps; recreational camping facilities; disaster-related (weather, etc); homeless persons; single mothers; ex-offenders; work forces (a la Job Corps); outdoor entertainment events. Some other uses for our shelters are: office complexes; dormitory complexes with internal laundromat, kitchen and dining room areas; hospitals, medical centres and clinics; warehouses, stores and workshops; factories and industrial buildings; garages; gymnasiums. Some of the services we provide are: transportation to your site; site preparation for your portable shelter; assembly of your portable shelter; subsequent enhancements or moving of your portable shelter. We have the ability to vary the styles of our shelters. For instance we can build single or double floor units. Our building can have ensuite or shared bathrooms. Several units can be "clustered" ("horseshoe" arrangement for example). Our units are ideally suited for installation of solar panels. Our units provide comfortable residential or office accomodations. The units can be fitted with lavatory and/or washing facilities.Efficient thermal insulation is ensured (through our unique construction techniques) and complemented by internal wood-laminated paneling and PVC windows.The units are assembled to meet local electrical specifiations with wiring concealed using internal paneling. Unit size or function can be increased or changed, according to your future needs, by simply adding units.Number and placement of doors and windows an be varied by simply replacing individual panels. Additional accessories, such as furniture, air conditioning unit or electric heaters can be supplied on request. |
Poughkeepsie Bridge Struggles define railroad bridge's 126-year history By Dion Sunderland For the Poughkeepsie Journal The first railroads in the United States were built in the 1830s. As the country grew and the economy expanded, railroads popped up all around the country, and the Hudson Valley was no exception. Most of the railroads radiated out from major metropolitan areas like Boston, New York and Philadelphia. By the 1870s, rail lines were moving people and freight up and down the Hudson and Harlem valleys. Others ran from Poughkeepsie and Beacon toward the northeast corner of Dutchess County and the border of Connecticut to connect with several railroads from New England. One of the first east-west lines through Dutchess County ran from Danbury, Conn., to Beacon, and brought traffic from New England. The Hudson River was an impediment. Passengers and freight had to cross the Hudson River by ferry - a slow and inefficient process. In Newburgh, passengers could connect with the Erie or Philadelphia and Reading railroads. Starting around the 1850s, serious consideration was being given to a bridge crossing the Hudson River, somewhere between New York City and Albany. The editor of the Daily Press first publicly suggested a bridge in January 1854. The years between 1868 to 1873 were boom years for Poughkeepsie and the surrounding county. Small railroads crisscrossed Dutchess County. Harvey Eastman was elected mayor of the city in 1871, and was elected to the state Assembly in November 1871. Eastman believed that Poughkeepsie would become a great crossroads on one of the mainlines in America, and as assemblyman, he hoped to influence the state Legislature in this regard. Eastman and his partners had visions of trains moving coal from Pennsylvania, Virginia and the West to the manufacturing interests in New England, while trains moved merchandise to markets in the West. At that time, the nearest railroad crossing of the Hudson River was between Albany and Troy. After bitter fighting in Albany for several years, the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company was incorporated in May 1872 with capital of $2 million. The charter provided that the work of construction should begin before July 1, 1872, (then changed to Jan. 1, 1874) and finished before 1876. The bridge had to be designed so as not to obstruct navigation on the Hudson River, hence the height and minimal clearance of 130 feet above the high water level. Construction actually began with a cornerstone placed on the western shore in December 1873, and was completed 15 years later, in December 1888. On Feb. 22, 1887, the Union Bridge company moved the cornerstone, with all its records intact, and set it in the east shore anchor pier. |
The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, though scarred by a 1974 fire,
maintains a strong presence between Highland and Poughkeepsie.
The first train crossed the bridge on a cold and miserable Dec. 29, 1888, but railroad connections on the western side of the bridge were not fully completed until 1889. Harvey Eastman had died before the bridge was complete. Over the course of the construction, the original investors in the railroad lost their money as Poughkeepsie Bridge Company became insolvent and was twice reorganized. Many of the small railroads in Dutchess County, such as the Dutchess County Railroad, Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad, and Poughkeepsie Bridge Railroad had become insolvent and were absorbed into the Central New England, which itself was partly controlled by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Eventually the CNE, with its principal offices in Poughkeepsie, became part of the New Haven. The New Haven was absorbed by the Penn Central Railroad (a merger of the New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968). Two years later, the Penn Central was bankrupt and was subsequently folded into Conrail, along with several other failed railroads in the Northeast in 1976. Mission to open walkway A fire in May 1974 rendered the bridge inactive. Penn Central, and later Conrail were in no shape to maintain, let alone repair, the bridge. In 1984, in an effort to eliminate a liability, Conrail disposed of the bridge and approximately 10 miles of right-of-way for $1. For more than a decade, there were disputes over ownership, liability and access. Various groups and individuals put forth a variety of ideas for the future of the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge. One of the most talked-about plans was to convert the bridge into a walkway across the Hudson. In June 1998, the deed for the bridge was transferred to Walkway Over the Hudson, a nonprofit group working to open the pedestrian span. The New York State Department of Transportation is sponsoring a study concerning the viability and potential use of the Maybrook line corridor. This route, which includes the railroad bridge, runs from Poughkeepsie east to the Town of LaGrange and then veers south to Hopewell Junction in Dutchess County, and on the west side of the river, the line runs from Highland to Plattekill to Maybrook in Orange County. Perhaps the bridge superstructure could be replaced, and using the original piers, a new bridge could be constructed to provide rail, highway as well as pedestrian traffic. ====== Dion Sunderland is a senior engineer at Anatech Corp. in Poughkeepsie who has made proposals for rebuilding the Maybrook line in Dutchess County for rail service. |
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The Channel Tunnel CHUNNEL |
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There is always a chance of storms in the
Mediterranean Sea.
Find out more about Weather around the World Ominous Weather is about more than weather. Its about our environment. Its about our social issues that need to be surfaced if we want to save our environment. See Champions of our Environment like Al Gore SAS le Prince Albert II de Monaco John R. Stilgoe Ralph Nader. We have other environmental sites on garbage trucks and Rapid response temporary shelters / portable housing. We have addressed several railroad-related projects that will conserve fuel and lessen pollution. Our Window on Europe spotlights projects that can help the rest of the World. |
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GOURMET MOIST from Kingly Heirs The most delicious pound cake you have ever tasted. Our cake is a cream cheese pound cake. Just add eggs and oil. Light, fluffy, creamy A most lucious cake surrounded by a sugary crust Order some today! |
New York Central tunnel at Breakneck Ridge. Beacon Historical Society collection The story says that Breakneck Ridge got it’s name because of a farmer’s stray bull that fell down the cliff and broke his neck. You can see a bit of the Hudson River at far left. Click here or on picture to see more about railroads in Beacon, New York |
RailwayStation.com has provided a
1942 Quiz Book on Railroads and Railroading. Here's some interesting questions and answers: How many railway tunnels are there in the United States and what is the total length? There were 1,539 railway tunnels in this country in 1937. Their aggregate length was 320 miles. What was the first railway tunnel in the United States? The first railroad tunnel in this country was constructed in 1833, four miles east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for the Allegheny Portage Railroad (now a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad). What is the oldest great railway tunnel in the United States? The Hoosac Tunnel, on the Boston & Maine Railroad, under Hoosac Mountain, Massachusetts, was the first great railway tunnel built in the United States, and it is the oldest of the long railway tunnels now in use in this country. It was one of the most stupendous engineering feats of the period in which it was built. Twenty-five years were required for its construction. The tunnel is 4 miles 3,690 feet in length; was commenced in 1851; holed through November 27, 1873; completed so as to admit passage of cars February 9, 1875; used by Boston-Troy passenger trains October 1875; officially opened for business July 1, 1876; electrified May, 1911. What is the longest railway tunnel in the United States? The Cascade Tunnel, of the Great Northern Railroad, through the Cascade Mountains in Chelan and King Counties, Washington, is 41,152 feet (7.79 miles) in length, and is the longest railway tunnel in the Western Hemisphere. It was completed in 1929. In the construction of this tunnel, boring was started simultaneously at the eastern and western portals, nearly eight miles apart, and when the construction forces met in the center, after many months of continuous boring, they found that they were only a fraction of a foot out of perfect alignment. What is the second longest railway tunnel in the United States? The Moffat Tunnel, of the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad, under James Peak in Colorado, is 6 miles 600 feet in length, and is the second longest railway tunnel in the United States. The highest point in the tunnel is 9,257 feet above sea level. Opened for railway traffic in 1928, the tunnel shortened the rail distance between Denver and Salt Lake City via the route of the Denver & Rio Grande Western by 173 miles. How many railway bridges are there in this country? In 1937 there were approximately 191,779 bridges, with an aggregate length of 3,860 miles, in the railway structure of the United States. |
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Long long ago, the B&O electrified their Howard St Tunnel in Baltimore due to problems with steam engine exhaust.
The Baltimore Belt Line was constructed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in the 1890s to connect the railroad's newly constructed line to New York City with the rest of the railroad at Baltimore, Maryland. It included the first mainline railroad electrification in the United States. In 1892 the B&O thus contracted with General Electric (GE) for electric locomotives, powerhouse equipment, and the electricity distribution system. On July 18, 2001, a 60 car CSXT freight derailed in the Howard Street Tunnel, sparking a fire that burned for six days and blocked traffic for much longer. The Howard Street Tunnel fire called attention to the Belt Line, both as a risk to the surrounding structures and as a link in rail traffic. CSXT has implemented various improvements to increase the integrity of the link, but is limited by the shallow depth of the bore (only three feet below the surface at the south end) and the instability of the surrounding soil. |
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Montreal's Mount Royal Tunnel Electrification
“FROM A ROLLING MUSEUM TO A PHOENIX ARISEN FROM ITS ASHES” A presentation by Mark Walton Marc Dufour's Mount Royal Tunnel Page Ricard’s Railway Page, The Town of Mount Royal |
Abandoned Tunnels in New York State
See an interesting abandoned tunnel in downtown Troy. |
Special Research Section on the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad. This section contains information that is unpublished elsewhere! In the early 1870's, the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad had been built from Oswego along the shore of Lake Ontario to the Niagara River (Suspension Bridge). It bypassed Rochester, had no manufacturing industries and first became part of the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburgh which was acquired by the New York Central. |
REFERENCE
The Poughkeepsie Bridge from Beginning to End All about Tunnels From the 1911 Encyclopedia Significant Tunnels List of New York Railroads The Hudson River Moffat Tunnel North America's Longest Tunnel Chicago Tunnel Railroad New York City Bridge and Tunnel Crossings Pennsylvania Turnpike: Abandoned Tunnels A real railroad Connection Bridge and Tunnel Links From RailroadData.com The Orphan Rochester Subway St Clair International Railway Tunnel Port Huron-Sarnia Oldest railroad tunnels in North America Includes the oldest active tunnel in Norwich, Connecticut "Working on the Railroad" The role of the King Bridge Company Finding the Shepaug Tunnel Bridgemeister a great list of references Historic bridges in the news |
Sharing the “Water Level Route” with the New York Central was the West Shore; first as a competitor; later a subsidiary. |
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JWH Rapid Response Temporary Housing How are your disaster recovery plans? Talk to us! We can design a plan to provide you temporary housing, office, manufacturing or warehouse space. We design your solution, then we store it for you. If a disaster hits, we move it into your site, assemble it, and maintain it. On site containers become residential accommodation, offices and much more! |
Not exactly a railroad-related bridge, but the collapse of a bridge on the NY Thruway in 1987 forced the use of an old railroad bridge to carry the Thruway. |
HUDSON TUBES
Welcome to the Hudson Tubes William G. McAdoo and the Hudson Tubes Port Authority Trans-Hudson (from the WIKI) Port Authority Official Site |
Wooden trestle near Millbrook. The ND&C RR (Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad) established an operation that survived through good times and bad for over 25 years until it was absorbed into the Central New England Rwy and later became part of the New Haven RR. Some sections survived longer than Hopewell Junction to Millbrook and the Clove Branch. Still later 11 miles of the old ND&C line became part of the ill fated Penn Central, next Conrail, then the Housatonic RR and currently Metro North. After many years and many different names, these tracks are still in service and owned by Metro North MTA. There is no regular train service on this “Beacon Branch” but they are keeping the line open for possible future use. To see more about this historic rail line, once a part of the Central New England Railway in New York State and the New Haven Railroad, click here |
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Interested in Penn Central? New York Central? Pennsylvania Railroad? New Haven Railroad? or in the smaller Eastern US railroads? Then you will be interested in "What if the Penn Central Merger Did Not Happen". You will also enjoy "Could George Alpert have saved the New Haven?" as well as "What if the New Haven never merged with Penn Central?" |
Eventually, all four tracks of the "Water Level Route" went through the mountains. Here is a 1943 troop train roaring out of the tunnel bringing an armored division from Texas. Interested in Troop Trains? Check out a whole trip from Texas to New York City port of embarkation. This photo album is great if you ever served in the military or had an interest in troop trains. |
A steam turbine was transported by the NY Central from the General Electric plant at Schenectady, N.Y.,to Porter, Ind. From there into Chicago, its final destination, routing over four different railroads was necessary in order to avoid bridges, viaducts, and tunnels. Weight of the shipment was 388,540 pounds. Gross weight including car was 530,000 pounds. To date this was the heaviest shipment ever moved on the NY Central. The special flat car on which it was loaded was one of three such owned by the Central. (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
| New York Subway Tunnels Under Water |
| Subway Tunnels | |||||
| River |
Year Complete |
# of Tracks |
Name | Railroad/Line | |
| Harlem | 1933 | 3 | Concourse | Subway C and D | |
| Harlem | 1905 | 2 | 149th Street | Subway #2 | |
| Harlem | 1918 | 4 | Lexington Avenue | Subway #4,5,6 | |
| East | 1989 | 4 | 63rd Street | Subway B, Q and Long Island Railroad | |
| East | 1920 | 2 | 60th Street | Subway N and R | |
| East | 1933 | 2 | 53rd Street | Subway E and F | |
| East | 1915 | 2 | Steinway | Subway #7 | |
| East | 1924 | 2 | 14th Street | Subway L | |
| East | 1936 | 2 | Rutgers Street | Subway F | |
| East | 1932 | 2 | Cranberry Street | Subway A and C | |
| East | 1919 | 2 | Clark Street | Subway 2 and 3 | |
| East | 1920 | 2 | Montague Street | Subway M, N and R | |
| East | 1908 | 2 | Joralemon Street | Subway 4 and 5 | |
| Newton Creek | 1933 | 2 | Newton Creek | Subway G | |
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