What happens to abandoned stone arch RR bridges?

[OldEastRR]

I didn't know if this was a modeling question or a proto RR question so I'll start it here. All  you East Coast guys probably know the answer to this one. With steel bridges they are abandoned in place or removed. But once the track is taken off a series of stone arches that carried the track over a river what's left? The whole structure? The end sections are removed but the center ones left? It's all taken down leaving just the foundations where the arches stood? I'd like to model one so I need the info.

[peteski]

I would say that this is not an N or Z question.  At least to me that is obvious. 


I wouldn't say that *ALL* steel bridges (or even wooden trestles) are removed.  Especially in the Northeast, where abandoned right-of-ways are often converted to walking/biking paths, those structures are left in place and even rehabilitated to support the lighter traffic passing over them.  I see plenty of that around me. Like a steel bridge over the Merrimack river in Manchester, NH or a steel RR bridge over Interstate 95 (probably around Waltham or Needham, MA).  But I have not encountered any old RR stone structures.

[garethashenden]

The Cheshire Railroad (later the B&M's Cheshire branch) built many stone arch bridges. They're all still in place.
This is the biggest and most impressive, Keene New Hampshire.

[sd45elect2000]

There is no financial gain tearing them down, they are almost always left to nature.

Randy

[Specter3]

This bridge was built in the late 1800s in the Shenandoah valley. It is right next to I81. I had seen it for years but last year was solo through the area and pulled off for a close look. In amazingly good shape.

[jmlaboda]

I know that somewhere in the Northeast (thinking Pennsylvania but not sure) there is a steel viaduct that is partially collapsed because of a tornado... really something to see if you can find pictures, with some towers and the girder sections tossed about like a kid's toy...

[Chris333]

This concrete arch was built around 1915 and is still standing:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.101845,-80.661322,3a,75y,76.66h,81.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suUcfDl9z92nFAw5kTtqH2w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

While all the steel bridges on the same line are slowly disappearing.

[Snark45]

I know that somewhere in the Northeast (thinking Pennsylvania but not sure) there is a steel viaduct that is partially collapsed because of a tornado... really something to see if you can find pictures, with some towers and the girder sections tossed about like a kid's toy...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinzua_Bridge

Kinzua Viaduct - wrecked in 2003 (I think) by a tornado. Maybe not in this article, but you can find some terrific before/after pics by searching on the name...

Best, Harry

[OldEastRR]

I figured the stone structures would be left in place since taking them down would be expensive and provide no salvage money. The former roadbed could have the ties left in place and lots of weeds and even  small trees growing on it. I assume -- would there have been any dirt for weeds under the cinder fill? Was any dirt fill used in the arches and columns themselves? Or were they solid stone through and through?

[nkalanaga]

Many stone arch bridges were built with stonework sides and, of course, the arches themselves, then the interior was filled with whatever dirt and rock was handy.  The primary purpose of the fill was keep weight on the arch, to keep it stable.  With no weight on it, a stone arch isn't that strong, and longitudinal forces can cause it to collapse.  The bridge could be cut stone all the way through, but that would be very expensive.

On the other hand, solid construction was more common on narrower road and foot bridges, because they required less stone, and needed a more solid roadbed.  Railroad bridges had the regular roadbed and ballast on top, so the type of fill was less important.

That is also why many arch bridges ended up with metal bracing tying the sides together.  The interior fill tended to force the sides outward, and unless the bridge sides are tied together in some way, can also cause it to collapse.  On some bridges the piers are solid, all the way to the top, and only the portions over the arches are fill, with the piers helping to keep the sides stable.

I would imagine that many concrete bridges are solid concrete, as pouring it is a lot less work than cutting and fitting stone.

[randgust]

Unless they make a hinderance to either drainage or navigation, they're pretty much left to collapse. And a lot of times, they don't.

Here's my favorite, the stone bridge piers left over from the original Northern Central railroad from Marysville over the Susquehanna (above Rockville).   This puts them back to about...1900 when the Rockville bridge was started.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville_Bridge

The piers were tall and are still across the river, one of them supporting this:

http://roadsidewonders.net/susquehanna-lady-liberty/

I just got the "Rockville Bridge" book, and that covers a lot about the PRR love of stone arches, and how many were built, and where.   Rockville was the last great one.

[rschaffter]

There are the Keystone Arches in Chester, MA, built in the 1840s.  Two are abandoned, with two still in use...
http://keystonearches.com/

[nkalanaga]

Roman arches are still standing after over 2000 years, so some of these could be around a LONG time.  Many of those Roman bridges, especially over larger rivers, didn't have much in the way of foundations for the piers, but they've survived anyway.

[Robbman]

This bridge was built in the late 1800s in the Shenandoah valley. It is right next to I81. I had seen it for years but last year was solo through the area and pulled off for a close look. In amazingly good shape.

B&O (Valley Railroad) branch to Lexington, built 1884. It's actually owned by VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation), listed on the National Register of Historic laces and is preserved (i.e, it wont be demolished... weed and grounds keeping is another matter)

[NYNE]

There is a nice stone viaduct in Holliston, Mass. I was fortunate enough to watch a train cross it in the 1980s before the branch was taken out of service. Here is a link: http://preservationmass.org/programs/most-endangered-resources/2014-most-endangered-resource-list/7-viaduct-and-tunnel/