P.W. & B. Railroad Bridge

The P.W. & B. Railroad Bridge was the first bridge over the Susquehanna River, built by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad in 1866, as part of the first mainline railroad between Philadelphia and Baltimore. The bridge was replaced by the Susquehanna River Movable Bridge (now called the Amtrak Susquehanna River Bridge) in 1906.

P.W. & B. Railroad Bridge
Construction of the bridge is almost complete in this 1866 newspaper illustration.
Coordinates39°33′17″N 76°05′01″W
CrossesSusquehanna River
Locale(ruins) Havre de Grace, Maryland and Perryville, Maryland
Characteristics
DesignWood truss bridge, with later iron reinforcements
Total length3,269 feet (996 m)[1]: 116 
No. of spans13 (including center draw span)[1]: 116 
History
OpenedNovember 26, 1866[2]
Closed1906 (as a railroad bridge);[3] 1940 (as a highway bridge)
Location

History
A stone bridge pier in a wide river, next to a steel truss bridge
Abandoned pier (left) next to the 1906-built bridge in 1986

The P.W. & B. began operating its main line in 1838, using a ferry operation to transport railroad cars over the Susquehanna River.[4]

Construction of the bridge, which was a wood truss design, began in 1862. The masonry and most of the wooden spans were complete in 1866, but then a tornado severely damaged the wooden components on July 25, 1866. Repairs were quickly made and the first locomotive crossed the bridge on November 20, 1866. The cost of construction, including rebuilding most of the truss portions, was $2.3 million. Passenger trains began service over the bridge on November 26, 1866.[2]

The P.W. & B. later replaced the wooden spans with iron spans. A draw span was then installed in the late 1870s.[2]

The Pennsylvania Railroad took control of the P.W. & B. in 1881. It built a new bridge, the Amtrak Susquehanna River Bridge, from 1904 to 1906.[3]

The P.W. & B. bridge was then converted to a vehicular bridge and was made double-decker because it was so narrow. Its existence as such overlapped that of what is now the Hatem Bridge but was eventually dismantled during World War II. The piers still stand next to the current railroad bridge today.

References
  1. Roberts, Charles S.; David W. Messer (2003). Triumph VI: Philadelphia, Columbia, Harrisburg to Baltimore and Washington DC: 1827-2003. Baltimore, Maryland: Barnard, Roberts, and Co., Inc. ISBN 0-934118-28-0.
  2. Wilson, William B. (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Co. pp. 310–311.
  3. Baer, Christopher T. "PRR Chronology: 1906" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-06-04. Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.
  4. Herbert W. Harwood, Jr. "Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad". Maryland Online Encyclopedia. Maryland Historical Society. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
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