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New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Bridge

Suffolk County, Massachusetts
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Photos 

Historical Photo

Source: Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges (company pamphlet), 1908

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Map 

Description 

This bridge was the oldest surviving Scherzer Rolling Lift Bascule bridge when demolished. The bridge was noted for its unique trio of skewed spans and was the first Scherzer bascule built outside of Chicago.

Facts 

Overview
Lost Warren through truss Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge over Fort Point Channel on Railroad (Amtrak and MBTA)
Location
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Status
Replaced by new bridge
History
Built 1899
Builder
- Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. of Chicago, Illinois
Design
Warren through truss with riveted connections, single leaf Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge. Consisted of three parallel skewed bridges. Skew is 42 degrees.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 98.8 ft.
Total length: 114.0 ft.
Also called
Fort Point Channel Railroad Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.34550, -71.05821   (decimal degrees)
42°20'44" N, 71°03'30" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
19/330466/4690189 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Boston South
Inventory number
BH 49279 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (3,819)
Amtrak (158)
Bascule (559)
Boston, Massachusetts (30)
Built 1899 (169)
Built during 1890s (1,556)
Lost (10,356)
Massachusetts (431)
Movable (1,355)
New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (8)
 Owned by railroad (4,037)
Replaced by new bridge (7,131)
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. (8)
Span length 75-100 feet (4,718)
Suffolk County, Massachusetts (39)
Through truss (9,205)
Total length 100-125 feet (3,632)
Truss (23,565)
Warren through truss (926)
Warren truss (3,957)

Update Log 

  • August 3, 2011: Added by Nathan Holth

Sources 

  • Nathan Holth
  • HAER MA-35 - New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, Fort Point Channel Rolling Lift Bridge, Spanning Fort Point Channel, Boston, Suffolk County, MA
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Comments 

New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Bridge
Posted August 3, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

The demolition of this truly unique and highly significant Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge which occurred sometime after the HAER documentation was truly an atrocity.

The historical photo showing these three parallel but skewed bridges raised is one of my all-time favorite historical photos, since it is such a unique and striking shot. Its photo #1 in the BridgeHunter gallery.

Google maps shows a tiny park next to the former location of this bridge (now replaced by something modern and ugly). The park is named "Rolling Bridge Park." Unfortunately the name today probably has little meaning to anyone since the park's namesake is gone.