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Ashuelot Rail Trail - Ashuelot River Bridge #3

Cheshire County, New Hampshire

Photos 

Ashuelot Rail Trail - Ashuelot River Bridge #3

Photo taken by Michael Quiet in May 2017

Enlarge

BH Photo #391804

Map 

Street View 

Description 

This is one of a set of identical through trusses fabricated by the Boston Bridge Works sometime in the 1880's for the Ashuelot Railroad. All four bridges have an identical span length of 120 feet, with abutments adjusted at each crossing to accommodate the fixed span length. Undoubtedly this represented a cost saving measure, as only one bridge had to be engineered and for the entire railroad with the exception of a pony truss). For a railroad bridge the design is quite light, with the truss web consisting of just angled sections.

The railroad was abandoned when the B&M was folded into Guilford Transportation in 1983, and was converted to a rail trail in 2009

Facts 

Overview
Double-intersection Warren through truss bridge over Ashuelot River on Ashuelot Rail Trail
Location
Swanzey, Cheshire County, New Hampshire
Status
Open to pedestrians only
History
Built c. 1880's by the Boston Bridge Works; Abandoned 1983; Converted to rail-trail 2009
Builder
- Boston Bridge Works of Boston, Massachusetts
Railroad
- Boston & Maine Railroad (BM)
Design
Double-intersection Warren through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 120.0 ft.
Also called
BM - Ashuelot Branch Bridge No. 20.40
CRR - Ashuelot Branch Bridge No. 20.40
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.88468, -72.29239   (decimal degrees)
42°53'05" N, 72°17'33" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/721111/4751565 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Keene
Inventory number
BH 65311 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Ashuelot River (20)
Boston & Maine Railroad (420)
Boston Bridge Works (104)
Cheshire County, New Hampshire (75)
Double-intersection Warren through truss (186)
Double-intersection Warren truss (498)
Have street view (29,877)
New Hampshire (727)
 Open to pedestrians (4,627)
Owned by state (16,638)
Rail-to-trail (1,661)
Railroad (16,665)
Span length 100-125 feet (4,617)
Swanzey, New Hampshire (2)
Through truss (17,819)
Truss (36,716)

Update Log 

  • June 16, 2022: New Street View added by Dave King
  • May 21, 2017: Updated by Michael Quiet: Added pictures; Noted Builder and added info
  • January 5, 2015: Added by Ian Martin

Sources 

  • Ian Martin
  • Michael Quiet - mquiet [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com

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