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Howellville Road Bridge

Chester County, Pennsylvania
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Howellville Road Bridge - May 13, 2007

Side View

Photo taken by Raymond Klein

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Brief History 

Written by Raymond Klein

This bridge is on Howeville Road, Chester County, Pa just East of King of Prussia. There is a builders plate that says "NCRW 1879" and as best can be determended this stands for Northern Central Railway 1879.
The Northern Central Railway ran from Baltimore, Maryland to York and Sunbury, Pa and up into New York State. It eventually became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The date on the builders plate is about 18 years earlier than the date this lines tracks were laid.
It appears this bridge had a previous life on the Northern Central Railway.
We have heard tales of bridges being stored at the Pennsylvania Railroad shops in Altona, Pa and perhaps this bridge became excess and was loaded up and moved to its current location here when this line was built.
Information about this was gathered from various Yahoo Railroad groups and the Tredyffrin Township Historical Society

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Pony truss bridge over Norfolk Southern Railway on Howellville Road in Devon-Berwyn
Location
Chester County, Pennsylvania
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1879; rehabilitated ca. 04
Design
Warren pony truss with no verticals
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 88.9 ft.
Total length: 94.2 ft.
Deck width: 19.0 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.05667, -75.46000   (decimal degrees)
40°03'24" N, 75°27'36" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/460766/4434148 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Norristown, PA
Inventory numbers
PA 15 7236 0417 0001 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
PANBI 10821 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30666 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 10/2008)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 28.7 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 1992)
1,000

Categories 

19th Century (3,817)
Built 1879 (45)
Built during 1870s (544)
Chester County, Pennsylvania (113)
NR-eligible (3,749)
Norfolk Southern Railway (453)
Open (28,295)
Owned by railroad (4,034)
Pennsylvania (3,037)
Pin-connected (1,519)
 Pony truss (13,215)
Relocated (364)
Skewed (4,080)
Span length 75-100 feet (4,718)
Structurally deficient (16,675)
Total length 75-100 feet (4,793)
Truss (23,559)
Warren pony truss (1,987)
Warren pony truss with no verticals (19)
Warren truss (3,955)

Update Log 

  • March 5, 2009: Essay added by Raymond Klein

Sources 

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