Chester Gehman

Glad to see this little bridge given a new, if unorthodox, use. It was 36 years ago that I first photographed it. Here are some photos from last Saturday.

Chet

D&K:

Thanks for looking.

The Bridge Girl

Dana & Kay:

The scissors might have been.

Tried to access bridge last Sunday, December 16,2018 but was rather disappointed.

Disaster at the second bridge--In February of 1922,a crew began dismantling the second railroad bridge. As the five workmen were loosening bolts, the entire western span gave way, crushing and killing two men and injuring two others. The job was abandoned until scrap prices rose in the pre-World War II period, when the job was finally finished.

This bridge was never associated with the Canajoharie & Catskill RR. The C&C went belly-up in 1842, only made it to Cooksburg, just over the Albany County line and a long way from Canajoharie.

There never was a Catskill Mountain and Cairo RR. The Cairo RR, which ran from Cairo Junction on the Catskill Mountain RR to Cairo was chartered as a separate corporation in 1884 until it was merged with the CM under a reorganization in 1916.

Catskill Mountain Railroad 1882-1885

Catskill Mountain Railway 1885-1916

Catskill Mountain Railroad 1916-1919

Source: "Rip Van Winkle Railroads" by William F Helmer, Howell-North Books, 1970

George--

Glad to be of some help. My interest in the gravity railroads stemmed from a friendship with the late Dr. Ed Steers of Wallenpaupack. He had quite a collection of railroad stuff.

Chet

If memory serves, this line to Honesdale was chartered in the 1880's by the Pennsylvania Coal Company as the Erie & Wyoming Valley RR. Honesdale was the transfer point for coal arriving from the Scranton area via the gravity railroads of both the Delaware & Hudson and The PCC; the D&H Canal took it from there to Rondout on the Hudson River. But the PCC felt the D&H was overcharging them on the canal trip and built the E&WV to haul their coal to Lackawaxen and the Erie RR. The line was later extended to the Scranton area and eventually taken over by the Erie.

Having waited two years for a report that this bridge was finally re-located to the Waterworks Park in Bethlehem, I decided it was time for a look-see. What a disappointment to see they welched the deal and put in a modern truss replacement. Too bad!

What did Della-ware? Why, she wore a brand New Jersey!

Take the roof off the hothouse, mother--the corn is growing tall tonight!

Julie:

According to Victor Darnell in his book "A Directory of American Bridge Building Companies 1840-1900"--The Penn Bridge Company is the only listing for Beaver Falls, 1868-1901. Also listed is a Western Pennsylvania Bridge Works in Pittsburgh for the year 1888. Not much help there.

Chet

A likely candidate would be the Birmingham Iron Foundry of Birmingham (now Derby) CT

For any of you who are considering watermarking your photos, there is a neat program out there that will do it for you.

Watermarking Pro 3.2.0 You can get it free through

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The program offers many different styles of copyright data.