W&GF - Foundry Branch Bridge
Photos
Foundry Branch/Foxhall Trolley Bridge
View from Foxhall/Canal Road, looking north
Photo taken by John C. Abbott in January 2012, used with permission
View this photo at humealumni.org
BH Photo #229664
Description
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/01/1...https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/at-...
After more than five decades, unused and neglected, the District’s last remaining streetcar trestle is crumbling. Sections of the steel supports have rusted away. Wooden ties have fallen. And its structural condition is so poor that the National Park Service closed a trail directly underneath it last August.
Still, preservationists say the state of the 122-year-old bridge, visible from Canal Road in Georgetown, isn’t terminal. A plan to turn it into a pedestrian walkway could breathe new life into it, taking it off the list of the most endangered places in the District and putting it back in service, decades after the trolley line from Georgetown to Glen Echo ceased.
Located north of the Potomac River in Glover-Archbold Park, east of Foxhall Road NW and west of the Georgetown University campus, the trestle was once a critical passage point for the trolley line that transported thousands of people from Georgetown to the amusement park at Glen Echo in Maryland.
The trolley required numerous trestles to carry the tracks over water, along the Potomac. It is the last one standing in the District, officials with the historic preservation office said.
Facts
- Overview
- Pratt deck truss bridge over Foundry Branch on The Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway
- Location
- Glen Echo, Washington, District of Columbia
- Status
- Derelict/abandoned; owned by Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
- Future prospects
- Bridge deemed "in imminent danger of collapse," and trail underneath closed, Jan. 2018: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/01/1...
- History
- Built 1895 for the The Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway, taken over by successor companies and Capitol Transit, which merged with WMATA; abandoned 1962 or before
- Railroads
- - Capital Transit Co.
- Streetcar
- Washington & Great Falls Electric Railway (W&GF)
- Design
- Pratt deck truss
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 280.0 ft.
Deck width: 20.0 ft.
- Also called
- Cabin John Trolley Trestle (local name)
Foxhall Trolley Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +38.90667, -77.07959 (decimal degrees)
38°54'24" N, 77°04'47" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/319679/4308476 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Washington West
- Inventory number
- BH 50181 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- January 17, 2018: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Bridge deemed "in imminent danger of collapse," and trail underneath closed
- February 12, 2015: New photo from Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- August 10, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Railroad"
- April 10, 2012: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Added Photos
- April 9, 2012: New Street View added by Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- November 13, 2011: Added by J.P.
Sources
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Flickr Photos - Photo of the bridge on flickr
- Alexander D. Mitchell IV
Comments
This old trolley trestle is planning for repairs of the former Glen Echo Streetcar line. Very old abandoned trolley tracks can cause the trolley trestle to collapse. For a rare reason, if you're not sure about this, a very old bicycle is stuck when the trolley stopped its operation.
Bridge was added to most endangered list by the local historical group.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/dc/washington/foundry-branch/
Unless a miracle happens, this bridge is a goner: https://wtop.com/dc/2020/01/ddot-decides-not-to-help-save-th...