1. AERIAL VIEW OF BRIDGE, LOOKING SOUTHEAST HAER MD,1-CUMB.V,1-1
HAER
View this photo at lcweb2.loc.gov
BH Photo #190874
This bridge was torn down in the late 1990's. It was determined to be the cause of the backup of water that occurred upstream along Wills Creek during the major flood of 1996. http://www.times-news.com/news/memories-of-the-flood-where-s...
When it was torn down, the bridge had not seen a train in over a decade. An increased rail shipping costs in the late '70s caused the last customers in Narrows Park (lower LaVale) to end getting rail shipments, and the railroad to abandon the line.
Thanks for your help Angela. I visited Cumberland, MD last weekend and learned a lot about the transportation, including bridges. I have corrected the bridge data since.
The photos on this page are not for the bridge that is described. Instead, the photos were of a viaduct that was used for trains and was located at +39° 40' 13.96", -78° 47' 24.53". The Locust Grove Road bridge was built next to the viaduct featured in the photos. (You can see both the Locust Grove Road Bridge and the viaduct in photo 1.) This viaduct was torn down in (or around?) 2009. This webpage has information about the viaduct featured in the photos, and a photo of the remaining bases: http://korns.org/misc/cumberland_viaducts/viaduct.html
Anyway, from the bit of research I've done, it seems as if multiple bridges are and were known as the Wills Creek Bridge. :)
From what I've been able to gather, the bridge or viaduct, was built by the Maryland Mining Company of Eckhart Mines. The company owned the Eckhart Branch Railroad, which built from Eckhart to Wills Creek, along Braddock Run, in 1846. The company then built a line across Wills Creek, the viaduct shown, and named the new railroad extension, The Potomac Wharf Branch. It opened to the Potomac Wharf in Cumberland by 1850. So, the viaduct was constructed between 1846 and 1850.
In 1870, the railroad was absorbed into the Cumberland and Pennsylvania (C&P) Railroad.