PRRT - Snyder Brook Bridge
Photos
Snyder Brook Bridge
Photo taken by Will in September 2010
View this photo at s1139.photobucket.com
BH Photo #193500
Brief history citing historical significance
Written by WillLargely due to the influence of its in house engineer, Jonathon Parker Snow, the Boston & Maine Railroad continued to build wooden bridges longer than any other major railroad, building the the last of it and Snows typical Double Town Truss covered spans in 1916 (though an early example, it is typical in detail of the the hundreds which would follow - see the Contoocook RR Bridge) – For shorter spans, the B&M's choice was that of Boxed Pony Howe's, the Snyder Brook Bridge is the last surviving example.
The thirty mile Berlin Branch was built in the early 1890's by the Concord & Montreal Railroad, this line was leased shortly thereafter by the B&M, which quickly set about upgrading the bridges on the line in anticipation of the heavier rolling stock of the future. The Snyder Brook was one of at least three Boxed Pony Howe's built on the branch in the Summer of 1918 The B&M continued to run the line for ninety one years, it was then briefly leased by Guilford Transportation and continued to carry trains until the early 1990's before being abandoned. The railbed and the Snyder Brook bridge are now part of the Presidential Range Rail Trail.
See also - http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/documents/wooden_bridge...
Facts
- Overview
- Boxed Howe pony truss bridge over Snyder Brook on Trail
- Location
- Randolph, Coos County, New Hampshire
- Status
- Restored 2015 and open to pedestrian traffic
- Future prospects
- Access by parking at the Castle Trailhead parking area on Rt 2 in Randolph, then take the path south to the railbed / trail, and then several thousand yards east.
- History
- Built 1918; Rehabilitated 2015
- Builder
- - Jonathan Parker Snow (Designer)
- Railroads
- - Boston & Maine Railroad (B&M; BM)
- Rail-to-trail
- Design
- Boxed Pony Howe truss
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 34.0 ft.
Deck width: 15.4 ft.
- Also called
- 29-04-P2
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +44.37129, -71.28514 (decimal degrees)
44°22'17" N, 71°17'07" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 19/317935/4915651 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Mount Washington
- Inventory numbers
- HAER NH-49
WGN 29-04-P2
B&M #143/06
BH 48115 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- December 10, 2014: New video from Will Truax
- December 3, 2014: Updated by Will Truax: Updated status
- October 6, 2014: Updated by Michael Quiet: Added pictures
- August 10, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Railroad"
- December 18, 2011: Updated by Tony Dillon: Added Engineer/designer
- February 23, 2011: New photo from Will
- February 22, 2011: Essay added by Will
- February 13, 2011: Added by Will
Sources
- Will Truax - Bridgewright [at] gmail [dot] com
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Michael Quiet - mquiet [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
Nice work Will.
For those interested in this Wooden Howe Pony, I just shared / embedded a video of the temp removal crane pick on the bridges data page.
The Snyder Brook has been closed for some months, as scour has destabilized one of the abutments. It will be swung off the abutments Friday to await stonework repair and eventual re-emplacement in the coming summer.
http://www.berlindailysun.com/index.php?option=com_content&v...
Nice add here!
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/nh/coos/snyder-brook/
Very interesting pictures! There used to be a lot of covered railroad bridges on railroads here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, most of them built between the 1880s and the 1900s, but none of them survive.