Rating:
2 votes

WACR - Woodsville-Wells River Bridge

Grafton County, New Hampshire, and Orange County, Vermont

Photos 

Under the bridge

Photo taken by Panoramio user JBTHEMILKER

License: Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)

View this photo at panoramio.com

BH Photo #268964

Map 

Street View 

Description 

This is a rather unique example of a Baltimore deck truss. Built in 1903 to replace a dual layer burr arch bridge, this bridge is pin connected and was also a dual layer model, with the upper deck supporting railroad traffic and the lower deck supporting highway travel. In 1917 highway travel was moved to a new bridge downstream and the lower deck was subsequently removed. Rail traffic continued into the 1990's when the bridge was determined to no longer be suitable. In an interesting reuse, the upper deck was put into use for vehicular traffic in 2001 while the adjacent highway bridge was rehabilitated. The bridge has been idle since that time.

Facts 

Overview
Pin Connected Baltimore deck & through truss bridge over Connecticut River on Railroad (WACR)
Location
Woodsville, Grafton County, New Hampshire, and Orange County, Vermont
Status
Abandoned
History
Dual layer Baltimore truss bridge built in 1903, closed to car traffic 1917, closed to trains in 2001
Builder
- American Bridge Co. of New York
Railroads
- Boston & Maine Railroad (BM)
- Washington County Railroad (WACR)
Design
Pin connected Baltimore deck truss with lower level
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 240.2 ft.
Total length: 336.0 ft.
Also called
WACR - Connecticut River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+44.15438, -72.04049   (decimal degrees)
44°09'16" N, 72°02'26" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/736663/4893279 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Woodsville
Inventory number
BH 58505 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Abandoned (3,681)
American Bridge Co. (1,522)
Baltimore deck truss (30)
Baltimore truss (352)
Boston & Maine Railroad (404)
Built 1903 (596)
Built during 1900s (7,267)
Connecticut River (95)
Deck girder (5,790)
Deck truss (1,752)
Double decker (66)
Girder (10,314)
Grafton County, New Hampshire (150)
Have street view (27,086)
New Hampshire (671)
 One-lane traffic (7,615)
Orange County, Vermont (34)
Owned by railroad (12,517)
Pin-connected (3,932)
Plate girder (7,997)
Rail-and-Road (381)
Railroad (15,618)
Span length 175-250 feet (1,992)
State line crossing (857)
Total length 250-500 feet (5,257)
Truss (33,022)
Vermont (628)
Washington County Railroad (31)
Woodsville, New Hampshire (6)

Update Log 

  • November 6, 2019: Updated by Geoff Hubbs: Corrected predecessor railroad
  • June 22, 2017: New photo from Michael Quiet
  • January 13, 2016: New photos from Mike Garland
  • January 9, 2016: New photos from Mike Garland
  • January 7, 2016: New photos from Mike Garland
  • October 5, 2014: Photo imported by Alexander D. Mitchell IV
  • May 12, 2014: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category "Rail-and-Road"
  • May 12, 2014: Updated by Michael Quiet: noted that this bridge also crosses into VT
  • April 26, 2014: Updated by Michael Quiet: Added categories "Pin-connected", "One-lane traffic"
  • October 21, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added railroad
  • October 21, 2013: Added by Dave King

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Luke
  • Michael Quiet - mquiet [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Mike Garland - Rapier342 [at] comcast [dot] net
  • Geoff Hubbs
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Comments 

WACR - Woodsville-Wells River Bridge
Posted December 30, 2016, by Michael Quiet (mquiet [at] gmail [dot] com)

Pictures 10-12 are not if this bridge, but the close by one over the Wells River

http://bridgehunter.com/vt/orange/bh64351/