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Cheshire Bridge

Sullivan County, New Hampshire, and Windsor County, Vermont

Photos 

Cheshire Bridge

Photo taken by C Hanchey in October 2009

Enlarge

BH Photo #147620

Map 

Street Views 

Description 

Bridge also carried rails of the Springfield Terminal Railway Co., an electric trolley and freight rail operation connecting Springfield and Charlestown. Passenger operation ceased in 1947; electric freight train operation was replaced by diesel in November 1956, and all rail service over this bridge ceased ca. 1985. Photos of trains operating over the bridge in the 1960s and 1970s show weight limit signs declaring a 24.000-pound weight limit with the line's GE 44-ton diesel locomotive hauling equally heavy or heavier freight cars past the same sign!

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Connecticut River on VT 11 / NH 11 in Charlestown
Location
Sullivan County, New Hampshire, and Windsor County, Vermont
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1930; rehabilitated 1992 when purchased by the State of New Hampshire; Tolls were removed in 2001.
Builder
- McClintic-Marshall Co. of Chicago, Illinois & Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Railroad
- Springfield Terminal Railway (ST)
Design
Pennsylvania Truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 165.0 ft.
Total length: 500.0 ft.
Deck width: 21.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 16.5 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Cheshire Toll Bridge
Connecticut River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+43.26044, -72.42730   (decimal degrees)
43°15'38" N, 72°25'38" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/708812/4792950 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Springfield
Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
7,056
Inventory number
BH 25032 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of November 2018)
Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 50.2 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Built 1930 (1,749)
Built during 1930s (11,773)
Connecticut River (95)
Former toll (40)
Have street view (27,079)
McClintic-Marshall Co. (77)
NH 11 (3)
NR-eligible (4,056)
New Hampshire (671)
Open (39,993)
Owned by state (16,063)
Pennsylvania truss (492)
 Rail-and-Road (381)
Railroad (15,612)
Span length 125-175 feet (4,236)
Springfield Terminal Railway (159)
State line crossing (855)
Sullivan County, New Hampshire (38)
Through truss (15,201)
Total length 500-1000 feet (2,880)
Truss (32,992)
Vermont (628)
Windsor County, Vermont (102)

Update Log 

  • March 31, 2021: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
  • March 30, 2021: New photos from Chester Gehman
  • August 8, 2020: New photos from Nick Boppel
  • August 6, 2020: Updated by Luke: Added historical image from when the railroad still crossed the bridge
  • March 4, 2017: New photos from Michael Quiet
  • October 1, 2015: Photo imported by Dave King
  • September 21, 2015: Photo imported by Dave King
  • April 1, 2015: Updated by Will Truax: Added alternate name - Truss type to design line
  • June 27, 2014: New Street View added by Ralph Demars
  • February 20, 2014: New photos from Jack Schmidt
  • September 27, 2013: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Added former railroad use by Springfield Terminal Railway
  • April 13, 2010: New Street View added by Nathan Holth
  • October 14, 2009: Updated by C Hanchey: Bridge is called the Cheshire Bridge and was built in 1930; added bridge builder

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • C Hanchey - cmh2315fl [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Nathan Holth
  • Alexander D. Mitchell IV
  • Jack Schmidt - jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net
  • Will Truax - Bridgewright [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Michael Quiet - mquiet [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Luke
  • RailPictures.net
  • Nick Boppel - nickboppel01 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Chester Gehman - gehmanc2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Geoff Hubbs
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Comments 

Cheshire Bridge
Posted August 8, 2020, by Luke

The railroad wholly owned the bridge, so the tolls directly funded the Boston & Maine-owned Springfield Terminal. The Guilford-era ST abandoned the line ca. 1983, but continued to own it until 1992 when New Hampshire bought it. They collected tolls until 2001, per Wikipedia

https://cite.case.law/nh/126/425/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire_Bridge_(Connecticut_R...)

Cheshire Bridge
Posted August 8, 2020, by Nick Boppel (nickboppel01 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Site visit 08/06/20: Bridge needs a paint job. Large patches of brick-red rust are visible on the otherwise gray paint scheme. It does create a unique paint scheme in a way, but I know that it's not supposed to be that way.

Does anyone know when this bridge ceased to be a toll bridge? Also, when this was a toll bridge, was it privately owned, or a joint-state venture? And which side (NH or VT) was the toll booth located on? I couldn't find out any of these things during my site visit.

Cheshire Bridge
Posted April 1, 2015, by Will Truax (Bridgewright [at] gmail [dot] com)

Work slated for the coming Summer...

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150401/NEWS02/7040199...