Appalachian Trail/CSX - Potomac River Bridge
Photos
Railroad bridges at Harpers Ferry
old bridge is on the right, downstream of new deck truss
Photo taken by Bob Morgan in April 2006
BH Photo #132709
Video
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Harper's Ferry Appalachian Trail Bridge DESTROYED by Train Derailment - On-Scene Aftermath Footage Video of derailment aftermath filmed December 22, 2019, the day after it happened. Shows badly damaged bridge sections and re-railment activity. YouTube user Railfan Rowan |
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Potomac River and old C&O Canal in Harpers Ferry on CSX Railroad and Appalachian Trail
- Location
- Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, West Virginia, and Washington County, Maryland
- Status
- Closed for repair after derailment
- Future prospects
- Will be repaired and returned to service for both trains and pedestrians
- History
- Built 1894, was mainline until 1931 bridge built to the north; damaged in derailment 2019
- Builder
- - Pencoyd Bridge & Construction Co. of Pencoyd, Pennsylvania [also known as A & P Roberts Co.]
- Railroads
- - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (BO)
- CSX Railroad (CSX)
- Design
- 3 x Pratt through truss over river channel
5 x deck plate girder, 3 on west end, 2 on east end - Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 1978
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.32394, -77.72731 (decimal degrees)
39°19'26" N, 77°43'38" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/264900/4356272 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Harpers Ferry
- Elevation
- 492 ft. above sea level
- Inventory numbers
- NRHP 78001484 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 38790 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- June 6, 2022: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- December 6, 2021: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- May 6, 2020: New photos from Patrick Gurwell
- December 29, 2019: Updated by Roger Deschner: Bridge damaged by derailment; video added
- June 28, 2019: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- March 6, 2019: New photos from Geoff Hubbs
- January 27, 2019: New photos from Josh Schmid
- August 30, 2016: Updated by Christopher Finigan: Added category "Pin-connected"
- August 28, 2016: New photos from Steve Conro
- March 16, 2016: Updated by Luke: Added categories "Rail-and-Road", "US 340", "Road-to-trail"
- January 15, 2015: New Street View added by Luke
- January 15, 2015: New photo from Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- July 10, 2014: New photos from Andrew Raker
- July 9, 2014: New photos from Andrew Raker
- May 12, 2013: New photos from Zachary S
- April 18, 2010: Updated by Kim Harvey: NRHP
- February 20, 2010: Updated by Joshua Collins: added gps coordinates
- January 31, 2009: Added by Bob Morgan
Sources
- Bob Morgan - morgans212 [at] att [dot] net
- Joshua Collins - Bigjc1979 [at] aol [dot] com
- Kim Harvey
- Zachary S
- Andrew Raker
- Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- Luke
- Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Photo Archives - Image #1
- Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Photo Archives - Image #2
- Steve Conro - sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Josh Schmid
- Geoff Hubbs
- Roger Deschner - rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com
- Patrick Gurwell - pgurwell [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
Are there any videos showing the heavy equipment working at the scene after the derailment?Interesting how this heavy equipment operates.
You know. I just saw this incident on a yesterday newspaper from this morning.
Derailment on the bridge today. Two cars fell off.
Hello:
When was the old railroad bridge converted to a pedestrian bridge to carry foot traffic for the Appalachian Trail? Also, what was the route of the Appalachian Trail prior to this bridge being the river crossing? Was it the route 340 highway bridge?
Thank you!
Eric Miller
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/wv/jefferson/old-csx-railroad/
As of July 2020, the pedestrian path was fixed and the Bridge was re-opened.