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Fans of old girder train bridges need to get down to Readville soon
By adamg on Mon, 08/08/2016 - 4:20pm
Amtrak regional train heads under bridge on way to South Station.
Nine years after the state replaced the old Sprague Street bridge with a ho-hum concrete span, workers are getting ready to replace the old Fairmount Line bridge over the Northeast Corridor with one of the light-blue metal spans already in use along the line closer to downtown.
Workers on the $12.5-million project have spent the last few weeks readying the supports and track for the new span.
Although the tracks continue past the bridge, the train doesn't, at least not much - arriving trains pull about half-way across, then stop.
The new bridge, which will be lifted into place by two cranes already at the station:
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UHub Relic
The comments on the linked article are interesting. But only 3 responses to a UHub post about trains/urban decay?! Where were all the transport nerds in 2007?
Sadly, the links in Dave's comment are dead.
UHub was a quieter place back then
And, alas, looks like the accursed link rot strikes again.
Funny thing about that bridge
We've been told time and again that the minimum structure depth for a railroad bridge regarding the Allston project is six feet, yet this is 3'6" (per construction diagrams). Funny, they're both MassDOT/MBTA projects. It's almost as if the powers that be in Allston want a big, wide viaduct and don't give a rip about transit, bicyclists or pedestrians.
Could be that the Allston
Could be that the Allston bridges need to carry a much heavier load and have nothing to do with bikes or pedesrians
Does one carry freight trains
Does one carry freight trains and the other not?
Both the one in Allston and
Both the one in Allston and the Shore Line Bridge carry multiple daily freight trains. The difference in height is likely related to whether it's above auto traffic or train traffic. There's zero risk of a Storrowing under the Shore Line Bridge because the Northeast Corridor's wires set the ruling height and make it physically impossible to get an over-tall train anywhere near the bridge.
The one in Allston is literally the progenitor of the term "Storrowing" and gets the crap smacked out of it by idiot truck drivers twice a month every month for 60 years straight. Taller barrier necessary to keep debris from the bridge strikes from breaching the trackbed.
Truss bridge
This is called a truss bridge not a girder bridge, and I agree that its too bad that these bridges are being done away with.
More accurately, it is a
More accurately, it is a subdivided Pratt truss bridge, if my Google Fu is strong today.
Up until now I only used two classifications for bridges. Cool looking ones and stupid looking ones. Thanks Wikipedia!
Carries a lot
It is not always evident but that bridge does carry a lot of traffic.
There is at least one franklin train inbound each morning and outbound at night that shows use of the Fairmount branch to get to Readville and after crossing that bridge it connects with the Franklin branch. The run on the Fairmount is express and after that it makes local stops.
Late at night, but not all that often, freight can and will cross that bridge. It is rare but it is possible. Maintenance of the Way (track repair) vehicles also cross it.
While not noted, one can expect Some NEC closures when the demolition starts and when they move the new bridge into place. They often try to do this over a weekend but you really need to plan for the possibility of delays.
While the T may be making light of this replacement, this location and project is actually rather complex.
The old bridge is a decent 100 years old or thereabouts and carried steam at one time.
This is solely on MBTA and CSX property so it cannot and will not also facilitate crossings by pedestrians or bicycles. If you know the area you'd understand that.