Paulinskill Viaduct
Coordinates: 40 ° 56 ′ 53 ″ N , 75 ° 3 ′ 40 ″ W.
| Paulinskill Viaduct | ||
|---|---|---|
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| use | former railway bridge | |
| Crossing of | Paulin's Kill, Station Road | |
| place | near Hainesburg, Knowlton Township, New Jersey | |
| construction | Reinforced concrete viaduct | |
| overall length | 340 m | |
| Number of openings | seven | |
| Pillar spacing | 42.7 m | |
| height | 35 m | |
| start of building | 1908 | |
| completion | 1910 | |
| Status | without tracks | |
| planner | Lincoln Bush | |
| closure | 1982 | |
| location | ||
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The Paulinskill Viaduct , also named Hainesburg Viaduct after the nearest small town in Knowlton Township, Warren County , New Jersey , USA , is the first of the major railroad viaducts that the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad will use as part of the new Lackawanna Cut-Off in built between 1908 and 1910.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was in the course of the development of the anthracite coal deposits in the northeast Appalachian Mountains , u. a. in Lackawanna County . Their network stretched from New York City to Buffalo on Lake Erie and Oswego on Lake Ontario . At the beginning of the 20th century she had the Lackawanna Cut-Off built, a shortcut with the straightest possible stretches, slight inclines and no level crossings, which increased the speed of trains, shortened travel times and increased the company's profits. This route required long dams and cuts in the terrain as well as large viaducts such as the Paulinskill Viaduct and the Delaware River Viaduct . The even larger Tunkhannock Viaduct was built during the subsequent construction of another shortcut, the Nicholson Cut-Off . These three viaducts were among the first large reinforced concrete bridges and replaced each other as the largest reinforced concrete bridges in the world.
The Paulinskill Viaduct crosses the Paulins Kill River and a small road in a remote wooded area about four kilometers above its confluence with the Delaware River . Designed for double-track traffic, the structure was built entirely from reinforced concrete and is 340 m (1100 ft ) long. Its eight pillars with center distances of 42.7 m (140 ft) emerge like pilasters from the row of seven large round arches and end in small terraces next to the tracks. The roadway girder is elevated with eight slender arches on each of the large round arches. The tracks lay at a height of 35 m (115 ft) above the river bed.
Train traffic began on Christmas Eve 1911 and lasted until 1979 when the successor company Conrail ceased traffic on the route. Conrail completely abandoned the line in 1982 and removed the rails in 1984. Access to the now abandoned structure is prohibited and the police are trying to enforce the ban through periodic arrests, but the inspection corridors on the arches and the many shafts and chambers inside the structure are the target of numerous adventurers. All accessible areas are covered with graffiti .
Web links
- Paulinskill Viaduct on Bridgemeister.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pauli Skill Viaduct on Bridgehunter.com
- ↑ Paulinskill Viaduct on Weird NJ