Conestoga Creek Viaduct Explained

Bridge Name:Conestoga Creek Viaduct
Carries:Amtrak Keystone Corridor
Crosses:Conestoga River and PA 23 (East Walnut Street)
Locale:Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Design:Arch bridge
Material:Stone
Spans:5
Pierswater:3
Mainspan:55feet
Length:330feet
Width:two tracks
Begin:1887
Complete:1888
Coordinates:40.05°N -76.2781°W

The Conestoga Creek Viaduct spans the Conestoga River east of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The present structure, built in 1887–88, is a five-span, two-track stone arch railroad bridge. The first crossing at this location was a 1412feet series of 11 wooden Town lattice trusses constructed in 1829 for the Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad, which was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and incorporated into its main line in 1857.[1] PRR shortened the viaduct and replaced the remaining wooden trusses with iron Whipple trusses in 1863. The 1887-88 stone arch replacement was originally intended to be four tracks wide, but only half of the superstructure width (two tracks) was constructed, leaving an unfinished spandrel wall on the southern face. Tie rods were added in 1930 to brace the spandrel walls.[2]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Zimmerman . Albright . 1984 . The Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad: A Railroad with an Identity Problem . Canal History and Technology Proceedings . 3 . 62–63.
  2. Web site: Pennsylvania Railroad, Conestoga Creek Viaduct . Spivey . Justin M. . April 2000 . Historic American Engineering Record . Library of Congress . Washington, D.C. . 3 . March 3, 2018.