| Bridge Name: | Tuscarora Creek (Monocacy River) bridge |
| Native Name Lang: | English |
| Official Name: | Tuscarora Creek (Monocacy River) bridge |
| Carries: | Walkersville Southern RR, formerly Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Railroad Company (F&PL) |
| Crosses: | |
| Locale: | Frederick County, Maryland |
| Id: | Bridge 65.40 (MTA Chainage) Bridge 65.36 (ICC Chainage) |
| Designer: | Wendel Bollman |
| Design: | "Bollman suspension truss" a design patented by Bollman in 1852. |
| Material: | Mixture of wrought and cast iron. |
| Spans: | Single span all over Tuscarora Creek. |
| Piers In Water: | None |
| Mainspan: | 63.5feet |
| Length: | 63.5feet |
| Width: | 43.5feet |
| Below: | 10feet above the water |
| Builder: | Patapsco Bridge and Iron Works of Baltimore, Maryland. |
| Fabricator: | Patapsco Bridge and Iron Works of Baltimore, Maryland. |
| Begin: | 1871 |
| Complete: | 1872 |
| Inaugurated: | April 1872 |
| Followed: | PRR rebuilt the bridge using steel and reconfigured a single-span steel through-girder bridge with a floor beam/stringer system and a 12inches thick concrete slabs. |
| Coordinates: | 39.4633°N -77.3936°W |
The Tuscarora Creek bridge is a 63.5feet single-span, steel, through-girder bridge with a floor beam/stringer system supporting a 12inches-thick concrete slab south of Walkersville, Maryland. Originally constructed by the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Railroad Company (F&PL) in 1872. It was later rebuilt by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1907 as a thru girder concrete deck bridge using an older bridge from the Northern Central Railway. In 1915, the bridge was surveyed as part of the Interstate Commerce Commission's effort to establish freight rates for the Parent railroad.
As of 2021, the bridge is in active rail service, operated by the Walkersville Southern RR.
The original plan for the railroad called for it to cross the Monocacy River below Tuscarora Creek and therefore, no bridge was located by Gitt in 1867. The finalized location for the railroad called for a bridge over Tuscarora Creek approximately 300 feet south of the Monocacy River crossing for the road. Like the other bridges on the road, the Tuscarora Creek bridge was to be a "Bollman suspension truss" with a creek span of 63 feet, 10 feet above the water. In 1872, Bollman's firm, Patapsco Bridge and Iron Works completed the bridge.
The ICC survey work papers indicate one rebuild after the 1872 construction but before the 1915 inspection:
The Bollman iron truss span for Monocacy was replaced by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1907 but the masonry abutments were left in place.
Pennsylvania replaced the Bollman truss with a 63.5feet single-span, steel, through-girder bridge. The 1915 ICC inspection reports indicate that the steel girders at that time were 3/8's of an inch in thickness and deep. This 1907 replacement did not use new materials but instead, bridge 65.35 had been previously used by the Northern Central RR, or NCR as NCR bridge #33 built in 1882.
Subsequent to this ICC survey, Pennsylvania replaced the NCR bridge with a second thru girder bridge using deep x thick web side girders and a 12inches thick concrete deck. This probably occurred at the same time as the Monocacy River rebuild in 1927.No later rebuild by PRR was made after 1927 and before 1982 when the bridge was conveyed to the State of Maryland..
There is no evidence of a rebuild by the USRA.
Subsequent to the conveyance of the railroad from Conrail to the State of Maryland in 1982, State Railroad Administration developed a Maryland State Rail Plan.The plan called for no action on the Tuscarora Creek bridge. Currently, the Maryland Dept. of Transportation owns the bridge.