| Amtrak/Springfield Terminal Railroad Bridge | |
|---|---|
| Carries | Amtrak New Haven-Springfield Line |
| Crosses | Connecticut River |
| Locale | Enfield and Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut |
| Design | girder bridge with a truss main span |
| Construction end | 1866 (rebuilt 1903) |
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The Amtrak/Springfield Terminal Railroad Bridge, also known as Warehouse Point railroad bridge, is a rail girder bridge with a truss main span crossing over the Connecticut River, connecting the towns of Enfield, Connecticut and Suffield, Connecticut. It is one of several iron bridges erected in the United States before the end of the American Civil War.[1]
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A wooden Howe truss railroad bridge was originally constructed in 1843 at this site by the Hartford and Springfield Railroad Company. In 1865-66, a new bridge was constructed to replace the old one.[2] The bridge was built in sections in England and shipped to the United States. The pieces were then riveted together on site.[1] The bridge was rebuilt and double-tracked in 1903-04.[3]
^ A: James Laurie (1811-1875), the Society founder and first President of the American Society of Civil Engineers, was born near Edinburgh, Scotland. He came to the United States in 1833, quickly becoming engineer or chief engineer on many early railroad projects in the Northeast. Among his earliest professional engagements were appointments as a Consulting Engineer for railway location and surveys, dams, bridges and wharves (circa 1848). Living in Boston, in July 1848, he helped to found the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, the oldest existing engineering society in this country. This initial experience with setting up a professional engineering society proved beneficial years later in the establishment of ASCE.
Perhaps Laurie's greatest work was the design of the bridge across the Connecticut River at Warehouse Point, Connecticut[4][5] on the line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. As the Chief Engineer for the railroad, he had the iron work for the bridge's structure imported from England, creating a notable American example of riveted bridge work whose mainspan was longer than 177 feet (54 m).[6]
^ B: United States Geological Survey topographic map showing the bridge as the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad bridge. [7]
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