Morrisville–Trenton Railroad Bridge
The bridge at low tide
Coordinates40°12′30″N 74°46′02″W / 40.2082°N 74.7672°W / 40.2082; -74.7672
CarriesAmtrak Northeast Corridor, SEPTA Trenton Line, and NJ Transit Northeast Corridor Line (non-revenue/deadhead to NJT's Morrisville Yard)
CrossesDelaware River
LocaleMorrisville, Pennsylvania, and Trenton, New Jersey
Maintained byAmtrak
Characteristics
DesignStone arch bridge
Total length1,220 feet (370 m)
Width54 feet (16 m)
Longest span60 feet (18 m)
History
Opened1903
Location

The Morrisville–Trenton Railroad Bridge is a rail bridge across the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.

The bridge carries the Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains and SEPTA Trenton Line as well as non-revenue trains for NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor Line that have terminated at the Trenton Transit Center bound for the Morrisville Yard.

History

A series of Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) predecessors operated trains across the nearby Lower Trenton Bridge from 1834 until 1903, when PRR completed a grade separation project through Trenton, including this stone arch bridge on a new alignment.[1]

In 1953, the Morrisville approach to the bridge was blocked when eight cars of an eighty-three-car freight train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad derailed at 11 p.m. on January 13. No one was injured in the incident; however, four of the derailed cars were described in news reports as "smashed across the four tracks," along with a steel pole that "was knocked across the tracks, tearing down the lines feeding current to express and local trains." As a result, the railroad's main line to New York was inoperable for five hours, forcing the cancellation or delay of more than twenty passenger trains.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Spivey, Justin M. (April 2000). "Pennsylvania Railroad, Delaware River Bridge" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. p. 3. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Wreck Blocks PRR Main Line." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 14, 1953, p. 1 (subscription required).

Further reading

  • Messer, David W. & Roberts, Charles S. (2002). Triumph V. Barnard, Roberts & Co., Inc. ISBN 0-934118-27-2.

Media related to Trenton-Morrisville Railroad Bridge at Wikimedia Commons

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