Housatonic River Railroad Bridge


The Housatonic River Railroad Bridge is a historic bridge carrying Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line trackage across the lower Housatonic River in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The bridge is also used by Amtrak for its Northeast Corridor services. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, which also refers to the bridge as the Devon Bridge. It is also referred to as the Devon Railroad Bridge by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
, as seen from Washington Bridge.
It is a "Scherzer Rolling Lift Bascule"-type bascule bridge. It has a steel superstructure and block stone piers. The moveable span is a Warren through truss span. The Connecticut River Railroad Bridge is another bridge of this type in Connecticut which is also NRHP-listed.
It is one of eight moveable bridges on the Amtrak route through Connecticut surveyed in one multiple property study in 1986. The eight bridges from west to east are: Mianus River Railroad Bridge at Cos Cob, built in 1904; Norwalk River Railroad Bridge at Norwalk, 1896; Saugatuck River Railroad Bridge at Westport, 1905; Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge at Bridgeport, 1902; Housatonic River Railroad Bridge, at Devon, 1906; Connecticut River Railroad Bridge, Old Saybrook-Old Lyme, 1907; Niantic River Bridge, East Lyme-Waterford, 1907; and Thames River Bridge, Groton, built in 1919.

History

The current bridge is the fourth railroad span in the same location, originally known as Naugatuck Junction. The original bridge was the first railroad bridge over the Housatonic river, built by the New York and New Haven Railroad, and was a single-track wooden covered Howe truss, in length and a draw of, built in 1848. It was the longest covered bridge ever built in the state of Connecticut. The second bridge was a double-track cast iron Whipple truss, in length and a draw of, built in 1872 by the Keystone Bridge Company for the New York and New Haven Railroad. The third bridge was a double-track wrought iron Pratt truss, in length and a draw of, built in 1884 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The current bridge, a four-track steel with Warren through truss spans, Scherzer Bascule bridge, in length and a draw of, was completed in 1906 by the American Bridge Company for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
Repairs were planned for six months starting April 25, 2015.