Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, Schuylkill River Viaduct
Encyclopedia
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, Schuylkill River Viaduct, also called the Reading Railroad Bridge or the Falls Bridge or the Falls Rail Bridge (but not to be confused with the vehicular bridge of that name
), is a stone arch
bridge that spans the Schuylkill River
at Falls of Schuylkill
, in Fairmount Park
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
It replaced an adjacent Philadelphia and Reading Railroad bridge, built of wood. Prior to that, a series of covered bridges crossed the Schuylkill River at this location. Before them, an early suspension bridge, the 1808 Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill
, was here.
It was built by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad
, 1853–56, to carry coal cars to the company's coal terminal on the Delaware River
in Port Richmond
, Philadelphia.
The bridge's design is unusual. Because it crossed the river at an angle, it was constructed as a ribbed skew arch bridge, with each of the spans composed of a stepped series of stone arches. These were easier to build than spans of skewed barrel vault
s, while still assuring that the bridge's abutment
s were parallel to the water flow.
The bridge consists of six main spans, each 78 feet in length, crossing the river and Kelly Drive, and five small arches, each 9 feet in length, for pedestrian traffic, and a 30-foot arch over Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. The bridge's spandrel walls were reinforced in 1935. The bridge continues to carry rail traffic to this day.
Falls Bridge
The Falls Bridge is a steel Pratt truss bridge that spans the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It connects Kelly Drive at Calumet Street with Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive at Neill Drive...
), is a stone arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
bridge that spans the Schuylkill River
Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...
at Falls of Schuylkill
East Falls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
East Falls is a neighborhood in the Northwest section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. East Falls is located adjacent to Roxborough, Manayunk, and Germantown, and Fairmount Park. The neighborhood runs along a stretch of Ridge Avenue that is only a few miles long, along the banks of the...
, in Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park is the municipal park system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It consists of 63 parks, with , all overseen by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, successor to the Fairmount Park Commission in 2010.-Fairmount Park proper:...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
It replaced an adjacent Philadelphia and Reading Railroad bridge, built of wood. Prior to that, a series of covered bridges crossed the Schuylkill River at this location. Before them, an early suspension bridge, the 1808 Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill
Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill
Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill was an 1808 chain suspension bridge built across the Schuylkill River, north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by James Finley, it became the model for his later chain suspension bridges....
, was here.
It was built by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad
Reading Company
The Reading Company , usually called the Reading Railroad, officially the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway until 1924, operated in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states...
, 1853–56, to carry coal cars to the company's coal terminal on the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
in Port Richmond
Port Richmond, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Port Richmond, also referred to as simply Richmond, is a neighborhood in the Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is notable for its extremely large Polish immigrant and Polish American community. The neighborhood is also home to sizable Irish, German and Italian communities as...
, Philadelphia.
The bridge's design is unusual. Because it crossed the river at an angle, it was constructed as a ribbed skew arch bridge, with each of the spans composed of a stepped series of stone arches. These were easier to build than spans of skewed barrel vault
Skew arch
A skew arch is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its plan view being a parallelogram, rather than the rectangle that is the plan view of...
s, while still assuring that the bridge's abutment
Abutment
An abutment is, generally, the point where two structures or objects meet. This word comes from the verb abut, which means adjoin or having common boundary. An abutment is an engineering term that describes a structure located at the ends of a bridge, where the bridge slab adjoins the approaching...
s were parallel to the water flow.
The bridge consists of six main spans, each 78 feet in length, crossing the river and Kelly Drive, and five small arches, each 9 feet in length, for pedestrian traffic, and a 30-foot arch over Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. The bridge's spandrel walls were reinforced in 1935. The bridge continues to carry rail traffic to this day.
See also
- List of crossings of the Schuylkill River
- Chain Bridge at Falls of SchuylkillChain Bridge at Falls of SchuylkillChain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill was an 1808 chain suspension bridge built across the Schuylkill River, north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by James Finley, it became the model for his later chain suspension bridges....
External links
- Listing and photographs at the Historic American Engineering Record
- Listing at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings