Shocks Mills Bridge carries tracks of the Norfolk Southern Railway

Norfolk Southern Railway

The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...

 (formerly the Atglen and Susquehanna Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

) over the Susquehanna River

Susquehanna River

The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...

 between Marietta, Pennsylvania

Marietta, Pennsylvania

Marietta is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,689 at the 2000 census. It is located on the east bank of the Susquehanna River just north of Columbia.-Geography:Marietta is located at ....

 and Wago Junction, Pennsylvania.

Construction

During the early 20th century, the PRR constructed what it referred to as its "Low-Grade Lines", branches constructed with a minimal grade to divert freight traffic from its congested and steeper main lines. One of these new lines was the Atglen and Susquehanna Branch, which left the Main Line at Parkesburg

Parkesburg, Pennsylvania

Parkesburg is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,593 at the 2010 census. The Zip code is 19365.-History:...

 to cut cross-county to the Susquehanna River, followed the east bank of the river to Marietta, crossed the river and ran along the west bank to Wago Junction, where it met the Northern Central Railway

Northern Central Railway

The Northern Central Railway was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1861, when the PRR acquired a controlling interest in the Northern Central's stock to compete with the...

. The line from Marietta to Wago Junction was chartered as the York Haven and Rowenna Railroad, and much of the construction, including the crossing of the Susquehanna at Shocks Mills, was done by H.S. Kerbaugh, a major PRR contractor. The bridge was first opened on January 1, 1905, as a twenty-eight span brick arch.

Damage from Hurricane Agnes and repair

The bridge was closed during the flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes

Hurricane Agnes

Hurricane Agnes was the first tropical storm and first hurricane of the 1972 Atlantic hurricane season. A rare June hurricane, it made landfall on the Florida Panhandle before moving northeastward and ravaging the Mid-Atlantic region as a tropical storm...

in late June 1972. Penn Central's commuter train service between Lancaster and Harrisburg was affected by the damages to the bridge, and freight traffic to Harrisburg was required to be re-routed. In August of that year, the federal bankruptcy court, overseeing the reorganization of Penn Central, gave the railroad permission to make repairs to the span, a process that was expected to take "four or five months".