The South Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge would have carried the South Pennsylvania Railroad

South Pennsylvania Railroad

The South Pennsylvania Railroad is the name given to two proposed but never completed Pennsylvania railroads in the nineteenth-century. Parts of the right of way for the second South Pennsylvania Railroad were reused for the Pennsylvania Turnpike....

 rail lines across 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 Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

Cumberland County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is one of three counties comprising the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 235,406.-History:...

 and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...

. Work began on the South Penn and was abruptly halted by banker J. P. Morgan

J. P. Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...

 in 1885 when he called a truce in the railroad wars that threatened to undermine investor confidence in the Pennsylvania

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....

 and New York Central

New York Central Railroad

The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...

 railroads. Eight piers still rise from the water at the west side of the river near the current location of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge

Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge carries Norfolk Southern rail lines across the Susquehanna River between Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was originally built by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad to connect its Harrisburg and Lurgan lines...

.