The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge

The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge is one of New England's most famous landmarks. However, despite the bridge's size and length it was not constructed by any of the major Class I railroads of the time. For years after it was completed the bridge was operated by the Central New England Railway, which became part of the New Haven system after World War I. Never used by either of the large Class Is in the region the New York Central or Pennsylvania, the bridge became an important link for smaller, regional systems like the L&NE, L&HR, CNJ, and others. After coming under Penn Central ownership use for the bridge mostly evaporated and it was sold under Conrail ownership. Today, the bridge is owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and was opened to the public in the fall of 2009 as the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park.

Fifteen years later, and with no major backing from a large railroad like the Pennsylvania the Manhattan Bridge Building Company was formed to finance the project in 1886. However, it was well-funded nonetheless with powerful names like Andrew Carnegie pitching in to see the bridge built.

With funding secured the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge was completed in just two years, in late December, 1888, and opening on the first day of January, 1889. The bridge featured a cantilever design and was constructed entirely of steel save for its concrete supports. Over one mile in length the structure was lauded as an engineering masterpiece and was quite a sight to behold from ground level. More information about the bridge can be found below:

Length: 6,767 Feet

Height: 212 Feet Above The Water Line

Spans: Seven

Type: Steel Cantilever/Truss

Engineers: Dawson, Symmes & Usher Company and John O'Rourke, P. P. Dickinson

Designers: Charles Macdonald and Arthur Paine

Interestingly, the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company, which owned the bridge relied on new railroads to build east and west to link the bridge with the national network. These companies began as the Hudson Connecting Railroad, chartered in 1887 to build southwestward from Poughkeepsie while the Poughkeepsie and Connecticut Railroad was chartered the same year to build northeastward.

The CNE remained in operation from 1899 until it came under the control of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad in 1927, in which it remained until the creation of Penn Central. Prior to the formation of the Erie-Lackawanna in 1960 virtually all of the smaller New England Class Is relied on the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge to ferry freight and passenger traffic between New England and points west and south such as Buffalo, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. These companies included the DL&W, Erie, L&NE, L&HR, Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), and even to some extent the Reading (who often ferried traffic to and from the CNJ).

After the EL merger the new company elected to keep traffic on its own rails, which now stretched to Buffalo, throughout Ohio and to Chicago. The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge saw less traffic after the creation of Penn Central in 1968 as that railroad chose to likewise keep freight on its own rails rather than transferring it to other lines. To make matters worse the PC's declining financial situation and worsening operations (maintenance was in shambles and trains were being lost all over the railroad) caused the bridge to see even less traffic.

Then, an arsonist's fire on May 8, 1974 forced the bridge to close and the PC chose to fix the damaged structure. This closure forced the bridge line, Lehigh & Hudson River into bankruptcy, as it was unable to fund the repairs to the bridge which was its only lifeline to freight traffic. The bridge passed into the hands of Conrail which continued to neglect it as now it served no significant railroad purpose with the government-owned company owning all of the former railroads' lines that had relied on it.

In late 1984 the bridge was sold to Gordon Schreiber Miller and later Vito Moreno, both of which did nothing with the bridge. Fourteen years later it was sold to the Walkway Over the Hudson non-profit group which looked to turn it a pedestrian footbridge. After millions of dollars either granted, raised, or donated the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge opened to the public on October 3, 2009. For information about visiting the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park please click here. Lastly, for information about regarding the history of the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge please click here.

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