The amazing PRR railroad bridge at the confluence of the Maiden Creek and Schuylkill River.

Hello everyone. This is the incredible stone bridge built by the Pennsylvania railroad in 1889. This was part of the Schuylkill division that the PRR built to tap into the coal fields of Schuylkill County. This branch paralled the Philadelphia and Reading mainline and would have been a proverbial middle finger to the Philadelphia and Reading. Over 120+ years later this bridge survives and is part of the Reading and Northern railroad. This line sees limited industrial switching and storage. Thank you for watching. 7/7/24

[@christopherweber9464]

That was an outstanding tour. My most cordial thanks for your efforts

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Thank you very much Christopher. These are very kind words and greatly appreciated. Have a wonderful evening.

[@ThirdHandle]

Dude…this is insane! How cool would it be to take a utility car from the Temple station to the ends of that line and the line that goes to Evansville!!! When I was a kid and rode the steam locomotive from Hamburg to Temple, we HAD to have crossed that bridge!

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

You definitely crossed this bridge as a kid. There has to be some old railfan footage out there catching 425 rolling across this thing. If you thought I had a big smile on my face when showed me those tunnels in Adamsdale, imagine my face if we were running speeders up and down those two lines. I think I would enjoy the Schuylkill and Lehigh more. As you know that one is near and dear to me.

[@romanf5061]

thanks for sharing! A beautiful piece of old engineering, in a beautiful setting. Also, I'm not sure anyone else noticed at 3:24, the gnarly tree roots look like a 4-legged troll has come to feed on the remains of another vieographer

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Thank you Roman! Good catch on the tree.

[@brianfalzon6739]

Would be awesome to see excursions going through that bridge again!

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Wouldn't that be something. This used to be the line they ran their excursions on back in the 80s and 90s. They have a station in Hamburg they built. It's right before the Reading technical and historical museum. Very cool.

[@williammcgeehan3424]

That bridge was crossed by Reading Blue Mountain & Northern steam engines 425 & 2102 back in the mid 1980's. Starting about 1986 after it was acquired from ConRail.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

There has to be some footage of this somewhere out there in the universe.

[@williammcgeehan3424]

@@kevinsalsbury2118 It was featured on the BM & R timetables / brochures from 1986 to at least 1992 with the 425 and 2102 on it. I don't know of any videos but if there were any it would probably be poor quality VHS format.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

If they offered an excursion on this line I guarantee it would sell out. I'm sure the logistics would be difficult and the track is a bit rough in spots but man it would be fun.

[@AndrewAMartin]

@@kevinsalsbury2118 They ran a short excursion train from Hamburg to Temple back in the late 80's -- I rode it once, not long after my family moved to the area when I was in college. The conductor was an old codger who knew a good bit of the line's history and had a running spiel along the way. We went over this bridge not long before the train pulled into the station at Temple, then the engine switched ends and pulled the train back to Hamburg. Neat little trip, but pretty short. I remember there was talk of running all the way to Pottsville, but that never happened as far as I know. I guess the novelty wore off and the economics just didn't make sense for a tourist train...

[@jennsylvania1633]

wow...nice bridge! 6:02 Don't slip, Kevin 😮

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

😆 Thank you Jenn. It would have been a long drop.

[@johnnicoline7632]

What a bridge! Imagine catching a train across that.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning John. I'm going to find a way to make that happen. However it may take a while.

[@burtont3773]

What a fabulous bridge. Love it.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

One of the best I've walked on for sure. Thank you Burton.

[@GeorgeHyland]

Awesome Kevin! Thanks!

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

You're very welcome!!

[@brucefye3778]

Hi Kevin! Great historical railfanning bridge video. Great to see it's survived and still in use. Great exercise you must have gotten shooting this video. 😊

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

I was hurting when I climbed to the top. I've got to quit smoking. This bridge was worth the walk.

[@electrictractiontrainsandt3063]

Wow! Those arches and that stone work are the best of the best!👌👍

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

I had a smile from ear to ear when I saw this one. Truly impressive!!

[@nickmad887]

Thank you Friend.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning Nick. You're very welcome.

[@nickcef]

Nice catch, Kevin! You know that bridge was built tough if it survived Tropical Storm Agnes back in '72. That confluence of the creek and the river over there must have been raging back then.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning Nick. I never thought about that as I was standing there. You're absolutely right though. Imagine the noise this would have produced. I wonder if the Maiden Creek being damed up helped keep this bridge standing. I've got to think the Ontelaunee dam must have held back a lot of what Agnes was dumping.

[@nickcef]

@@kevinsalsbury2118 Yep! Exactly, Kevin. That dam probably saved that bridge. I heard many other railroad bridges were washed out in other parts of the state. I was 9 years old when Agnes hit, and I can remember the Schuylkill River was like 12 feet over its banks all the way down to Philly. It was crazy!

[@MillersRailfan]

A Roman aqueduct in Pennsylvania Pretty amazing

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

If anyone could build with stones it was the Romans.

[@bobjohnston8316]

Going back to your earlier videos, if the PRR was willing to build something like this bridge for the long term, it’s just odd that above St. Claire they had to use running rights for short stretches on the RDG and the LV. There must have been an all PRR routing there once that got flood damaged or given up for road construction or whatever that resulted in negotiated trackage rights.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning Bob. Not only this bridge but what about the line coming up from Philadelphia. There are over 50 miles to the south that we haven't seen yet. I believe a lot of it is railtrail now, but there must be amazing things to see. Let's not forget about the Dark Water trestle. That was a much grander structure than this one. I have to assume that the Reading grade was just better being that it was there first and possibly easier to climb. Flooding definitely could have been an issue to. You have my mind going now. Good stuff Bob!!

[@tadeccleston8879]

Absolutely awesome bud!

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Absolutely my pleasure Tad. I've known this one was here, it was just a matter of getting to it. It did not disappoint.

[@natesherwood-cc3il]

Were there a second set of arches and parallel tracks and at one time? It looks like there would have been.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning Nate. You have a keen eye and this is a great question. My answer is only speculative but here it goes. The bridge was always a single track. I think they built really large cut waters onto the bridge in case of a "hundred year flood " which happened in 1972 with hurricane Agnes. All that stone that doesn't have an arch is there to provide extra support for the rest of the span. I have seen other bridges on this same line with larger cut waters than usual. It appears they just wanted to have extra protection in case of flooding. In my opinion it worked. Again all speculative.

[@bobjohnston8316]

Hey Kevin: I hear you but for that trackage north of St. Claire I’d bet that the PRR once upon a time had their own line all the way through. Back in those days competing railroads weren’t about to cooperate with each other. It either was part of the deal in which the Reading bought the Shenandoah line or an earlier situation where maybe there was a flood and washout that the PRR wound up using trackage rights over other railroads. When the depression began coupled with the steady drop in demand for Anthracite coal I think that both the PRR and the RDG saw a hit to their profits and became more willing to work together. I think that it was a result of the depression that they stopped competing in NJ and formed the PRSL. Neither of us were around and sitting in the presidents office of either railroad back in the 1920’s and 30’s so we will never know. But it’s fun to speculate! Keep up the good work! I only with that I were 30 years younger and I could join you on your explorations.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good evening Bob. I really enjoy hearing from you. You make some really good points and are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. The PRR definitely had their own line through to the top of the Frackville grade. We've definitely walked some of it. Like you said, when the railroads started to feel the pinch of economic problems they had no choice but to cooperate. The Reading line would have been used first which means it was probably the best route to take over the mountain. I can only speculate they started working together to help each other survive. I wish I could walk and talk with you about these lines, but for now I will try to bring them to you.

[@440camelback6]

There might of been 2 tracks at one point

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

I've been trying to figure that out myself. Possibly something called a gauntlet track?

[@440camelback6]

I wanna go there see it for myself

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

How far from Leesport are you?

[@ThirdHandle]

I commented before I watched the entire video…when you climbed up on top and there’s multiple rails…know why that is??

[@Learn-more610]

Re-railers. Meant to keep derailed cars from falling.

[@ThirdHandle]

@@Learn-more610 absolutely!!! Same rails that are used at the Kinzua bridge!

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Learn more nailed it.

[@ocsrc]

Thinking about what they had to do to get the ROW back then, all the property owners they had to buy land from, I wonder if they used eminent domain or twisted the arms of land owners. Or paid off politicians to put pressure on the land owners. For a good number of the warehouses and businesses in small cities in upstate NY they ran the railroad in the streets Railroad Avenue and Railroad Street is common That cribbing must have been for a wooded bridge I bet there was a wood bridge there in the beginning

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning Bill. I'm sure there were all kinds of deals going on and land being taken. What I always forget is there was another 50 plus miles from Philadelphia to Reading that had to be built before they even got to this point. This spot right here is about the farthest south I've gone on the Pennsy. I believe the majority of it is rail trail along the Schuylkill, south of Reading. I need to start heading that way and see what is hiding in the woods.

[@MillersRailfan]

Pea soup creek

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

It is a really green color. All I can think of is farm runoff.

[@MillersRailfan]

@@kevinsalsbury2118 farm runoff I would NEVER want to swim in farm runoff

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

It's not as bad as you think 😆😅

[@MillersRailfan]

@@kevinsalsbury2118 I’ll take your word on that