Tracks Across The Sky - Pennsylvania's Kinzua Viaduct

[@cattinamarie6545]

I was just there yesterday and walked the amazing skywalk. We also took the trail down to the bottom, where the remnants of the twisted steel lay. I literally cried at the sheer sight of it, while imagining what it once was. I am still pinching myself at the fact I was there yesterday. Wow. Great video, one of the best ones here. Thank you. 😊

[@nikkimaloney2759]

We went recently as well. It's incredible. I kept saying "it's just here...as it fell...whoa!"

[@Biggestfoot10209]

My wife and I went there in October of this year and really enjoyed it but it was also sad because way back in the late 1970’s before we were married we were there and walked the whole way across. I have to admit that walking the entire length was quite scary, back then there was no walkway. You had to step tie to tie with gaps in between each one. Then you had to walk the entire bridge to get back to your car. There was no building or parking lots then, just barely a place to park.

[@cattinamarie6545]

@@Biggestfoot10209wow, lucky you! Was the train-line active when you went across? Anyway, you have such an awesome, clever screen name, Biggest Foot! Haha. I have a Bigfoot audio on my page. I totally believe the creature is out there.

[@katesmithmyer6677]

I still remember my trip to the railroad at probably 4 years old. The bridge was amazing to go over. It's definitely something I'll never forget!

[@genericyoutube5922]

Lived up the road from here my whole life and before moving away would go for walks here all the time. Never went on the bridge though because I'm terrified of heights

[@smallchunkaground2071]

I remember standing on the middle of that span before it got destroyed by the tornado. What a view.

[@cindysilfiesfilms]

And feeling this way of the bridge when the wind is blowing, that was amazing I lived in Kushequa raise my kids there the valley was one over from the bridge and we could walk up the creek and come right up underneath the bridge. My kids did that a lot. They loved it .. I have not been back there since and I live 4 miles away from it. It’s not the same. A lot of people go there and visit, but it’s not that beautiful thing a beautiful site that you used to see.

[@danielfoster3642]

I saw the viaduct exactly a month after the tornado damaged half the structure. I came there via the Knox and Kane train. You couldn't even get on the viaduct at the time because of you know what. Since then, I've been fascinated with it's history. This is a nice documentary. Since this documentary aired, what's left standing has been reopened as the Kinzua Skywalk. The Knox and Kane Railroad unfortunately ceased operations in 2009. The railroad tracks were removed, and is now a bike trail.

[@appalachiajoe]

Very interesting. So many engineering inovations had their beginnings in the great state of Pennsylvania.

[@lgensheimer1]

Innovation continues: the new Kinzua Sky Walk, which offers spectacular views of the downed towers, earned a 2012 national engineering award for best project. ~ Lisa Gensheimer, writer and co-producer, "Tracks across the Sky"

[@AJKPenguin]

It's arguably the best lookout ever made.

[@christopher9196]

100 men, 90 days!!! That is completely insane. I work on two lane tiny bridge jobs for a year. Wow

[@LilSeason_In_Tartaria]

It’s completely Impossible.

[@christopher9196]

@LilSeason_In_Tartaria they built the Empire State Building in one year.

[@ostlandr]

That picture at 2:42 of the steam locomotive running on wooden rails is really rare!

[@johndavies1090]

Thanks for pointing it out - I've read pf 'pole road' engines, but this is only the second picture of one that I have seen. The engine is an early Climax, I think, by the way.

[@lesterxxx7642]

yes you never see the haul train

[@bikerhighmiler8998]

Climax locomotive made in Corry Pa. ​@@johndavies1090

[@mikegross6107]

I walked across that bridge before moving to AZ in the late '60's and NEVER dreamed it would be partially demolished from a tornado, no less! TORNADOES don't go through PA but one did and tore down part of PA's history. It's so sad to look at those pictures of destruction but wonderful that no one was hurt.

[@stevemason5173]

Extremely interesting video... I purchased this same DVD while I was visiting the Kinzua State Park... One extremely interesting place and well worth the trip and visit!!!

[@28seether]

I'm from Venezuela, i visited Kinzua bridge back in 1999, It was an amazing experience... I can't believe a Tornado destroyed it. Too sad, I always wanted to go back.

[@samanthab1923]

That's how I felt. Moved to PA in 94 & saw a doc about it. Always thought there was plyif time. Then that freak tornado & even worse the dismantling of the RR. So sad 😭

[@fernandoscrenci4874]

​@@samanthab1923, I Have Heavy Suspicion that, A criminal conspiracy of some kind was hatch by weather warfare was done, so this bridge will never be fix !!

[@lesterxxx7642]

i live close call, im retired would love to show you around Pa

[@kellyfredricks12]

They put a glass top off the end of it now, where the tornado went through you can walk about halfway out now. It's still a amazing experience

[@joehazard5059]

It's still there atleast half of it still a great site

[@Shane_M]

I grew up in smethport pa, about 15 minutes from the bridge. I remember when it fell. I also miss walking across it. I have made about 7 trips across it before it fell and it was always an amazing experience.

[@cjinpa5713]

I love driving to New York via 66n and always see the smethport signs. I drag friends along and one had a memory of people taking their horses from smethport to the Cambria county fair and remembered they boarded their horses at the fair for the week but made the drive themselves back and forth daily from the fair back to smethport. I love the Allegheny national forest and camped there a lot as a teenager in cook’s forest with my family. Still love it today and hope to live there someday. Even got my family on my dad’s side going to Seneca Allegheny now and we’ll meet there. It sure is beautiful and peaceful mountains. I grew up in the Appalachian mountains south of there outside Ebensburg. My dad took us to kinzua as a kid but I don’t really have a memory of it. I really need to stop by the overlook on one of my trips.

[@Shane_M]

@cjinpa5713 yes, Smethport is my home town. It's amazing

[@cjinpa5713]

@ it’s a unique name as well and stays in my memory. All those little town names from 80 to 219 on 66 are like little dominos in my brain as I pass them on my way to New York. I don’t listen to the radio often cause they don’t come in well anyway so it’s definitely something to keep my mind busy saying them to myself or my friends and trying to count all the counties we go through too. I always enjoy my drives no matter the weather.

[@missplum12]

Thanks for putting this show on!!! I have been looking for it for a very long time!!!

[@SeahawksFTW2014]

I moved out here from Seattle 4 years ago, and have been to this bridge park 5 times. Until today, I thought PA thought they were cool because they had half a tornado bridge preserved. This video was extremely informative and the history absolutely changed my entire perspective on the place! Thank you for sharing this piece of the past.

[@scrapplepig]

"I thought PA thought they were cool " Well all I have to say to you is, "Second and goal"

[@SeahawksFTW2014]

@@scrapplepig one of my all-time fav Hawks memes is Pete Carroll in a Starbucks drive thru asking if he should hand over the latte or step back 3 feet and throw it in 😂

[@scoutbs2251]

@@SeahawksFTW2014 wow! you responded after 6 years!

[@SeahawksFTW2014]

@@scoutbs2251 I figured a response was deserved since I was kind of a douche 6 years ago 😆

[@scoutbs2251]

@@SeahawksFTW2014 oh lol

[@davidknows3320]

A friend and I rode 500 miles and back last weekend just to see this. I was in no way disappointed

[@sebenste]

@Lisa Gensheimer: thank you so much for making this video! It's a wonderful story with a very sad ending. When the bridge came town, it must have been crazy for you to hear of it, and scramble to get your crew out there to cover this. It reminds me that 40 years of "deferred maintenance" = neglect. And we neglected a portion of our engineering history. Such a shame. Anyway, thank you for responding to us!

[@davew4377]

I love this place... I haven't here in a while.. But I definitely crossed this bridge on foot and we used to hike down the hill and back up the otherside

[@campingwithhuskies]

Great informative video. Especially interesting for those of us who live in Phoenixville.

[@InnocentPotato-pd7wi]

Phoenixville is close to Valley Forge ! My uncle ,a Pearl Harbor Survivor member ,lived in Phoenix ville. He hosted a summer picnic for members of Pearl Harbor Association/ Philadelphia chapter in the early 1960s. I was fortunate to be able to meet many of those Survivors as a child.

[@DblIre]

I went there 2 months ago with my family, including my 92 year old MIL. We all thought it was great 👍👍 The day before, my SIL and grandson took the trail to the bottom. The view across and down the valley is spectacular.

[@tylerbell6796]

Thomas Kayne! What a legend!

[@mtnvortex]

I spent many days traveling west on Route 6, from my home in NEPA towards the area around the Kinzua Dam and Allegheny Forest. I'll never forget the first time I laid eyes on the bridge, and my amazement when learning how fast it went up. I took many others out there to see it, and I was heartbroken upon hearing the news of the collapse. I clearly recall feeling a great sense of loss over that dumb old bridge. It was a loss though, as silly as that may seem to some. I'm grateful that I was able to see it in all its glory while it was still standing. It really was an amazing sight.

[@mychannel6718]

Love visiting Kinzua bridge. The trails below are pretty cool as well. You can get pretty close to all of the steel that fell over down below.

[@derreckanders1743]

The Steam Engine was stationed in my town of Marienville. I thought I knew most of the history behind it but this video proved me wrong. I remember coming home with my little ones and went to take them on the train ride. I was so disappointed when I found out the Tornado had taken the bridge out. I have not been back for many years and now I look foreward to the skywalk.

[@vettebecker1]

Always wanted to visit this in person, a true marvel of engineering. I hate that it was destroyed by tornado, would have loved to had seen it intact. It’s a shame she can’t be rebuilt, even better than it was.

[@lesterxxx7642]

they moved the train route, moved east. still runs about 10am up 2pm back down

[@timbober1]

I live in Minnesota and never heard of the Kinzua viaduct. Thank you for sharing the story. 😊

[@AJKPenguin]

Fortunately the bridge is preserved as a lookout. May God keep it as such until the last day.

[@markm.j.lewandowskijr1171]

From 1991 to 2020 my family owned property around Olean New York. We visited kinzua in June of 2003 then we heard about the tornado and came back about a few weeks after the tornado to check on our property. No damage but we revisited the bridge and someday I got to find the photos that we took before and after the tornado. The park had brand new park benches that later looked like gorillas twisted it up like tin. Gazebos look like they were thrown around like toys and the trees looked like twisted sticks and twigs. Today we still visit the beautiful SKYWALK.

[@AJKPenguin]

Giant microburst happened in Oil City that day of the tornado. I was in Pittsburgh and the weather was a light show.

[@capriracer351]

The roof blew off the shop I work at that day in Oil City. They walls of that all steel and brick shop started to pinch in, then released suddenly as the microburst went through. Then the roof blew off. Was not a fun day.

[@KathyTinker-u7x]

I live in Seneca Pa I remember

[@renatewoerner3298]

Ya some real hard working men there!

[@StanleySorenson-o6z]

I don’t remember how old I was the first time I went over the bridge. On a visit back home to Warren Pa, the family and wife’s mother took the train to the bridge when our boys were 8 and 6.

[@Farkus339]

Been there many times. Walked across before it fell. My brother got drunk and drove his mustang convertible across it in the middle of the night once in the early 90s.

[@sly123size]

I hope that The kinzua bridge gets a rebuild someday

[@eatingplaydoh]

Elmira Bridge Works really made the steel?

[@Pupdegraff18]

I went here today.... I live a mere 30 miles from this.

[@clarkgeek]

Went there about 8 months ago. Was interesting to see the steel towers bent and laying on the ground. They built a walk way with the remaining track which allows for some great views of the valley. They have a glass floor at the end of the walkway.. Someone does plane rides over the valley also. We saw the same biplane fly over the bridge 3 times in the 1.5 hours we were at the park.

[@mrbumblehill4596]

Rode the train across it years ago. Made me sad when I saw that a tornado hit it, what are the chances? Train stopped on the other side after it went through a teardrop shaped turn around.. They let passengers who dared walk out on the bridge. It was an awesome view, thanks for the video.

[@robertforrester578]

Good work.

[@AJKPenguin]

If I'm thinking right, this video was uploaded 6 years to the day the tornado collapsed the bridge.

[@monmixer]

There all over rural USA, not just the big cities. WE have so many freestanding sand stone bridges in southeast Ohio and Western PA. The arches hold themselves up. It's so amazing and they are so much older than me and I'm 66. Young people today are for the most part not motivated for labor. That creates a huge problem if they have no education.

[@scottweisel3640]

It’s hard to believe that it was considered economically viable, as the current road snakes around more than the 8 miles the bridge was suppose to cut off. I guess the grades associated with the alternate road coupled with the power of the locomotives at the time must have tipped the scales in favor of the bridge.

[@DreamMonster7X]

The 1882 Glasgow forth rail bridge was a wonder of its time. P.S. It's still in use to this day.

[@yz250a]

Y'know, you can build bridges your whole life, and no one will call you a bridge builder, but....

[@ericklee780]

i live right beside the bridge

[@AJKPenguin]

Mount Jewett? : )

[@InnocentPotato-pd7wi]

Geeman - Swiss American here! I figured that a German helped to build that bridge! There are lots of people with German ancestry in Pennsylvania! Good German engineering ! 🤔😉😉😉🇩🇪 🇨🇭 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@scrapplepig]

Imagine the excitement living in those days with all the new inventions, and people building these great structures that at the time would seem impossible. You would be so proud of your country. ps I know there was a lot of poverty and racism, it get it.

[@Mark-uq9km]

Someone called Scrapplepig has to be from PA. Habbersett is the best.

[@scrapplepig]

@@Mark-uq9km You got that, outside of Philly.

[@Mark-uq9km]

@@scrapplepig Awesome. Living in Florida, now, but still miss PA. We have good friends in Phoenixville who send us Habersett. Went to Kinzua in 2017. Incredible history. Stay healthy.

[@scrapplepig]

@@Mark-uq9km I live in Chester Springs about 2 miles from Phoenixville.. I got my name from my pig named Scrapple, Scrapplepig. But I also like scrapple and Habersett is the best.

[@kevinmccafferty7259]

I live in Phoenixville, it is rising from the steel mill ashes 🤜🇺🇸🤛

[@michaelgrimes5588]

Damn 94 days without modern equipment...today it would take 6 years and cost 240 million

[@OccupyBlackMedia]

you believe that??? 9o days without modern equipment?? what did they use??

[@PumkinPeanut]

@@OccupyBlackMedia He was referring to the fact the construction workers were using construction equipment of their time (1880s) and not construction equipment of our time (2020s) and it would still be an impressive feat to complete something of this magnitude that quickly even with today's modern equipment, let alone using what they had available at the time. I can't get over the one photo of the workers halfway up the beams just sitting casually for the photo (no lifelines or safety harness/rope) and the one guy who appears to be dangling in mid air (couldn't even see his rope)

[@NJDEVILz86]

There's a few in N PA starucca,tunkanock (sp). Still operating Seems all the old RRs are still in good shape just unused Vestal NY rebuilt from wood to iron and rivets including piers

[@rc6614]

To say it was a failure because of those bolts is wrong. The bridge was designed to last 100 years. It lasted longer than that. It was a complete success.

[@beboboymann3823]

Linda Devlin is very good on the eyes.

[@jhonwask]

I was there in 2000. A friend and I walked across it and back. It was truly an engineering feat. What an amazing view. Sad it was destroyed. Why can't they just rebuild it?

[@NJDEVILz86]

It would cost a fortune now. USA only has 1 working iron plant that i know of...

[@garryperrin2408]

Tall tales.? 94 days, canon heard 800 miles

[@michaelhudecek2778]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@VanaConn]

Should be rebuilt. We give billions of our tax dollars to other countries for nothing that helps us yet we can’t fund a historic landmark

[@Xsiondu]

I don't disagree that we waste our money but what good would rebuilding that bridge do? Just to do it? We should fix our actual infrastructure.

[@VanaConn]

@@Xsiondu "Adgenda 21" is what is really what the current administration cares about. google it.

[@alex_hamilton_is_my_homeboy]

@@Xsiondunah cuh slap dat shiii up there iono nuffin about no inferstructure

[@LilSeason_In_Tartaria]

@@Xsiondu 500 men today couldn’t build that in a year. P R O P O G A N D A.

[@suscon1140]

The money we give to others does actually help us - it is the primary reason we often get the support we do on the worldwide stage. Whether or not it is always good for the world is another story....

[@willaley8944]

I got married here in 2020 . Its one of my favorite spots

[@cmphighpower]

Walked across it

[@LycoValleyRRFan]

@railstoruin God not another dang rail trail.

[@brianhanley1903]

Been acrossed full btidge in 80s, son and I crossed, wife and daughter no, was a experiance whats left not the same but all we got.

[@mikemaj8467]

Typical that not only was it not repaired after the tornado, even after 20 years has never been cleaned up. Man is convinced he owns the earth.

[@InnocentPotato-pd7wi]

German, LOL! I definitely need a second cup of coffee! 😂

[@chriseames9063]

What about the ' COLLARS '!?

[@ithacacomments4811]

Iron vs steel equalled the failure.

[@markjohnson2230]

Hhchristmas in Bradford pa

[@markjohnson2230]

Christmas in Bradford pa

[@futureshock7425]

Designer didn’t factor in uplift

[@MarcelRayDuriez]

I wanna make a statement here, here its only 92 meters from med point of the last post shown- number 8 so doing the math on it I would get it would be 600 feet and that is now the sky walk they made it into- so with that said this thing have 20 x 200 and 20 x 50 foot spans would make 2, 050 feet long really I have in feet high- 2,869 feet is what I got with the largest post. Making this the large railroad viaduct in the word... that I no of...

[@LilSeason_In_Tartaria]

“The remnants of bomb smoke” Ya I bet, and of course they had to give a nod to the Smithsonian. What a joke.

[@donnybatchelder3512]

Are you kidding me supposedly we came from monkeys and I’m really upset that my cousins are caged up at the zoo. How could men with horse and wagon do this with no technology supposedly blacksmith beating still with a hammer and why are trains tracks is always level no matter what They don’t not go uphill or downhill even though the story of the engine that could they give us at a young age we are never told train tracks are always level through mountains they cut holes where there is no mountains. They build bridges wake up and start looking and questioning what mainstream and the schools have taught us question everything Because the lies are served up on a serves platter and they’d like to hide the truth, start looking into what you were taught and shown daily

[@donnybatchelder3512]

Are you kidding me supposedly we came from monkeys and I’m really upset that my cousins are caged up at the zoo. How could men with horse and wagon with no technology supposedly do this

[@JAKEGrubbie]

This was a chance wasted!! This should have been a National Monument Park a gateway to the Allegany National Forest a testament to the coal and railroads of PA!! A park where you could camp, cabin, excursion Train, etc. This could have been the most popular national park to visit proven by visitors from other countries. Dmn diphits couldnt figure this one out!!

[@DavidLamb-zm2gb]

P.B.S. sucks.

[@SierraRailway]

Did the narrator really just pronounce Chateaugay as "shat ah gwa"? The cringe is real.......

[@Howiesgirl]

No. They were saying Chautauqua. As in Lake Chautauqua. Which IS pronounced exactly right in the video. I know your comment was years ago, but I couldn't let your incorrect assumption pass. Don't want you thinking we're a bunch of idiots here in PA. 😊

[@hawaiiguykailua6928]

Jeez with these stupid narratives. Nobodies buying the his-story bs narratives anymore.

[@laterdudesaint]

amazing how you can make shit sound like shinola..

[@StargazerFromBC]

that story has more holes than a horse trader's mule