Eastern Railroad Discussion > Bens Bridge Selkirk

Demolition equipment is arriving on scene at Bens Bridge at the CSX Selkirk yard in NY this morning.
Bens Bridge is the bridge that crosses over the middle of Selkirk Yard and provided railfans with nice vantagepoints of the Selkirk Engine facility along with hump and yard action.

The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic several years ago but remained accessable to pedestrians and cyclists until now.

The bridge will be torn down and not replaced...CSX will be expanding trackage in that area once the bridge is gone....Dave W.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/15 06:50 by dwi189.

The same thing happened to the bridge over Gang Mills yard near Corning a few years ago!!
BUMMER!!

I don't understand how the local fire departments are taking this sitting down. The yard is enormous, and now lacks any emergency access across, what, maybe 4 or 5 miles from rte 396 to rte 32?  That's a long ride when somebody's house is on fire.  Or if there's a first response need in the yard itself. 

I was reading some info on the net which stated that when the bridge was closed several years ago, the local legislature had intended to allocate funds for a new bridge...and then nothing else was done about it....the project never moved forward.

Now, CSX is apparently planning on expanding yard trackage in the vicinity of the bridge and the bridge has,been a hindrance to those plans....
Supposedly the approach ramps to the bridge will be removed as well.

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If you take away the south side approach to the bridge, several acres of land open up.  i wonder if there are plans to expand the crude oil corral?

They had paint markings on the ground in the yard.near the South abutment when I was up there a few weeks ago....The approaches and abutments are supposed to be removed so trackage may expand a bit further toward the South...Dave W

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March_hare, the bridge has been closed for quite a few years now.  And while I don't live local I have never heard of any locals really working toward getting the bridge reopened or fighting the removal.

From recent photos I have seen, CSX has already graded for new track behind their office building.  This will be continued to the east right through the existing location of the bridge approach and abutment.

i hate to see it go as it was a good vantage point for photos but at least it is being removed so the yard can be expanded.

cv the civil e in NJ.

That's (was) a great place to observe yard operations.