Eastern Railroad Discussion > Rathole Bridges

I have a few questions about some bridges on NS's Rathole. I am in the process of studying various bridges to use on my model railroad. Ok, so here we go for all you NS buffs.

1. What are the stats for the Emory River bridge?? Length and height? Was the current bridge part of the rebuild program of the 60s?

2. What are the stats for the Cumberland River bridge. Length and height. Was it also part of the rebuild program? From the one picture I have, it looks really new.

3. The article I am looking at states that the New River bridge is 307' tall and was the reconstruction's centerpiece. How long is it and does anyone have any pictures of it?

Does anyone have any pics of the bridges mentioned above.

Thanks for any help!!

Go to...

www.geocities.com/Kentuckyrails

Go to the Rathole section....I do have a few shots of the Cumberland River Bridge in Ky.

Bob

JWR123 wrote:
>
>
> Does anyone have any pics of the bridges mentioned above.

Apparently, they were confiscated due to "national security."

Jeff
<a href="http://www.trainweb.org/cnotp&quot;&gt;Norfolk Southern CNO&TP Home Page</a>

Hello:

There are two pictures of the New River Bridge it the August 1963 issue of Ties. It is 1618 feet long. I have this issue on my website.

<A HREF="http://southern.railfan.net&quot;&gt;Southern Railfan</A>

click on "Ties" on the left side, and scroll down to August 1963

Hope this helps

Tom

tomd, Thanx for the link to your TIES issues. Is the picture on the front of that TIES magazine the old New River bridge or the new New River bridge? I have seen the bridge for the old alignment (that crossed directly over the community of New River, Tn.) and the approaches to either side of the center spans have been removed.

Jeez, I need to go up there this fall...

Thanx...
Jollymon

Hey, thats a good question. What was the old span like? Was the old New span as impressive as the new New span? Was it similar in construction to its replacement?

Thanks
JWR

Actually, the old New River Bridge wasn;t anything out of the ordinary for bridges built in that area at that time. As a matter of fact, it is only 75 feet or so high. I think the more interesting part of the real Rathole thru there is actually the the line north of the bridge, which used to be double track and was actually a reroute itself. You can drive up the old main and see some of the ORGINAL Cincinnati Southern bores. Actually, one has a river runing thru it now (which considering the shape of most active tunnels I have seen, they all got rivers in them). And, another interesting thing about that particular area is, the NS used to run a one or two car local on the line down to Rainbow (?) with a sw9 until the mid 90s.

I just read up today on the Rathole's major reconstruction during the early 60s. Very impressive. I never knew that such a task was taken on. Looks it was quite a project. Does anyone know what kind of cost was involved?