Eastern Railroad Discussion > Things improve with age ...

But a bridge?

Yesterday's Q409 is going under the bridge at Brooke, VA, built in 1917. I could swear that when I first went there 20 years ago the wt limit was posted as 8 tons ... then it was 10 tons ... there are new signs that say it is now a 15 ton limit ??

There are a lot of houses being built off VA630 to the right, and the only way to get there is this bridge. Overweight vehicles, like a fire truck loaded with water, must follow the railroad access road for a mile and through a locked gate (they have a rr key-or one of their locks has been added). (Actual milage for the fire truck is not that much more, since the enterance to the road is 500-1000 feet from the fire station, but you sure don't race down this road).

Evidently, neither CSX or the state claim ownership of the one-lane bridge.

Nice shot, is this near Fredericksburg, out in the country? I was staying with some friends a few years ago and remember reading in the newspaper about a bridge like that. I wonder if its the same one...

MP69, FB is 59.4, way out in country (as you can get in WDC suburbs), which is why I hang out there :-)

I know that the State DOT here in CT have started to use a different meathod of testing bridges that is suppose to be more reliable. They have increased the weight ratings on quite a few older bridges around here.

ddavies, I know what you mean by 'suburbs'. Which is why I just gave up and left :) I now live about 300m away. I remember reading about a bridge much like that one about 10 years ago in the Post. Neither the RR or the state wanted to pay to rebuild it.