Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX "Floating Bridge" in Upstate New York.

Interesting bridge near Savannah New York on ex New York Central Water Level Route, just discovered it on a Youtube video. How old is this "floating bridge" and why is it called that

Posted from iPhone

Link to the video?

Search for “CSX floating bridge” on that video sharing website. Video mistakenly call it a trestle when it is clearly a multiple span steel deck girder bridge but that might just be the civil engineer in me talking!
I don’t see anything obvious reason why it is referred to as “floating” but maybe there is a bad bearing that needs replaced. The bearings connect the girders and the piers and abutments.

Posted from iPhone

99 spans with a track speed of 40 and the bridge piers just sit in muck. Conrail wanted to replace the bridge years ago but could not find bed rock for new pilings so refurbished the bridge. When Penn Central laid the first welded rail on the bridge the rail gang was frustrated trying to line up the rail as the bridge keeps moving so slightly they just spiked it down. It traverses the Montezuma Wetlands and it is a major stop over for bird migration.. Here is a photo from July 13, 1974 with a Penn Central eastbound crossing the bridge and the abanonded two north track bridge. The bridge further east goes over the Seneca River and the New York State Barge Canal.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/23 06:14 by PCCRNSEngr.

---

Not sure if this explains the "floating bridge" label, but for what its worth, that area of New York is notorious for waterlogged, goopy clay soils. So in a sense, those bridge piers may be effectively "floating". 

Not attempting a hijacking of the thread, but... I believe this is the same situation experienced during the construction of the west side of the old  Tappan Zee Bridge (Rockland County side.)

PCCRNSEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 99 spans with a track speed of 40 and the bridge
> piers just sit in muck. Conrail wanted to replace
> the bridge years ago but could not find bed rock
> for new pilings so refurbished the bridge. When
> Penn Central laid the first welded rail on the
> bridge the rail gang was frustrated trying to line
> up the rail as the bridge keeps moving so slightly
> they just spiked it down. It traverses the
> Montezuma Wetlands and it is a major stop over for
> bird migration.. Here is a photo from July 13,
> 1974 with a Penn Central eastbound crossing the
> bridge and the abanonded two north track bridge.
> The bridge further east goes over the Seneca River
> and the New York State Barge Canal.

Video I saw shows train seemingly going faster than 40, although the cam was placed very close to the bridge and may have made it seem faster

Posted from iPhone

The "floating" part is a reference to the fact that the bridge there is not anchored to bedrock.

I see the word "trestle" misapplied to all types of multi-span bridges all the time here and elsewhere.

 

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The "floating" part is a reference to the fact
> that the bridge there is not anchored to bedrock.
>
> I see the word "trestle" misapplied to all types
> of multi-span bridges all the time here and
> elsewhere.

Did train crews get the floating sensation when on a train crossing the bridge?

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The "floating" part is a reference to the fact
> that the bridge there is not anchored to bedrock.

Lots of bridges have foundations that do not extend to bedrock. But after reading the previous posts, I can see why “floating” is appropriate for this bridge.

> I see the word "trestle" misapplied to all types
> of multi-span bridges all the time here and
> elsewhere.
>
I know, it’s like whole the “cement truck” vs. “ concrete truck” thing! 😀

Posted from iPhone

The Monon had a "floating" wooden trestle over a botomless bog on the south end of Cedar Lake IN.  Supposedly the friction of the mud against the pilings kept them more or less in place.  One of the few major capital improvements John Barriger was able to bring to the Monon was to bypass the bog and build a new ROW around the lake, where CSX still runs today. 

Bedrock in New Orleans is as much as 14,000 feet down. No, that's not a typo. Friction pile foundations work quite well.