Rockville PA bridge

K

KenRuof

Active member
I have seen videos of the Pennsy Rockville bridge but I am unable to find the asset or one like it. Does anyone know where it can be found?
 
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I placed two double tracked high walled UK stone arch splines together, and floated the track up to the top of the wall, added a zinc railing ... Instant Rockville bridge.
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?38433-PRR-Screenshots&p=417718#post417718

There were 3 Rockville bridges, from the Civil War onward, one wooden one burnt down (the stone piers are still there upriver)

During the canal era, there was a water filled raised viaduct, that hauled canal boats over top of the Susquehanna river, on towards the mouth of the Juniata River at Duncannon
 
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Nice idea cascade... I tried it and work OK although now I have 8 objects instead of 1 to do what I wanted. Ben I may take you up on the bride offer since I know you love making them :)
 
Printed this and one other photo out.

Questions:
1. How far above the water are the tracks? I make it close to 100 feet.
2. How wide is it and how many tracks? Looks like 4.
3. What center to center track spacing do you want?
4. Do you have a photo showing with end?
5. Where located, when built?
I'll make this as a spline since other folks might like it in shorter versions (and a few crazy ones might like it even longer, lol).

One item ahead of you so won't be long.

Ben
 
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http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSitZoXNmXaS6B7SOknpOCxfI2rl9v92rFVaG1fvv1Lp3-pywVJGA
http://www.billspennsyphotos.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=75947788
http://www.billspennsyphotos.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=99807070
http://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/fileSe...067/imageType/LARGE/inlineImage/true/DSC_0093 (640x426).jpg
http://www.marysvilleboro.com/publishingimages/bridge_kerr_2948_s.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45521998@N00/5449349060/
The bridge was not a simple straight span, as it had wide wye areas on both sides of the river
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tmckenna/6903912934/


I think it looks like @ 80' higher than the water (but if you made it higher, someone else could height adjust the model.

I believe it was originally 4 tracked, at an @ 3m spacing (PRR Spacing was 13')

The problem with making it tracked at all, is because it had a interlocking plant right on the span, and it is downgraded to 3 tracks, now is 2 tracked, due to collapsing stonework, and it now has many steel reinforcement straps, and through bolts.

If you made it tracked, that would lock out the 4 tracked modelers who want the old time trackage.

So it would have to be 3 separate versions.

The Zinc Railing I used from Trainz, was 2 pipes @ 2 1/2 inch diameter, and was most probably very rusty pipes

There is a pipeline and cabling running the length of the bridge, on both sides

Carries 2 rail lines for Norfolk Southern Railway and Amtrak Keystone Corridor
Crosses Susquehanna River
Locale Just south of Marysville, Pennsylvania
Maintained by Norfolk Southern Railway
Dark Granite Stone Block masonry arch bridge
Total length 3,820 feet (1,164 m)
Width 52 feet (16 m)
Longest span 70 feet (21 m)
(48 equal spans)
Clearance below 43 feet (13 m) bottom of arch, to avg. level of rock bottom
Opened March 30, 1902
 
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bendorsey said:
Printed this and one other photo out.

Questions:
1. How far above the water are the tracks? I make it close to 100 feet.
2. How wide is it and how many tracks? Looks like 4.
3. What center to center track spacing do you want?
4. Do you have a photo showing with end?
5. Where located, when built?
I'll make this as a spline since other folks might like it in shorter versions (and a few crazy ones might like it even longer, lol).

One item ahead of you so won't be long.

Ben
Click to expand...

I would like the bridge close to as built but with the railing

1) Here are measurements taken from Surveyor Track at ground level = 106.70m river bottom 93.60m a difference
of 13.1m. According to the wiki it is 43 feet from top to river bottom which is exactly what I got from my
DEM measurements (13m = 43')
2) I would like 4 tracks that are replaceable.
3) Tracks centers are the standard Pennsy practice of 13'.
4) Would have to search as I have none personally.
5) Located in Rockville PA 5 miles north of Harrisburg and built in 1902.

Railing, it was not built with one and I would have to find out when it was installed.

Spline sounds good as Pennsy had other stone arch bridges like this but shorter and possibly taller (Philadelphia comes to mind).

PS: Nice pic cascade
 
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Hi Cascade:

Printed out your info.

Comments:
1. Pipe can be added.
2. I will make the piers (the part in the water) taller then needed so folks can adjust height as desired.
3. If I make it with 4 tracks couldn't the unwanted tracks be deleted by deleting values in the trackoffsets line in the config file? I've never tried this but I see no reason why it wouldn't work (and it only takes a few minutes to test it, lol). Plus if you change you mind they could be put back.
4. One of your links to photos shows switches on the span. That can not be done either as a spline or non-spline. If you want the switches then I can't place any track on the spline - downloaders would have to do that themselves.

Neat bridge.

Ben
 
Hi Cascade:

Printed out your info.

Comments:
1. Pipe can be added.
2. I will make the piers (the part in the water) taller then needed so folks can adjust height as desired.
3. If I make it with 4 tracks couldn't the unwanted tracks be deleted by deleting values in the trackoffsets line in the config file? I've never tried this but I see no reason why it wouldn't work (and it only takes a few minutes to test it, lol). Plus if you change you mind they could be put back.
4. One of your links to photos shows switches on the span. That can not be done either as a spline or non-spline. If you want the switches then I can't place any track on the spline - downloaders would have to do that themselves.

Neat bridge.

Ben (oops - double post- sorry gents).
 
There is an interlocking plant of turnouts on the bridge that has been changed many times over the years, and "dog boned" curvitures of track on both ends of the bridge, so tracking the bridge is a bad idea
 
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Yes there are switches on the bridge as west bound freights entering Enola yard had to cross over to enter since the yard was to the south. As cascade said may be better to be trackless which is not a problem.
 
A point of note about PRR track spacing;

Though 13 foot (3 meter) sounds correct, there are a bunch of PRR assets already on the DLS that use what I believe to be a 4 meter spacing, such as a track guide and overhead catanary wires.
-You might want to double check those assets, and build this to be compatible with them.

Just a thought.

Another, lesser know PRR stone viaduct I'd like to see done is the one in Coatesville, PA, where the PRR crossed over the Reading and the West Branch of the Brandywine river/creek. It is similar, in that it was standard PRR Brownstone construction, 4 tack ROW, with overhead wires, but differs in that it has a slight curve to it.

Small article on Wikipedia about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bridge_(Coatesville,_Pennsylvania)
 
There are 2 roads that go through a single arch, on both ends of the bridge

The real interesting part are the subway tunnels that rail lines used on the Enola/Marysville side, to cross under the wye.

Marysville yard was at one time a pretty complex place (today nothing exists there) I have trackcharts





 
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In theory 12 foot centers and possibly less are permissible on straight track. I've never seen or heard of a traincar or loco that was wider then 11 feet. Wider spacing on curves of course.

Ben
 
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