Rosendale Trestle
By now, the thunderstorms that had been tailing me since Catskill Park were getting closer, so I apologize for the quality of the shot. Three shot panorama, stitched using Hugin.
The abandoned Rosendale Trestle, in Rosendale NY has an interesting history. It is a 940-foot continuous truss bridge and former railroad trestle. Originally constructed by the Wallkill Valley Railroad to continue its rail line from New Paltz NY to Kingston NY, the bridge rises 150 feet above Rondout Creek, spanning both Route 213 and the former Delaware and Hudson Canal. Construction on the trestle began in late 1870, and continued until early 1872. When it opened to rail traffic on April 6, 1872, the Rosendale trestle was the highest span bridge in the United States.
The trestle was rebuilt in 1895 by the King Bridge Company to address public concerns regarding its stability, and it has been repeatedly reinforced throughout its existence. Concern over the sturdiness of the trestle has persisted since its opening, and was a major reason Conrail closed the Wallkill Valley rail line in 1977. After the rail line's closure, Conrail sold the bridge in 1986 for one dollar to a private businessman who tried unsuccessfully to operate the trestle as a bungee jumping platform in the 1990s. A similar attempt was made the following decade. The trestle was seized by the county in 2009 for tax nonpayment, and is being renovated as a pedestrian walkway for the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.
Though the trestle was difficult to build, and viewed as weak by modern standards, it was remarkable for its time, and can be considered the "most awesome part" of the Wallkill Valley rail line. Construction on the bridge's abutments began in August 1870, but work on the superstructure did not begin until the following year due to problems with quicksand during the excavation. Sections of the superstructure were built in Paterson, New Jersey. The bridge originally had seven wrought-iron spans and two shorter wooden spans; the longer spans were each 105 feet in length. The bridge cost $250,000 to build, and followed a Post truss design.
By 1885, the bridge supports were reinforced and the track was converted from broad gauge to standard gauge. In 1888, the Wallkill Valley Railroad received a permit from the town of Rosendale to "construct and maintain abutments to support [the] trestle"
The bridge, while remaining in use, was rebuilt by the King Bridge Company between 1895 and 1896; the trestle is the only railroad bridge featured in the King Bridge Company catalogs of the 1880s and 1890s that remains standing. The renovation converted the bridge's structure from iron and wood to steel to allay public concerns about its strength. The renovation raised the bridge's piers by 8 feet and made the bridge straighter, as the original design had a curve on the southern terminus.
From the time of its reconstruction to its eventual closure, passengers continued to have concerns over the trestle. The "speed, weight, and positioning of rolling stock on the bridge" was monitored, and it was repeatedly reinforced to "carry the ever heavier loads of modern railroading". In the 1940s, steam engines carrying heavy loads over the bridge caused the catwalk on the west side of the bridge to shake. By 1975, the rail line had deteriorated to the point where federal regulations allowed only 8-mile-per-hour traffic over the trestle, though engineers were instructed to only go as fast as 5 miles per hour. The sturdiness of the bridge, specifically the stability of its piers, was a deciding factor when Conrail (then-owner of the Wallkill Valley rail line) closed the Wallkill Valley Railroad in 1977.
Ulster County foreclosed on the entire property in April 2009 after non-payment of taxes. The Wallkill Valley Land Trust and Open Space Conservancy placed a bid on the seized land and purchased the bridge and land in August 2009. The Land Trust agreed to pay all outstanding taxes before receiving full ownership and adding it to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. Ownership of the trestle will be transferred to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail Association and the town of Rosendale.
Following an engineering survey by Bergmann Associates – the same firm that inspected the Poughkeepsie Bridge prior to its conversion to a walkway – the bridge was closed to the public in June 2010 for repairs.
The surface of the walkway will be either wood or concrete. When the renovations are complete, the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail will be continuous for almost 24 miles from Gardiner to Kingston, and the trestle will be fully open to the public for the first time since the rail line closed. In February 2011, a Bergmann Associates employee used the trestle as a case study in a seminar on adaptive reuse of defunct railroad bridges. By late March 2011, the estimated cost of renovating the trestle had risen to $1.1 million, and the expected time to completion increased to two years.
A campaign to raise $500,000 for the renovation began on March 27, 2011; by June 30, about $50,000 had been raised, and a lawsuit brought by [the former owner who defaulted on taxes] over the ownership of the trestle was pending before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The former owner claims that he retains ownership of the property because only the state, and not the county, has the right to seize the trestle, which is "forever railroad under 19th century eminent domain legal doctrines – long forgotten by modern jurisprudence". The trestle has been the site of numerous picnics, barbecues, and at least one wedding.
Rosendale Trestle
By now, the thunderstorms that had been tailing me since Catskill Park were getting closer, so I apologize for the quality of the shot. Three shot panorama, stitched using Hugin.
The abandoned Rosendale Trestle, in Rosendale NY has an interesting history. It is a 940-foot continuous truss bridge and former railroad trestle. Originally constructed by the Wallkill Valley Railroad to continue its rail line from New Paltz NY to Kingston NY, the bridge rises 150 feet above Rondout Creek, spanning both Route 213 and the former Delaware and Hudson Canal. Construction on the trestle began in late 1870, and continued until early 1872. When it opened to rail traffic on April 6, 1872, the Rosendale trestle was the highest span bridge in the United States.
The trestle was rebuilt in 1895 by the King Bridge Company to address public concerns regarding its stability, and it has been repeatedly reinforced throughout its existence. Concern over the sturdiness of the trestle has persisted since its opening, and was a major reason Conrail closed the Wallkill Valley rail line in 1977. After the rail line's closure, Conrail sold the bridge in 1986 for one dollar to a private businessman who tried unsuccessfully to operate the trestle as a bungee jumping platform in the 1990s. A similar attempt was made the following decade. The trestle was seized by the county in 2009 for tax nonpayment, and is being renovated as a pedestrian walkway for the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.
Though the trestle was difficult to build, and viewed as weak by modern standards, it was remarkable for its time, and can be considered the "most awesome part" of the Wallkill Valley rail line. Construction on the bridge's abutments began in August 1870, but work on the superstructure did not begin until the following year due to problems with quicksand during the excavation. Sections of the superstructure were built in Paterson, New Jersey. The bridge originally had seven wrought-iron spans and two shorter wooden spans; the longer spans were each 105 feet in length. The bridge cost $250,000 to build, and followed a Post truss design.
By 1885, the bridge supports were reinforced and the track was converted from broad gauge to standard gauge. In 1888, the Wallkill Valley Railroad received a permit from the town of Rosendale to "construct and maintain abutments to support [the] trestle"
The bridge, while remaining in use, was rebuilt by the King Bridge Company between 1895 and 1896; the trestle is the only railroad bridge featured in the King Bridge Company catalogs of the 1880s and 1890s that remains standing. The renovation converted the bridge's structure from iron and wood to steel to allay public concerns about its strength. The renovation raised the bridge's piers by 8 feet and made the bridge straighter, as the original design had a curve on the southern terminus.
From the time of its reconstruction to its eventual closure, passengers continued to have concerns over the trestle. The "speed, weight, and positioning of rolling stock on the bridge" was monitored, and it was repeatedly reinforced to "carry the ever heavier loads of modern railroading". In the 1940s, steam engines carrying heavy loads over the bridge caused the catwalk on the west side of the bridge to shake. By 1975, the rail line had deteriorated to the point where federal regulations allowed only 8-mile-per-hour traffic over the trestle, though engineers were instructed to only go as fast as 5 miles per hour. The sturdiness of the bridge, specifically the stability of its piers, was a deciding factor when Conrail (then-owner of the Wallkill Valley rail line) closed the Wallkill Valley Railroad in 1977.
Ulster County foreclosed on the entire property in April 2009 after non-payment of taxes. The Wallkill Valley Land Trust and Open Space Conservancy placed a bid on the seized land and purchased the bridge and land in August 2009. The Land Trust agreed to pay all outstanding taxes before receiving full ownership and adding it to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. Ownership of the trestle will be transferred to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail Association and the town of Rosendale.
Following an engineering survey by Bergmann Associates – the same firm that inspected the Poughkeepsie Bridge prior to its conversion to a walkway – the bridge was closed to the public in June 2010 for repairs.
The surface of the walkway will be either wood or concrete. When the renovations are complete, the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail will be continuous for almost 24 miles from Gardiner to Kingston, and the trestle will be fully open to the public for the first time since the rail line closed. In February 2011, a Bergmann Associates employee used the trestle as a case study in a seminar on adaptive reuse of defunct railroad bridges. By late March 2011, the estimated cost of renovating the trestle had risen to $1.1 million, and the expected time to completion increased to two years.
A campaign to raise $500,000 for the renovation began on March 27, 2011; by June 30, about $50,000 had been raised, and a lawsuit brought by [the former owner who defaulted on taxes] over the ownership of the trestle was pending before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The former owner claims that he retains ownership of the property because only the state, and not the county, has the right to seize the trestle, which is "forever railroad under 19th century eminent domain legal doctrines – long forgotten by modern jurisprudence". The trestle has been the site of numerous picnics, barbecues, and at least one wedding.