Help Identafying this

[scottychaos]

i checked the link it leads right to the trestle. hmmm i wanted to know what the R stood for that i seen on a trestle at frankford junvtion in Philadelphia pa.


http://s684.photobucket.com/albums/vv202/Railfaner83/?action=view&current=SAM_0149.jpg here is the link again in case i did some thing wrong the first time. Sorry about that. seems to happen to me alot.  

Much (all?) of the confusion in this thread was caused by you continually referring to this bridge as a trestle..its not a trestle..its a plate girder bridge..or just "bridge" would work fine too!
but not trestle..

people kept thinking they were seeing the wrong photo..because they were looking for a photo of a trestle, which you never posted..but you had the right photo all along, you just gave the bridge the wrong name.

this is a trestle:

http://www.donet.com/~paulrace/trains/gallery/denny_trestle.jpg

Scot

[Jim Banner]

Scot,
Now you have me wondering.  I agree that the photo you linked to is indeed a trestle.  However, I just look up several definitions of trestle and trestle bridge and what they boil down to is "a series of short bridges held up by rigid supports."  This definitely described your linked photo.  We can see 20 or more short bridges linked together on rigid wooden bents.  The one of the Kelowna trestles that I was on the year before they burned down was a series of steel girder bridges on rigid supports (I disremember if the the supports were wood, stone or steel, but they were rigid.)  Parts of the Chicago El was on a series of steel girder bridges supported on steel supports, that is, on trestles.  This has me thinking that with only one bridge visible in pcctrolley's photo, we cannot tell if it is a trestle or not.  It could well be.  Perhaps pcctrolley will let us know.  And if there is more than one of those girder bridges linked together at that spot, let me be the first to apologize for posting that the link did not lead to a photo of a trestle.

But a trussle?  No.  That sounds more like a garment worn by a herniated lady of fashion in the late 19th century.

Jim   

[Doneldon]

Geez, Jim!  I thought I was the only person who knew about trusses.

          --D

[ebtnut]

Don't give our friend PCC too much grief on this.  The guy who posted the original photo link got it wrong to begin with.  The subject is a through plate girder bridge - single span supported by cut stone abutments.  We typically refer to wooden spans with multiple bents as trestles.  The steel versions may also be referred to as trestles, but we more often refer to them as viaducts.

[pcctrolleyII]

Ok the thing in the photo is a bridge its one going from on end to the other. There isn't a series of them. Thank you all for your help on IDing the difference between the two and thank you all for not giving me to much grif. I'm still lost on what the R is for. >>;;

[Guilford Guy]

It stands for Reading. As one member pointed out the Catenary is of the reading style, and the R-E-A-D-I-N-G block letters would fit perfectly on the girder.

[pcctrolleyII]

Ok then thank you much.

[Flashwave]

I'm no expert, but "Reading" wouldn't be centered on that brifdge unless it goes another two or three panels to the left edge of the picture. And every named bridge I've seen, the name has been centered on the bridge.

[pdlethbridge]

A 10 panel bridge with a 7 letter name would be off one way or the other. 2 spaces on one end and one space on the other.

[Guilford Guy]

Yes, and seeing the extra line of rivets on the panel to the left of the R it would make sense that they would put the R in the location that they did.

[Santa Fe buff]

Seems reasonable, the Reading was around that area, but it looks like a classic PRR bridge with that old centenary post. Still, could have been Reading.

Cheers,
Joshua

[Jim Banner]

Joshua,
I must be a little slow this morning, but what is a centenary post?

Jim

[scottychaos]

Joshua,
I must be a little slow this morning, but what is a centenary post?

Jim

Its a post that is 100 years old..

(he meant "catenary" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_lines#Overhead_catenary )

Scot

[Jim Banner]

The light dawns.  The penny drops.

Thanks, Scott

Jim