05-18-2011, 08:10 PM
May 19 1966, 45 years ago, almost to the day. DY draw felt the slam of a ship that nearly took down the two eastern most spans covering four tracks. At 10pm on a foggy night the French freighter SS. Washington left port Newark and headed south down the Newark bay, the normal route to the Atlantic ocean, but came to a sudden stop when she struck then scraped along the railway bridge that has been the subject of this thread. Judging by this news paper clip,
![[Image: 20110502112600.jpg]](http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz328/gronku2/20110502112600.jpg)
She must have been moving at a good clip. That twisted steel to the right is the base of the tower that holds the machine room and counter weights at the eastern most end of the bridge. What a sound that must have been. This accident would cause the removal of the effected tower and lift span containing two of the four mains. One main was returned to temporary service with the span locked in the down position. This gave the crossing three working tracks until the removal of the bridge section reducing it down to 2 mains (the same capacity as the second bridge to cross these waters). This reduction of trackage was not a big problem due to the decline in tonnage hauled.
![[Image: 20110502112939.jpg]](http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz328/gronku2/20110502112939.jpg)
in this clip, work crews make the necessary repairs to the damaged bridge. DY was to reopen to traffic 12 days latter. The CNJ was to be reimbursed for the damages and cost of repairs, but instead never rebuilt the bridge and diverted the funds to other arias on the ailing system. So the once proud DY draw, largest bridge of it's type in the world, stood battle scared till the end of it's days.
She must have been moving at a good clip. That twisted steel to the right is the base of the tower that holds the machine room and counter weights at the eastern most end of the bridge. What a sound that must have been. This accident would cause the removal of the effected tower and lift span containing two of the four mains. One main was returned to temporary service with the span locked in the down position. This gave the crossing three working tracks until the removal of the bridge section reducing it down to 2 mains (the same capacity as the second bridge to cross these waters). This reduction of trackage was not a big problem due to the decline in tonnage hauled.
in this clip, work crews make the necessary repairs to the damaged bridge. DY was to reopen to traffic 12 days latter. The CNJ was to be reimbursed for the damages and cost of repairs, but instead never rebuilt the bridge and diverted the funds to other arias on the ailing system. So the once proud DY draw, largest bridge of it's type in the world, stood battle scared till the end of it's days.
My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew