A Brief History of the Rockville Bridge

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania is home to almost 289,000 people, spread across 45 cities. These citizens enjoy a number of historical buildings and sites – a 19th century Victorian home, a stunning cathedral, a Civil War Memorial Obelisk. But there are few locations that capture the attention of rail fans and engineering fans quite like the Rockville Bridge.

The bridge, with its iconic stone arches that look like they jumped out of the pages of a history book, extends 3,820 foot long and 52 feet wide, making it the longest bridge of its type – a stone masonry arch railroad viaduct. It has 48 spans (archways), each 70 feet long, and gives 43 feet of clearance from the bottom of the Susquehanna River it crosses.

This bridge, while old and impressive, was not the first on the site. The original one opened on September 1, 1849, and was a one-track wooden truss bridge. It worked well for the Northern Central Railway at first, but it soon was clear that a stronger bridge would be required for the traffic the crossed it – so, in 1877, it was replaced with a double-track iron truss bridge.

Even this, however, proved to not be enough. In April 1900, construction started on the third and current iteration, completing almost two years later in March 1902.

Alexander J. Cassatt, the president of the PRR at the time, hired William H. Brown as Chief Engineer to design and built this and one or two other bridges. The design required approximately 150,000 cubic yards of concrete and 220,000 tons of stone, leading to a strong, lasting bridge. PRR contracted out two Philadelphia companies to lay the groundwork on the banks – Drake & Stratton on the eastern Rockville side, and H.S Kerbaugh on the western Marysville side. Shallow water allowed for quick construction of the bridge itself, though it may have been a poor location choice, due to sharp turns that risk derailing on both banks and the distance between the banks. This was, however, a necessity, as the stonework had to be completed during one construction season, or the falsework risked not surviving. The famous sandstone façade, arguably what brings so much beauty to the bridge, employed up to 300 people, including and especially Italian immigrants.

The bridge hasn’t gone without its controversy, though it hasn’t gone through as much as one would expect. During both World Wars, it was a known military target. Armed guards had to stand at both banks. In 1997, age and unpredictable Pennsylvania winters caught up with it, and some stones were misaligned. A train derailed and literal tons of bridge pieces and four rail cars, filled with coal and weighing 100 tons each, fell into the water. This caused $100 million worth of repairs and cleanup.

Despite that, the bridge is known for its resiliency and reliability. It survived tropical storm Agnes in 1972, which washed away a smaller bridge only thirty miles downstream.

Before the PRR merger of 1968, when control was transferred to Penn Central, The Broadway Limited, a passenger train, frequented the bridge in its travel between New York City and Chicago. American businessmen traveled the nearly 1,900 mile round trip regularly, and in order to attract them and compete with other trains, they decked it out. In addition to sleeper cars, various amenities adorned the cars. Barber shops, dining and smoking rooms, writing rooms with fancy bookshelves and desks. The sleeper cars themselves put modern sleepers to shame. In Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broadway Limited, Joe Welsh describes a high-class beauty - “Within it are comfortable sofa seats with arm rests, lights for reading, controls for heating and air conditioning, a fan, wardrobe, shoe locker, luggage rack, and mirror. In one corner is a toilet disguised as a seat with a portable wash basin. At night a pre-made bed can be pulled down from the wall.”

This isn’t to say that The Broadway Limited was the only train that graced the Rockville Bridge’s rails. Cargo trains and coal trains cross the bridge regularly. Today, Amtrak and Norfolk Southern utilize it.

When the bridge was built, it was touted as being “built to last forever.” Now a historical monument, that statement holds true. Beauty, knowledge, and function – the Rockville Bridge has earned its place in the hearts of people all over America.

Citations:

https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/rockville-bridge-built-last-forever

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockville_Bridge