Phantom bridge over south street..?

So the bridge is still hanging there, for what reason? I imagine it must require some periodic inspection & maintenance so it doesn't collapse on a Coast Line local one day. Has there ever been plans to dismantle it?

I think it's fairly common practice to leave unused bridges in place until they become a problem for someone.

I have seen stuff stored both on it and on the old south st brick platform remnant. It looks like its in pretty good shape for .. 78 years old.

25Hz wrote:South street was a legacy station from before the 1930's nwk structure was built. Back then the focus was the nearby new york terminal at exchange place.

Then why was it still in use during the 1960s?

PARailWiz wrote:

So the bridge is still hanging there, for what reason? I imagine it must require some periodic inspection & maintenance so it doesn't collapse on a Coast Line local one day. Has there ever been plans to dismantle it?

I think it's fairly common practice to leave unused bridges in place until they become a problem for someone.

If we're going by the traditional definition of "bridge", a structure spanning and providing passage over something, then I would agree



The structure is certainly there, but I'm missing the part about passage, unless there are plans I'm unaware of to rebuild the missing pieces?

amtrakowitz wrote:

25Hz wrote:South street was a legacy station from before the 1930's nwk structure was built. Back then the focus was the nearby new york terminal at exchange place.

Then why was it still in use during the 1960s?

By the end, only a few trains a day stopped there. A good guess would be that the litigation involved in closing it completely would have exceeded any savings. Certainly the "amenities" provided there were minimal.

This topic is wandering.

The abandoned bridge over South Street led to a small freight yard; it won't fall onto a Coast Line train.
The view of the abandoned CNJ bridge at the south end of Newark station is stunning but that's not the subject bridge.

As for South Street Newark station, a quick check of commuter timetables hints that the last trains (2 inbound and 1 outbound) stopped there in 1975. The Jan. 2, 1976, timetable shows the station but no trains stopping. In the Feb. 17, 1976, timetable the station is gone.

Legacy station from before 1935", not "a station that was used up till 1935".

Anyways. From the train window it looks fine, but that isn't even a proper visual inspection. The location makes for easy upkeep and the span is fairly short, and more importantly it no longer sees trains over it. Any bridge built for trains that no longer have trains becomes an overbuilt sky bridge.

25Hz wrote:Crazy how many yards and sidings used to exist off the NEC.

You have to realize when they were built. Trucks, large and small, were not always as plentiful as they are nowadays. Before the teens (1913-1919), horse-drawn wagons were the norm. All goods were shipped by rail. Lots of team tracks and private sidings everywhere.