Tracks crossing Schyukill River next to Blue Route

Last night while returning to Norristown on the R6 I noted a railroad bridge next to the Blue Route Highway.
Can someone advise me which branch this was.
I know it is not the Morrisville line
Thanks

If single track sharing with motor vehicles, it's the Upper Merion & Plymouth RR.

There's a rail bridge right next to the turnpike which is part of the Trenton Cut-off, and there's one about halfway between the turnpike and blue route which is the Upper Merion and Plymouth RR. I don't know of any rail bridge right next to the blue route there.

John Pritz wrote:Last night while returning to Norristown on the R6 I noted a railroad bridge next to the Blue Route Highway.
Can someone advise me which branch this was.
I know it is not the Morrisville line
Thanks

Must be The Merion and Plymouth RR !

The Upper Merion & Plymouth (now part of the PRL system) uses that bridge (formerly part of the Reading's Plymouth Branch, I believe) to connect from the steel mill to the RDG main across the river. Switchers from the mill occasionally can be seen switching the small chem plant along Rt 23 in West Conshohocken.



vintage PBNE SW9 & slug



vintage UMP NW2

The Upper Merion & Plymouth (now part of the PRL system) uses that bridge (formerly part of the Reading's Plymouth Branch, I believe)

That's how I always understood it.

Urban D Kaye wrote:The Upper Merion & Plymouth (now part of the PRL system) uses that bridge (formerly part of the Reading's Plymouth Branch, I believe)

Disbelieve; the UM&P's bridge is not related to the Reading Company.

westernfalls wrote:

Urban D Kaye wrote:The Upper Merion & Plymouth (now part of the PRL system) uses that bridge (formerly part of the Reading's Plymouth Branch, I believe)

Disbelieve; the UM&P's bridge is not related to the Reading Company.

OK, then what is it? A post-RDG Conrail contrivance?

The Alan Wood Steel Company's "private" railroad was the UM & P. The plant was on both sides of the river. I believe the Pennsy and Reading served the east side, while only the Reading served the west side.

The UM&P served both. Hence the bridge.

Here's a topomap showing the steel mill.
http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4437 ... ayer=DRG25

AlexC wrote:The Alan Wood Steel Company's "private" railroad was the UM & P. The plant was on both sides of the river. I believe the Pennsy and Reading served the east side, while only the Reading served the west side.

The UM&P served both. Hence the bridge.

Here's a topomap showing the steel mill.
http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4437 ... ayer=DRG25

Thanks Alex. But are you saying that the UM&P or Alan Wood Steel built the bridge?

Allan Wood Steel owned the Upper Merion & Plymouth RR, so I don't know which (or a predecessor) built the bridge long before even Penn Central. UMP had at least 4 interchanges with other lines:
East side
Plymouth branch of RDG
Schuylkill Balley branch of PRR
West side
Trenton Cut-off of PRR via a long connection over River Rd. and up the hill
Old Main Line of RDG, possibly at 2 locations, both Swedeland and West Conshohocken

I grew up almost literallt under in the shadow of the Trenton cutoff bridge on River Road in Bridgeport. We sometimes used it as a fishing spot on the Schuylkill. The RR Dicks would always chase us off though.