NEB&W Guide to the Troy-Green Island, NY Lift BridgeLast Update: 2008-12-04
Layout Photo Gallery Table of Contents
Hudson River Bridge
- The original bridge was a wood truss
bridge, a covered bridge, which lasted
from 1832 until 1862, when it caught fire
and managed to burn down the rest of Troy, too. It
was replaced by a second wood bridge. Then
in the 1880's, it was replaced by a steel truss
bridge, with a short swing span right next to
the shore, giving about a 30 foot wide clearance
for canal barges. In 1916-'25, the swinging span
was removed and the main truss converted to a
lift span. The bridge was actually two side by side, with the railroad
tracks on the north side, and a road and
trolley tracks on the south. The
railroad side was wider.
- [Bird's eye engraving c. 1881. The bridge from Starbuck Island to Green Island is an iron or steel series of trusses, but the other section is still a covered bridge. Note the section nearest the Troy shore is the swing section.]
- [Prototype view, 1913, looking west (during the great flood of 1913).]
- [Prototype view, 1917, looking east. Those are the trolley tracks that look so squiggly.]
- [Prototype view, 1919, looking northeast.]
- [Plan of the bridge before and after.]
- [Prototype view, c. WWI, looking west. I believe they have just installed the lift towers and have started to dismantle the swing truss. (Note the cross bracing is missing from the top of the truss on the right.)]
- [Prototype view, 1925, looking south.]
- [Another view, 1925, looking south.]
- [Postcard, 1925, looking north.]
- [Another postcard, 1936, looking north from the Congress Street bridge.]
- The lift bridge dominates the
scene on the layout.
We had to condense it down to
just one span. It was scratchbuilt by Tony Steele.
- [Model view, looking south.]
- [An NEB&W freight heads north across the bridge. Model photo taken by James Lauser.]
