June 2006

Bridge Abutment Site at Newland

A steady hand holds a quarter for scale reference on the end of a piece of rail that was used as rebar in the abutment that we visited outside Newland. The bottom of this abutment, actually it's more like a retaining wall, has very much deteriorated. The upper right of the photo shows a nice smooth-finished concrete face flanked by a crumbling, powdery interior. The entire abutment was like this, some sections falling apart while some sections looked like the day they were finished. You can see tailings from the Cranberry Mine (black rock) that were used as filler in this concrete. This piece of rail looked as if it had never been used and it was perhaps the cheapest way of adding rebar to the abutment. Any guesses as to the size (weight) of the rail? Looked like about 40-50 lb. to me.

The land around the bridge is very low and I'm sure was very swampy when the railroad was put in. The right-of-way through here is all raised with fill, and even though the river is very shallow and only about 15 feet wide at this spot, the bridge was 70 feet long. I think the river at this site was prone to flooding so they left plenty of opening for rising water. Newland had a big flood in this very area in September of 2004, with SanDee's showing a highwater mark of 5 feet inside the restaurant.