LIRR Trestles, Bridges, and Viaducts 

Hell Gate Bridge Under Construction Archive: Detroit Publishing Company Collection, Library of Congress
Completed construction September 30th, 1916

Hell Gate Bridge view SE 1968 (Boucher-Library of Congress)

Ward's Island - Hell Gate c.1880s

NYCRR Hell Gate Bridge - Dutch Farmhouse and Yard Astoria, NY 
View NW 3/23/1933 (Sperr-Keller)

The bridge is known as the Hell Gate Bridge because it spans the section of the East River known as the Hell Gate. This particular section of river has no demonic connection, nor does it lead to any section of hell; it just separates Randall-Ward Islands from Queens. The water was named in 1614 by Adriaen Block, captain of the Onrust sailing south from Albany; Hellegat, in Old Dutch, translates apparently to 'beautiful strait'**. (Please remember that the Dutch named many of the peculiar features of this town: their word for "river" came into English as "Kill". Thus: Bronx Kill, Arthur Kill (Staten Island, etc.)

Plans for a rail bridge connecting Long Island to the American mainland were long in coming. The previous methods of getting trains through the area either involved ferrying the trains down the Hudson from the Bronx to Jersey City, or a long and costly detour through Westchester into New Jersey. Oliver W. Barnes, an engineer and friend of Pennsylvania Railroad president Alexander J. Cassatt, first drew up plans for the East River Arch Bridge in 1892. This bridge was to be part of a whole series of connections joining the Pennsylvania Railroad New Jersey and Connecticut through New York City. Bridge designer Gustav Lindenthal saw in these plans the possible realization of his dream to build a huge suspension bridge over the Hudson River. The New York Connecting Railroad company was formed that year to bring these ideas to reality.

The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the New York Connecting Railroad sometime around 1904, and that year appointed Lindenthal as consulting engineer for the entire project. He had made a name for himself in New York with his work (some still ongoing) on three other East River bridges; this new project would ask him to join the tracks of three separate rail companies on three separate land masses. Unfortunately for Lindenthal, the plans favored rail tunnels under the Hudson rather than the bridge he dearly wanted; he was, however, given a bridge to design over the Hell Gate.

The bridge project would actually be constructed of three smaller bridges joining north Queens to the south Bronx. The first, crossing the Bronx Kills ¹, was originally planned as a bascule bridge in case the Kills ever became navigable, ended up as a 350' long truss bridge. The second, crossing the now-filled Little Hell Gate ² between Randall's and Ward's Islands, would be four reverse-arch bridges of 300'. And finally, there would be the main span, crossing the Hell Gate itself to land in Queens. All of these bridges would be connected by several thousand feet of viaducts; the full project would be more than three miles long. The bridge would also carry an unprecedented four lines of rail traffic.

Designing the bridge was difficult. The final steel-arch design was chosen because of the limiting factors inherent in the project's design. It would have to be strong enough to bear the weight of several locomotives crossing at once, with the ability to bear the locomotives of the future; it would have to rise high enough over the East River to allow ships to pass underneath; and its approach would have to handle the sharp curve required to avoid the mental hospitals on Ward's Island. And, of course, it would have to be cheap.

Lindenthal hired 95 engineers to work on the technical details of the bridge's construction, freeing himself to work on the aesthetics. Not only, he reasoned, should the bridge look impressive in order to accentuate the importance of this rail link, but it would be seen by all the passengers on these trains and also visible from all over the city. Otharr Ammann, his assistant chief engineer, felt that [a] great bridge in a great city, although primarily utilitarian in its purpose, should nevertheless be a work of art to which science lends its aid. An elaborate stress sheet, worked out on a purely economic and scientific basis, does not make a great bridge. It is only with a broad sense for beauty and harmony, coupled with wide experience in the scientific and technical field, that a monumental bridge can be created.

Two designs for the arch were brought forward in 1905. The first design, inspired by a bridge built by Gustave Eiffel in France, was rejected due to its apparent weakness. The second, approved, design, was similar to that of bridges that spanned the Rhine in Germany, and appeared more sturdy than the former. The bridge was to consist of a great steel arch, flanked on either side by two tremendous stone towers.

Construction was started on the project in 1912. Lindenthal was forced to changed some plans in 1914. The original design called for the viaduct to be supported by steel piers and girders, but the local government felt that the inmates of the island's mental hospitals could climb the steel girders and escape. This, along with the knowledge it would quiet the sounds of the rails, changed the makeup of the piers from steel to concrete.

The arch had to be constructed simultaneously from both sides with no falsework in between. The Hell Gate itself was still being used for shipping, and its waters were far too treacherous to build any support in the middle. The arches would be supported from behind, anchored in boxes filled with 850 tons of pig iron, until the two halves were joined; this happened in 1915, making it the longest steel arch bridge in the world.

The bridge project was completed in 1916, and supposedly opened to rail traffic on September 30th of that year. Most other sources point to the Opening Day ceremonies being held on April 1, 1917, with the first train (part of the Federal Express service, running from Boston to Washington) crossing the bridge two days later, and completing the link started in 1904 with the building of the Pennsylvania tunnels under the Hudson River and furthered with the 1910 opening of the East River rail tunnels.

The bridge underwent very few changes in the rest of its history. Lindenthal suggested that a second deck be added to carry cars and pedestrians and join the bridge to Manhattan, but this was overruled in favor of the Triborough Bridge. The bridge went unmaintained for most of its life, unpainted (except for graffiti) and raining rust and the occasional bolt down onto Astoria. Amtrak president W. Graham Claytor, Jr. felt that since the bridge was still structurally sound, they didn't feel the need to spend money to make it look better. A campaign, started in the late 1980s by Astoria native and state Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, got $55 million from Congress to refurbish the bridge. The project was finished in 1996 and the bridge was repainted the unique color "Hell Gate Red".

BRIDGE FACTS

The entire bridgeway is 16,900' long. The Hell Gate Bridge itself has a 977' span, 1,017' with the two Gothic towers on either side of the arch included. The bridge was the longest of its kind in the world until the Sydney Harbor bridge opened in 1931 (itself quickly beaten out by the Bayonne Bridge that same year), and remains the 17th longest in the world as of at least 1997. The bridge was also the heaviest in the world when constructed, containing 20,000 tons of steel; this is more steel than used in the Manhattan and Queensboro bridges combined, and four times as much as used in building the Woolworth Building. The roadway clears the East River by 135 feet. The four towers rise 250' above the two islands, and the arch itself reaches a peak of 305' above mean high water.

The girders that connect the top of the arch to the towers were installed purely as a cosmetic decision, changed from the plans of architect Henry Hornbostel by Lindenthal. Lindenthal feared that the original design, with the arch terminating before it reached the towers, would cause the public to feel that the towers were the sole support of the bridge and modified the design to allay those fears.

The bridge is still in use today. The two south tracks are electrified (using overhead catenary) and run Amtrak's Northeast Corridor lines up into Boston. The more southerly of the northern tracks carries freight trains. The final track is used solely for maintenance vehicles; sources differ as to whether the tracks have been removed entirely or are used by service cars and road railers. The bridge was the first four-track railroad bridge ever, and as of this writing, remains so. The bridge was designed to hold up to 90 locomotives (at their weight in 1917) at once, making it still adequate for the electric and diesel trains of today.

The plaque on the bridge still gives its name as the East River Arch Bridge. Some sources claim the official name of the bridge is the New York Connecting (Railroad) Bridge; none specify when the "real" name of the bridge became generally accepted.  Compiled Research with Steve Anderson contributor

Dedication Plaque South Tower 

PRESIDENT THE PENNSYLVANIA                          PRESIDENT THE NEW YORK NEW HAVEN
      RAILROAD COMPANY                                      AND HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY

GUSTAV LINDENTHAL
BUILDER AND DESIGNER EAST RIVER BRIDGE AND APPROACHES

AMERICAN BRIDGE COMPANY INC
FABRICATOR AND ERECTOR OF EAST RIVER ARCH BRIDGE

Ward's Island approach to Bronx River View NE

Harlem River Terminal
Archive: Dave Keller

NYNH&H yard

NYW&B General Offices East 133rd Street Station Harlem River Terminal 1937 view W Archive: Dave Keller

NYNH&H yard View NW

Hell Gate in winter view NE from Astoria Park 

 Reverse-arch bridges

 Reverse-arch bridge over Little Hell Gate ²
view W 

Cherry Valley (Garden City) (10' 4")
Chestnut St (West of CLP) (6’ 11”)
Montauk Highway (Center Moriches) (11’ 6”)
Stephen Hands Path (Wainscott) (10’ 0”)
Cove Hollow Road (East Hampton) (8’ 5”)
Stonytown Road (Plandome) (9’ 0”)
Continental Ave (Forest Hills) (10’ 5”)
Town Line Road (East of  Bridgehampton) (8’ 0”)

Info: Jeff Erlitz 3/2023

Stonytown Rd., Plandome View E 9/11 2023 Photo/Archive: Vincent Lee

 
Jamaica Turnpike bridge - View E
Creedmoor Branch, Floral Park
Photo/Archive: LI Press c.1980

Carmans River, Brookhaven 5/18/2006
Montauk Branch  Photo: Nick Kudreyko

Carmans River - East of Yaphank 1898  Main Line
Photo: Harold Fullerton

Carman's River, Yaphank - View S 4/11/2020
Archive: Mark Kwiatkoski

 
Stony Brook Road, Port Jefferson Photo: McEnery

College Point Blvd, Flushing - View N 1939

C3 train at Town Cocks Lane, Locust Valley - View N 1/28/2000 Photo/Archive: Bill Mangahas

Frost Mill Rd., Mill Neck View N
2/2000 Photo/Archive: Bill Mangahas

Buckram Road looking southwesterly from the other side
of the bridge, east of Locust Tower 10/17/2008 
Photo: Al Castelli

Forge River Mastic 5/07/2006 
Photo: Nick Kudreyko

Tanners Pond Rd.,  Stewart Manor  1871  cornerstone 2016  Photo: Dave Morrison

Tanners Pond Rd., Stewart Manor view S 2016  Photo: Dave Morrison

Cherry Valley Ave., Garden City  view N
Photo: Dave Morrison

Cherry Valley Ave., Garden City  1871 
 cornerstone 2016  Photo: Dave Morrison

Cranberry Hole Road - Amagansett - 8/22/2013
(Kyril Bromley-The East Hampton Press)

Cranberry Hole Road - Amagansett
View SE 6/2019

Tunnel Rd Holtsville 1940
Collection: Dave Keller
Same Location

Holtsville C420 #206 train #204 east N. Ocean Ave 1969 Photo: Dave Keller

Yaphank River Road, Yaphank 06-01-06 
Photo: Nick Kudreyko

Yaphank River Rd., Yaphank - View S 4/11/2020 Archive: Mark Kwiatkoski

Seatuck Creek,  East Moriches -  View N  
1/31/2016 Photo: Edward Hand

Whitney Lane, Woodbury 1878
Photo: George Brainerd Archive: Queens Public Library

Lawrence St., Flushing - View N 10/29/41

 
Nicoll Road, StonyBrook - LIONEL vandalism
Summer-1964  "Steel Rails to the Sunrise" Ron Ziel

South Country Rd, view north c. 1900  
Post-Morrow Foundation Historical Collection

South Country Rd., Brookhaven view N 2019

St. Albans Coal Trestle
c. 2007

Deer Park Ave. (Rte. 231),  Deer Park View S 
1/11/1988 Photo:  Edward Hand

 
Merillon Ave 7/13/1947
Photo: George E. Votava Archive: Dave Keller

Roslyn - c. 1905
Archive: Robert Hoffmann

Greenpoint Ave Blissville 12-70
Photo: Dave Keller

Pitkin Ave,  East New York 1925
Photo: James V. Osborne
Archive: Dave Keller

Murray Hill 1925 Photo: James V. Osborne
Archive: Dave Keller  

English Kills Bobtail Swing Bridge view S 
Photo: Mitch Waxman

Douglaston Drawbridge 1965

Douglaston Drawbridge 09/29/2007  

Dutch Kills Swingbridge  7/26/97  Photo: Edward Hand

Dutch Kills Swingbridge  06/21/07 Photo: Joe Gregory

Kings Park, Town Line Rd 3/1960
Archive: R. McEnery

Note: Town Line Road, west of Kings Park Station, becomes Bread and Cheese Road when it crosses Pulaski Rd north of the LIRR.  LIRR crews refer to it as Bread and Cheese Hollow Road.

Mill Race view S 3/02/2013
Photo: Andrew Ciavarella

A lead is an old nautical expression for a navigable channel or passage that also found its way into railroading. That portion of Reynold's channel where the bridge is was more complex prior to the dredging operation, with several sand bars and islands in the midst of the channel and the shore of Barnum Island (southern portion of Island Park) farther north than it is today. The wider passage hugged the shore of Barnum Island and that was the original Wreck Lead. Whatever event (shipwreck of some sort) that gave it it's name occurred before then. Approx. where the bridge cabins are now was several smaller bars, the biggest was called Inner Island and the smaller channel was called Inner Lead. Around the turn of the century, they dredged Reynold's Channel to what you see now and just retained the name Wreck Lead for that portion.

Wreck Lead Bridge 9/05/2014 Photo: Jordan Torregrosa

Wreck Lead Bridge northern end - view W - Train heading eastbound (south) to Long Beach

K4s locomotives were first used on the Montauk branch after  installation of the heavier bridge over the Shinnecock Canal.  June/1931 Prior to that, Montauk trains of 12 or more cars were required to be double-headed by 2 - G5s locomotives. Research:  Dave Keller

Shinnecock Canal 2/20/2007 Photo: Nick Kudreyko