Connecting Railroad Bridge

Connecting Railroad Bridge. . , Before 1867, the Pennsylvania Railroad could not provide ground service for the produce and goods of the rich American West. [unreadable] The Pennsylvania's rival, the Reading Railroad carried the New York traffic from the West over its lines [unreadable]. It competed with the Reading and to create a direct link for the Pennsylvania Railroad to Philadelphia from the West to New York, the Pennsylvania Railroad and five other rail and canal companies established the Connecting Railroad Bridge and the "Joint Companies", 1863. This became the New York Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad., To unite the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line on the west side of the Schuylkill River with the routes to New York, the Joint Companies erected a bridge over the River just north of Girard Avenue and laid 6.4 miles of track to connect their systems. The original bridge consisted of a series of stone arches extending into the River with an iron truss in the central section of the span. A failure in this truss required its replacement in the mid-1870s. The rehabilitation bridge remained until 1913 when an increase in passenger traffic prompted the "Pennsy" to build a new concrete bridge wide enough to accommodate tracks., In 1871, Thomas Eakins painted Max Schmitt in a Single Skull one of the most famous renderings of the Connecting Railroad Bridge. This painting, one of Eakins' earliest and best known rowing scenes, reveals the impressive vista formed by the two bridges, the River and Fairmount Park. Erected in 1855, the three-span, timber arch bridge in background of the Eakins' painting carried Girard Avenue over the River.