Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-05-12
THE BROKEN RAILROAD BRIDGE,

PARTICULARS OF THE Academia
TREsTLE BUILT-THAT GOES DOWN,
TOO.
The REGISTER of Friday last had a
brief account of the falling of the rail-
road bridge over Otter creek, IN the out
skirts of this village, that morning. The
wreck of the structure was cleared away
on Friday. Saturday morning the con-
struction of Il trestle was begun. 1t was
! finished soon after noon on Sunday. so
that trains could pass. Shortly before
6 o'clock yesterday morning the trestle
gave way under heavy engine, which,
with one car, went into the water.
THE FALL OF THE OLD BRIDGE.
The old bridge went down at 40
o'clock OH the morning of Friday, the
9TH inst, while a train of 20 freight cars,
hound north, was passing over it. The
engine was No. 96, j. O'Neill engineer,
and Conductor Shannon was in charge
of the train. Next to the engine were
four box cars; then came 10 of the big
open coal cars, loaded with coal belong
ing to the railroad company; at the rear
of the train was caboose. The engine,
the box cars and five coal cars passed
over before the bridge broke; one coal
Car and the cabOOse had not reached the
bridge; nine coal cars went down. No
one was hurt. A brakeman, it is said,
had just finished trip over the train and
was on the box cars. The engine was
not derailed, nor were the box cars or
the first coal car following them. The
rear truck of the second coal car was
thrown off the iron. The three coal
cars following that were pulled off the
rails by the falling cars behind them and
were piled in heap at the north end of
the bridge.
The fall of the bridge made big rack
ct. 1t was most plainly heard, away
from the immediate vicinity, by residents
on South street. Col. Fletcher's family
were all awakened by it, as were DR..
Mellen's and others in that neighborhood.
DR.. Mellen and others went at once to
the scene for the purpose of helping any
persons that might need aid, but found
nothing to do.
The bridge gave way all over. AS it
sank it careened to the westward. Sec
tions of the roof that had covered either
end of it were found right side up just
west of the foundations. The upright
framework of the downstream side fell
over into the river on that side, while
that of the upstream side was left lying
at an angle against the remains of the
bridge. The floor-timbers hung together,
and after the accident people crossed by
picking their way carefully among the
broken cars and timbers. \ more COM
plete wreck than the bridge presented it
would be hard to imagine.
THE CAUSE OF THE COLLAPSE.
The bridge apparently fell because it
was not strong enough to sustain the
load put upon it. The coal cars them
selves, or at least some of them, weighed
over 80, 900 lbs. They were marked for
a load of 5000 lbs, making the weight
of each and its load, provided the load
was no greater than that allowed, $4,000
lbs. This would give total weight for
the nine cars of S55,0 lbs, or 4274 tons.
1t was undoubtedly as heavy load as
ever went upon the bridge. There are
indications, too, that the high water had
impaired the pier supporting the center
of the bridge, leaving it with nothing to
sustain 1t from shore to shore. Rumors
ming sleeper north, that passed over the
bridge only few minutes ahead of the
coal train, felt the bridge give under him !;
but the story lacks confirmation.
HISTORY OF THE BRIDGE.
The bridge was an old-fashioned COW
cred wooden affair, 23l feet long. 1t was
built about 1860 to replace the one put
across the stream when the railroad was
built some twelve years previous to that
date. The first bridge was double bridge,
to admit of second track or siding.
The freight and passenger depots were
| iorin Arc
bridge burned. Old residents say that
the pier of piling under the center of the
old bridge was not badly damaged by the
fire and was fixed up and left to sustain
the new bridge.
Something more than a year ago a
large quantity of new timber and many
heavy iron rods were put into the bridge
with view to strengthening it.
CLEARING THE WRECK.
At 8 o'clock Friday morning a wreck
ing gang, under Master Mechanic Kenney,
arrived from Rutland and began to get the
remains of the bridge and cars out of the
way. This force was supplemented at
o'clock p. m. by another gang from the
main line of the Central, of whom Train
master Nash had charge. 1t was a hard
wreck to get at and clear away, but by
nightfall much of it had been removed.
Work was resumed at daylight on Satur-
day. Only enough of the debris was
removed to allow of the building of a
trestle.
BUILDING THE TREsTLE.
Saturday forenoon the bridge gangs,
who had come from both st. Albans and
Rutland, set to work on the trestle. They
did not stop till it was done, Sunday noon.
Large fires were kindled when darkness
fell Saturday evening, and by the light
of these the men worked all night. 1t
was comparatively easy task to build
the temporary bridge over the northern
half of the stream. When the main
channel, on the south half, had been
reached, 1t was found difficult to make
CONTINUED on 9TH page.I