Earlier this week, I stumbled across a website entitled "B&O Railroad Photo Tours." I checked out one called the "B&O Old Main Line (OML) Photo Tour." There was a lot of interesting stuff from live steam locomotives to modern diesels to old industies to old and new signals to art type pix to historic photos to various buildings along the right-of-way and a lot more. This of course was the FIRST rail line in the U.S.A. The Tour begins at the Mt. Clare depot, which is in front of the B&O Museum, and goes all the way to the Point of Rocks depot. Lots and lots of photos of old bridges, including the famous Thomas Viaduct which is about 700' long, consists of 8 arches and was built in 1835.

Two things really struck me though. The first was the Carrollton Viaduct, built in 1829 as I recall, and which still has an in-use CSX track on it making it the OLDEST STILL ACTIVE RAILROAD BRIDGE in the world!

The second thing that I really found interesting though was an item built a long time after all of the historic stuff on the OML. This was the Lees Coaling Tower at Milepost 11.6. This wooden coaling station was actually built by the B&O during the Second World War, apparently to relieve some of the locomotive servicing pressure in Baltimore proper. The Lees coal dock was tipped over some time ago in order to get it "out of the way." From the photos included in the Tour however, the dock looks in reasonably good shape. I then got to thinking of how many wooden coaling stations were still in existance. There is the one in Chama of course, on the C&TS. But if there are others, I couldn't think of them. The Lees station does not look particularly large. I got to thinking that here might be something that could provide some historic accuracy to some museum that still uses, or intends to use, coal fired steam locomotives. And would give a lot of old time atmosphere to boot! My guess is that the structure could be taken apart in sections, such as has been done with some interlocking towers, then moved and reassembled elsewhere. Any museum out there want to at least take a look at the remains to see if this is at all feasible?

In the meantime, take a look at the website when you get some time. A guy by the name of Steve assembled it and really did a nice job. My hat is off to him.

Les

Here is a link to the site Les mentioned:

http://www.trainweb.org/oldmainline

Tom Cornillie

It's always dangerous to make sweeping pronouncements like that. Especially when there's a bridge historian in the room. <:-)

There are at least three other claimants to that title. If we go with the first use of the Carrollton Viaduct being December 1829, then that beats two other British survivors by a couple of months. One 1825 iron bridge from the Stockton & Darlington was abandoned in 1901 and later moved to the National Railway Museum for preservation, so that's not "in use".

But I submit the following: The former canal aqueduct over the River Cart at Paisley, Scotland, built in 1810 as a canal aqueduct for the Paisley & Johnstone Canal. It had rail lines installed on it by the Glasgow & South Western in 1885; those tracks are still in use today.

A similar claim is made for the Laigh Milton Viaduct, built in 1811 at Gateshead, which had rails laid in 1811 for horse-drawn carts:

http://books.google.com/books?id=_o77B6HRm04C&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=%22oldest+railway+bridge%22&source=web&ots=pUCF3srFP4&sig=L6hGFbjaBBl4eGrILRoJtiIvk9A#PPA182,M1

Well, I guess that I stand corrected (or rather Steve of the B&O OML photo tour website stands corrected.) Perhaps though the Carrollton Viaduct is the OLDEST STILL ACTIVE RAILROAD BRIDGE IN THE WORLD ORIGINALLY BUILT AS A RAILROAD BRIDGE. Is that any better?

Les

Looking at the photos of that coal dock, it becomes evident that it is of concrete construction. The form boards commonly used in the days before modular steel forms leave an impression in the concrete that mimics the appearance of timbers. I would strongly suspect that if that structure was wood, even creosoted wood, it would have broken up when toppled, and certainly would be rather disintegrated by now.

Perhaps Sandy could give us an on-the-spot report before the poison ivy comes out for the season?

Harwood's "Impossible Challenge" refers to the "concrete coaling tower at Lees", with picture of same when it was in use.

Alan Maples

Well, I guess Sandy won't have a nice outing in the countryside, after all. That's a pretty solid reference. No pun intended.....

I can confirm that the tipped over coaling dock just E. of Ellicott City is concrete. I can't imagine how a group could ever afford to get it out of there in one piece. It's up against a hill, and you'd have to bring it across the OML to get it out. Given CSX's extreme allergies to anything remotely looking like a potential safety liability, and the increasing levels of traffic on the line with hazmat diversions from the Met and Cap subs, I'd have to believe that they would never go for it.

Wow, that looks like a very interesting site. Thanks for posting the link.