Yesterday, April 25, after then regular school train runs, the very first train crossed the repaired bridge 6G at Brandywine Springs Park opening up an additional mile for the railroads excursions. This was a steel bridge rebuilt after the original wood bridge was destroyed in Hurrican Floyed. It suffered some sever pier damage from Tropical Storm Henri in 2003.

Work contiunes on the Hercules, Wooddale East and Wooddale West Bridges which, while the original wood bridges were damged in Hurricane Floyed, these were completely destroyed in T.S. Henri.

Bridge reconstruction includes using drill rigs brought over from Germany to bore down to bedrock to anchor the bridges to prevent any future problems.

Total cost to reconstruct the 6 destroyed bridges and two of the 3 steel bridges damaged in 2003 flooding, over $8 million dollars.

Always good to hear some good news comeing from them and work being done to get them back to normal.

Congratulations.

Is there an estimated time to completion on any of the other bridges?

JAC

Overall completion of all bridge repairs is to be about 18 months, or by the summer of 2007....just in time for 58's 100th birthday!

Work is currently underway on 3 other bridges. They will add the most milage to the route once completed since two are within a couple hundred yards of each other and they are only a half mile from the 3rd.

After their completion, that will allow service to Mt Cuba Rd (mp 5.0), which is followed by two more bridges within about a 1000 feet of each other.

After them, the repairs to the Truss Bridge at Ashland and then the big "S" bridge at Yorklyn and that's it.

Start planning your photo shoot now John, I'll buy a ticket!

This might get pulled, but here is the add. I have a DVD that I produced on the Steam Meetes Steam weekend of 2005 and part two is the Spring Steam Special of 1996 showing all the wooden bridges and the Wooddale Covered bridge.

Go to this stie http://hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/conrail6370

Take care and good luck,
Len.

I have had the privilege of viewing one of your videos at a friends house, and am glad I did, as at $25.00 each they are overpriced by about $22.50. Amateurishly shot, edited and produced. Not worth the postage in my opinion.

Junior,

Where in the world did the Wilmington and Western get $8 million?

I think that is even above and beyond the scope of the TEA-21 funding
program.

Sure glad to hear that the line is coming back to life. Years ago I used to canoe in the Brandywine River.

Ted Miles

The W&W had a mix of private donations, FEMA, state, and county funds. The managers are top notch, the small paid staff knows how to get things done and stretch a dollar more than most, and the volunteers are simply the very best. The W&W is one of the older steam organizations and have been through a lot of tough times. Many other tourist railroads and museums have come and gone in the 40 years the W&W has been taking care of business.

I believe that the Railroad had to raise about $800,000-$1,000,000 on its own to match the Federal, State and Local Grants as well as FEMA.

Having formed good relationships over the years with several foundations and other individuals, as well as a good PR campaign with the general public, they were able to do this in a rather short time frame. Like Tom said, their management and BOD are good at what they do.

The W&W has one advantage over many tourist railroads operating in a rather highly populated suburban area...that is they are well liked by their neighbors and there has been little that has changed along the line over the years. The HRCV Inc. has been a front runner in protecting the area surrounding the right of way working with other non profits in the area like the Nature Preserve in Ashland as well as individual property owners to protect open space. There was talk in the mid 90's of building a housing development at Barley Mill Road opposite the stables...that was killed off quickly with help from the Railroad and local property owners.

HRCV is not just about operating trains.

HRCV was instrumental in saving the Greenbank Mill after a fire destroyed it during the early years of the W&W operation, they also rebuilt the Wooddale covered bridge after a fire destroyed it in the 1960's (it was rebuilt with a steel deck which is why only the wooden cover washed away in 03)

Also, like Tom said, the paid staff knows what they are doing and do it well and the volunteer labor is beyond dedicated, not just current, but past volunteers as well.

It's safe to say that the W&W is one of a large handful of volunteer operations in the country that do what they are supposed to do. Yes, they have made mistakes over the years like others have, but overall, they have lived up to the "Mission Statement" that was created by Clarence and Tom Marshall and the handful of individuals that started in 1959.