The bridge was removed years ago and replaced with fill. One less bridge for the City to (not) have to maintain.

It looks like it [may] be a General Railway Signal unit.

Old equipment catalog shows various arrangements of this type of signal.

http://www.rrsignalpix.com/pdf/GRS_144_ocr_Sec.pdf

John

"The bridge was removed years ago..."

Sure still looks like a bridge from up top. Perhaps you're thinking of a different location.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0411218 ... 312!8i6656

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.

Larry, it's possible that the photos are years old, even though they are copyrighted 2017.
Here's the planned removal info from the PennDOT Transportation Improvement Plan for the period FY 2009-12:

MPMS #: 57278 Municipality:
Title: Rising Sun Av Brdg Route: 7301 Section: 218 A/Q Status:
Improvement Type: Bridge Removal
Est. Let Date: 07/12/2012 Actual Let Date: (Not listed in this file)
Geographic Limits: CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
Narrative: Rising Sun Ave

City of Philadelphia Bridge Removal

TIP Program Years ($000)
Phase Fund FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 2nd 4 Years 3rd 4 Years
PE BOO $107 $43 $0 $0 $0 $0
PE 183 $ 28 $ 8 $0 $0 $0 $0
PE LOC $ 9 $ 3 $0 $0 $0 $0
CON BOO $0 $0 $0 $2,739 $0 $0
CON 185 $0 $0 $0 $ 514 $0 $0
CON LOC $0 $0 $0 $ 171 $0 $0
Total FY 2009-2012 Cost $3,622
$144 $54 $0 $3,424 $0 $0
Page 270

Sorry if the format is a little irritating.

Just to be sure, I'll detour through there on my way home, refresh my memory and check out the signal location.

Yes, the imagery on the various map/earth view sites can be years out of date, and not all from the same period, either. When Bing Maps first came out I spent some time fooling with their Birds Eye view function, and found it interesting how trains would disappear and reappear as I switched views.

The best example, however, was when viewing the Milwaukee Road draw span onto Goose Island in Chicago. The adjacent North Avenue bridge had just been replaced, work which included a temporary "shoo fly" bridge around the work site. Some of the imagery included the shoo fly, while some did not.The knit line between images was at the middle of the river. Really interesting to view an image of four lanes of traffic racing for a bridge that ended mid-span, at the middle of the river.

If you look down in the lower right corner of the Google Streetview image, it says "Image Capture: Sept. 2016". That's not even a year ago. Surely, Google wouldn't be lying to us! Would they?
=^0

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.

Well, as it turns out, Google is telling the truth and the Government is 'lying'. The bridge is still there. Guess I'll have to find the latest TIP and see what happened to this project.

http://sauconrailtrail.org/refurbished-railroad-signal/ Looks like we already have one preserved on the old Bethlehem Branch.