Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge

Located just south of Savage, Maryland, the Bollman Truss bridge spans the Little Patuxent River.  The bridge includes a pedestrian walkway alongside one of its original railroad tracks.  The tracks on either side of the bridge are long gone.  The bridge is named after its designer Wendell Bollman, who received a patent in 1852.  In the first photo, the bridge is shown alongside Foundry Street.  In the background toward the right peeking above the trees is part of the Historic Savage Mill shopping center.

Here's the bridge from its south end.  Note the inscriptions on the top front beam.

I found a trail that ran below bridge level, and tried to get a shot from a different angle.  But from where I was, much of the bridge was obscured by foliage.

From inside the bridge, here's the track, with the walkway toward the left.  For any LEO's out there, I was not on the track when I took the photo, but on the walkway next to the track's end, before it veered to the left.

This is the Little Patuxent, looking looking west from the bridge.

Some beams and trusses come together at one of the bridge's main joints.

I walked to the above-mentioned shopping center and came across this sculpture garden, including one of three boys playing musical instruments.  I was dismayed that part of the trumpet had been broken off.

I retreated back to Foundry Street, but had to take a shot of these concrete steps, which at one time would have supported a stairway up to the railroad tracks.

There's more about the Bollman Bridge at Historic Bridges(dot)orgBridgehunter and American Society of Civil Engineers.

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