Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge, Harmar Pennsylvania
N 40° 32.484 W 079° 49.179
17T E 599955 N 4488519
A scenic long span crossing the Allegheny River at Harmar, Pennsylvania for the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad.
Waymark Code: WM1PC7
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 06/15/2007
Views: 218
CAUTION! This bridge is an active railroad! The railroad tracks under the bridge are active as well. The coordinates at the top of the page are for viewing the bridge at a safe distance from either set of tracks. Stay off the bridge and the tracks!
This spectacular bridge spans the Allegheny River for the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad at Harmarville, Pennsylvania. It is 2327 feet long, and the rail deck is 160 feet above the river with 89 feet of clearance at a normal river pool elevation of 721 feet. The bridge deck, which is located above the truss, is called a deck truss, and this bridge incorporates two different styles: a subdivided Pratt deck truss and a subdivided Warren deck truss. For a comprehensive guide to many bridge designs, see the “Bridge Basics” web page in the links below. The bridge was built by the American Bridge Company a subsidy of United States Steel (as was B&LE) in 1918. It replaced a longer span built in 1897 under the auspices of Andrew Carnegie. The original piers from the 1897 bridge were doubled in size and used for the new span. The north end of the bridge is in Harmar Township. The fourth pier from the north is built on Fourteen Mile Island in the middle of the river, and the south end of bridge is in Plum Borough. For a thorough description of the bridge and its various spans see the B&LE Railroad Bridge page at the Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County web site below.
The purpose of the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad is to transport iron ore from Lake Erie to the steel mills on the Monongahela River. The railroad terminates at Lake Erie in Conneaut Bay in Ohio on the north end. The south terminus is in the town of North Bessemer which is about 3.5 miles south of this bridge. The Union Railroad completes the journey to the Monongahela River. One of the best web sites for the B&LE Railroad is from a man who lives in Denmark. It has pictures for various places along the entire length of the railroad including this bridge. See Carsten Lundsten’s website below.
The lack of a good spot to view the bridge in its entirety is disappointing. Short of a boat on the river, the Pennsylvania Turnpike probably offers the best view but extremely fleeting at 65 mph. Do not stop on the Turnpike to have look, it will earn you a ticket or worse. The coordinates given above are for a parking lot behind the Harmar Township municipal building which is located on Freeport Road, just past the bridge. The bridge is south west of the parking lot.
LINKS:
Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: “Bridge Basics” :
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Venango Oil, B&LE Bridge: (
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Bridges And Tunnels of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, “BLE RR Bridge Allegheny River”: (
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Bridges And Tunnels of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Copy of Historic American Engineering Record “Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, Allegheny River Bridge Haer No. PA-508”: (
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Western Pennsylvanian Railroads, Bessemer & Lake Erie by Carsten S. Lundsten: (
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Wikipedia: Truss Bridge: (
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Wikipedia: Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad: (
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