Thursday, February 19, 2015

Mysterious bridge support beneath Bagley Road bridge

I have often perused what appears to be an old sandstone bridge support just south and nearly below the present Bagley Road bridge.  It is easy to see from the bridge if you are walking.  You can also get a closer view by leaving the Metro Park trail and tromping through the woods towards the underside of the Bagley Road bridge across the Rocky River.

I have determined, based on several maps, that this was for the quarry railroad.  If you look at the map below you can see that this railroad left the mainline near Depot street, crossed North Rocky River Drive (previously River Street), apparently descended down the side of the valley a bit, then crossed the river at this point.

You can also see that the Bagley Road bridge at this time did not cross at the same location.  It crossed slightly to the north.  It don't think it was called Bagley either at this time.


The map above is a detail from the book Images of America: Berea by Patricia M. Mote.  It originates from Mickey Sego's The Quarry Years for the Berea Area Historical Society, 1996

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Metro Park Railroad Trestle 2

Here's a shot of the CSX railroad trestle in 2015.  This structure was a 1952 rebuild of the original viaduct.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Metro Park Railroad Trestle

The spindly trestle that crosses the Metro Park road has always been fascinating to me.  It looks so narrow!  Oddly enough, I just found out that it was even more spindly and much longer originally as the photo below shows.

The book Strongsville, Crossroads of the Nation by Neal W. Coughlin and the Strongsville Historical Society, where this photo is from, explains that the wooden portion still exists but was buried intentionally by ash.  This ash was brought in from Cleveland mills and released via drop-bottom gondolas over time.  The viaduct portion was rebuilt in 1952.  Some of the original wooden support beams can be seen sticking through the ash below the present bridge abutments.

Here's my problem, though: I have never, in all my years, seen a train going over the trestle.  I know they do, as I have seen trains on other parts of the line, like crossing Bagley Road in Middleburg Heights.  It is my guess that this line is now a secondary route that sees only occasional traffic.

I also know that the line is presently owned by CSX.