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.

1 comment:

  1. Three or four trains a day cross this trestle. It is the same track that crosses Bagley, Engle, Fowels, Main, Albion, Westwood & Prospect.

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