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Cantileverage
By adamg on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 10:50am
Sean Sullivan photographed one of the train bridges over the Charles behind North Station.
Copyright Sean Sullivan.
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Comments
Unrelated ...
On a side note, can we get rid of those f-ing bridges??? What is this, medieval England???
Yes, John, there were trains
Yes, John, there were trains in medieval England. Now have a graham cracker and apple juice. It's snack time.
Get rid of them?
They are the only rail route into North Station. Are you proposing to move North Station to Cambridge or Charlestown?
No
Because the trains would fall into the river if the bridges weren't there. I don't think most commuter rail and Amtrak passengers who use North Station would appreciate that.
Sure, I guess so
We could backfill the mouth of the Charles River so that the tracks would be on solid ground and remove the need for the bridge...but I don't think the people in Cambridge, Watertown, Allston, Brighton, Back Bay, and points lower in elevation than about 100 feet would appreciate it.
are you kidding?
they're beautiful, in a post-industrial sort of way. anyway, a bazillion times nicer than the acres and acres of cloverleaf and flyover.
that Sean Sullivan is a heck of a photographer!
I concur
I concur
Fetch The High Occupancy Hovercraft!
Or maybe we can get everybody across the river in duck boats?
Oh horrors ... oh woe ... transportation infrastructure dating from a time of industrial land use is messing up John's view again!
Doesn't John live in the South End?
I don't think you can see North Station from there.
Oh, don't be so sure
He has eyesight like you wouldn't believe.
Sure...
But then we would have to live in a world of unicorns and fairy princes, and dragons that would fly their passengers across the Charles to North Station, and then beyond! To South Station!
Of course that is just a fantasy...
I like 'em
On the rare occasions when I drive, I sometimes get a glimpse of them in the upright position from the Zakim Brige or the Levrett Circle Connector.
The sight of train tracks pointed at so high and angle, at such an elevation causes one to be all like "WTF"?
My favorite, now gone
My favorite bridges, now gone, are what I always called the Triscuit Bridge. It was in Southie and could be seen from the Artery and Commuter Rail tracks. It was a bridge for passenger and freight trains heading south into Dot. The counterweights were on the top and looked like enormous Triscuits.
Not that anyone cares, but my new favorite bridge to replace the Triscuit Bridge is the Northern Avenue Pedestrian Bridge.
A remnant of that bridge has been preserved
as a sort of sculpture where Dorchester Ave crosses Fort Point Channel near Gillette. Google Street View
Skeptical
I'm not so sure that's the same bridge. It's the right area, but the Triscuit part is missing. There were two drawbridges very near each other in that area that had similar structures. The Triscuit bridge was very distinct in comparison.
Now that you bring it up, though, I think one of the sections was preserved on another nearby site. At least, that's what seems very clear to me. I think I remember saying to myself, "Oh, look, they saved part of the Triscuit Bridge."
It's a good thing I was alone because I said it out loud.
It was my favorite bridge too
You mean the Old Colony Ft. Point Channel Bridge?
I still miss it.