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Photo, Print, Drawing Boston & Maine Railroad, Berlin Branch Bridge #148.81, Formerly spanning Moose Brook at former Boston & Maine Railroad, Gorham, Coos County, NH Moose Brook Bridge National Covered Bridges Recording Project

[ Drawings from Survey HAER NH-48  ]

More Resources

[ Data Pages from Survey HAER NH-48  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HAER NH-48  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Boston & Maine Railroad, Berlin Branch Bridge #148.81, Formerly spanning Moose Brook at former Boston & Maine Railroad, Gorham, Coos County, NH

Other Title

  • Moose Brook Bridge National Covered Bridges Recording Project

Names

  • Historic American Engineering Record, creator
  • Concord & Montreal Railroad
  • Boston & Maine Railroad
  • Howe, William
  • Guilford Transportation
  • New Hampshire & Vermont Railroad
  • New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation (Department of Resources and Economic Development)
  • Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum
  • Lansing Community College
  • Whistler, George Washington
  • Marston, Christopher H., project manager
  • U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), sponsor
  • Kidd, Anne E., field team project manager
  • Mauro, Jeremy T., field team
  • Rowley, Bradley M., field team
  • Bartha, Csaba, field team
  • Case Western Reserve University, consultant
  • Andrews, Timothy, consultant
  • Gasparini, Dario A., faculty sponsor
  • Wright, David, consultant
  • Mesler, Vern, consultant
  • National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, sponsor
  • Christianson, Justine, transmitter
  • Marston, Christopher H., project manager
  • Mauro, Jeremy T., field team supervisor
  • Gorokhov, Pavel, field team
  • Shakelton, Benjamin, field team
  • Salih, Hummam, field team
  • Bennett, Lola, historian
  • Nizamiev, Kamil, engineer
  • Harner, Neil, engineer
  • Berilla, Jim, engineer
  • Butler, Michael, engineer
  • Conger, David, engineer
  • Marvin, Vincent, engineer
  • Wan, Lin, engineer
  • Siu, Janette, engineer
  • Truax, Will, consultant
  • Caswell, William, sponsor
  • Buczkowski, David, sponsor
  • Duwadi, Sheila Rimal, sponsor
  • Lowe, Jet, photographer
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1968

Headings

  • -  fires
  • -  ruins
  • -  covered bridges
  • -  Howe trusses
  • -  pony trusses
  • -  transportation
  • -  reconstruction
  • -  castings
  • -  braze welding
  • -  New Hampshire--Coos County--Gorham

Latitude / Longitude

  • 44.099291,-69.622936

Notes

  • -  There is an agreement between HAER, National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, and Case Western Reserve University to test and reconstruct the bridge. It was shipped to Cleveland for extensive testing. The reconstruction of the bridge was led by Timothy Andrews, Barns and Bridges of New England, assisted by Will Truax. Dario Gasparini led the engineering studies at Case Western Reserve University. Project assistance was provided by David Wright and Vern Mesler.
  • -  Significance: In 1891-93, the Concord & Montreal Railroad built a 30-mile, single-track branch line from its main line at Whitefield, NH to Berlin, where lumber and paper industries were booming. The line passed through the towns of Jefferson, Randolph, and Gorham, along the northern edge of the Presidential Range. Shortly after the line's completion, the Boston & Maine Railroad leased the branch for 91 years. No information has been found concerning the first bridge at this location, but presumably it was a wood structure. The years of WWI brought the need for longer, heavier, and faster freight loads on this division and much of the line was upgraded to accommodate heavier rolling stock. This bridge is one of three known Howe pony truss bridges that were built on the line in 1918 and one of only two that survive. While it was accepted that wood bridges might have a shorter service life that steel bridges, they were economical to build, could be easily repaired, and gave evidence of distress long before failure. The Howe pony truss was the truss of choice for shorter spans on Boston & Maine lines. Patented in 1840 by Massachusetts millwright William Howe, the Howe truss addressed the inherent difficulty on constructing tension connections in wood by using adjustable wrought iron rods instead of wood posts for vertical tension members. The Howe truss was favored by railroads for its rigidity and simple framing connections, and was used extensively on railroad lines in the United States and Europe in the nineteenth century.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1252
  • -  Survey number: HAER NH-48
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1918 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 2004 Demolished
  • -  Building/structure dates: 2010-2018 Subsequent Work

Medium

  • Photo(s): 8
  • Measured Drawing(s): 14
  • Data Page(s): 78
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 1

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HAER NH-48

Source Collection

  • Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • nh0298

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

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  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HAER NH-48
  • Access Advisory: ---

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, Concord & Montreal Railroad, Boston & Maine Railroad, William Howe, Guilford Transportation, New Hampshire & Vermont Railroad, New Hampshire Division Of Parks And Recreation, et al., Lowe, Jet, photographer. Boston & Maine Railroad, Berlin Branch Bridge #148.81, Formerly spanning Moose Brook at former Boston & Maine Railroad, Gorham, Coos County, NH. Coos County Gorham New Hampshire, 1968. translateds by Christianson, Justinemitter, and Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/nh0298/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, C., Concord & Montreal Railroad, Boston & Maine Railroad, Howe, W., Guilford Transportation, New Hampshire & Vermont Railroad [...] Duwadi, S. R., Lowe, J., photographer. (1968) Boston & Maine Railroad, Berlin Branch Bridge #148.81, Formerly spanning Moose Brook at former Boston & Maine Railroad, Gorham, Coos County, NH. Coos County Gorham New Hampshire, 1968. Christianson, J. & McPartland, M., transs Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/nh0298/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, et al., photographer by Lowe, Jet. Boston & Maine Railroad, Berlin Branch Bridge #148.81, Formerly spanning Moose Brook at former Boston & Maine Railroad, Gorham, Coos County, NH. trans by Christianson, Justinemitter, and Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/nh0298/>.