Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, Tunkhannock Viaduct, Nicholson, Wyoming County, PA

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Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

10 b&w photos
2 data pages
1 photo caption pages

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TITLE:
Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, Tunkhannock Viaduct, Nicholson, Wyoming County, PA

CALL NUMBER:
HAER PA,66-NICH,1-

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:
[See Call Number]

MEDIUM:
Photo(s): 10 (5 x 7 in.)
Data Page(s): 1 plus cover page
Photo Caption Page(s): 1

DATE:
Documentation compiled after 1968.

CREATOR:
Historic American Engineering Record, creator

NOTE:
Survey number HAER PA-87

Building/structure dates: 1915 initial construction

National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 77001203

Significance: When the Lackawanna Railroad's 39.6-mile Clarks Summit-Halstead Cutoff in northeastern Pennsylvania was dedicated on Saturday, November 6, 1915, the 2,375-foot-long, 240-foot-high Tunkhannock Viaduct stood at its west end. The total excavation for the cutoff had amounted to 13,318,000 cubic yards, more than half of that rock; into its substructures had gone 800,000 cubic yards of concrete. The Tunkhannock alone had required 1140 tons of steel, and 167,000 cubic yards of concrete containing 89,000 barrels or 1,093 carloads of cement. More than 50 years after its building, the Tunkhannock Viaduct still merits the title of largest concrete bridge in America, if not the world. It has been compared to the nearly two-thousand-year old Pont du Gard in southern France; mainly because of its tall proportions and high semicircular main arches. Its moldings serve to break the vertical lines. The veneer that was applied to exposed surfaces at the top of Tunkhannock in the 1940s has started to peel away.

SUBJECTS:
PENNSYLVANIA--Wyoming County--Nicholson
railroad bridges

COLLECTION:
Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

REPOSITORY:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGID:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.pa1629

CONTENTS:
Photograph caption(s):
1. GENERAL ELEVATION VIEW, LOOKING NORTHWEST, WITH BARN IN RIGHT FOREGROUND
2. GENERAL ELEVATION VIEW, LOOKING NORTHWEST
3. GENERAL ELEVATION VIEW, LOOKING SOUTHEAST, WITH CEMETERY IN FOREGROUND
4. DETAIL VIEW OF ARCHES, LOOKING SOUTH
5. DETAIL VIEW, LOOKING SOUTH, WITH 'LACKAWANNA RR' CLEARLY VISIBLE ON ARCH
6. DETAIL VIEW, LOOKING NORTH, SHOWING THREE ARCHES
7. DETAIL VIEW OF PIER WITH HOUSES ON LEFT
8. DETAIL VIEW OF PIER SHOWING SURFACE TREATMENT OF CONCRETE
9. GENERAL VIEW OF TRACK BED SHOWING RECESSES PROVIDED FOR SAFETY REASONS
10. GENERAL VIEW, LOOKING SOUTH, SHOWING TRACK BED ON TOP OF BRIDGE

CONTROL #:
PA1629

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