April 21, 2009

The Dillerville Rail Yard Bridge

To feed my growing obsession with old rusty bridges, I stopped in Lancaster (PA) to photograph the footbridge over the Dillerville Rail Yard.
The bridge was originally built to provide a walkway over the tracks between several industrial/factory buildings, including a large Armstrong Cork complex. The industry is gone, and Franklin & Marshall College has expanded their campus at one end of the bridge. The rail yard is now in the process of being relocated and the whole area will be redeveloped with athletic fields for the college and facilities for Lancaster General Hospital. Below is a view from up on the bridge looking towards the center of the city; in the far right you can see the new convention center building. (If you are new here, you can track back my series of works based on this construction project by clicking on "Watt & Shand" under Labels in the sidebar on the right.)

The bridgework is rife with textured rusty patina:



Cool angles:

And great silhouettes:

Here's the view looking back across the bridge at the new F&M student housing. On the ground floor is a row of shops and businesses that includes the Iron Hill Brewery, and after my stroll on the bridge I meet friends to enjoy good company, a Biere de Mars, and a fine meal.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your posting. I was just there for NJ (that's right NJ) state swim meet at F&M. I had to park at the Armstrong parking lot and walked across the bridge. I didn't even know where I walked across, now I know.