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Bridges Chester County Downingtown Photo Journal Photography

Abandoned Train Bridge Over Downingtown (Pt. 1)

Abandoned Train Bridge (Downingtown) hdr 05
Abandoned Train Bridge (Downingtown) hdr 05

I had a very pleasant drive back to Downingtown via some very beautiful back roads. (Note to Self – Need to re-drive Route 163 South of Downingtown)

When I finally got to the intersection of Sugar Bridge Road and Rt. 322, where normally, I would have taken a Left on to Rt. 322, I could not.

Just in front of me, was the burned out shell of a SUV, that still was smoking and water was still being used to control the situation.

I made the required Right on Rt. 322, cut up Valley Creek Road, and on to Harmony Hill, down across Gibson, and finally a Right on to Rt. 322 toward downtown.

As the bridge came into view, I looked at the clock, and saw that I had about 30 mins till Madison got off the bus, so I made the Left on to Bradford Ave. and managed to find a small spot park just under some of the support legs.

I pulled out my gear, check the traffic, and crossed the road to the base of the extremely tall supports.

The leaves on the trees were still on the greenish side, but there where some yellows, and the wind was blowing white clouds quickly in and out of shoots.

I captured several HDR series of my location, including this one.

Another reason that I started down Bradford Ave., was to hopefully find and easy access point up to the bridge, but today was not going to be the day.

By the time I finished my captures, and packed up my gear, I had less than 15 mins to get home!

Comments

The following comments were part a topic thread on Facebook “Chester County (PA) Photography” page:

“I would be scared to death to go up there and take pics. I have been on the tracks near Commerce drive in Exton though. Good article.” – Lisa (2/29/2012)

“I live right by the bridge and trust me you do not want to go up there. Not too many years ago someone fell off of it onto 322. It is rusted in many spots.” – Elaine (2/29/2012)

Update(s)-

June 7, 2015 – I have been getting a number of hits on this page lately, so I decided to take a look and update things…
– The Link below is not longer active on downingtown.does.co
– I found this Request 1 and Request 2 request on Facebook to “The Daily Local News”
– I have tried to find more details, even doing a general search onĀ the PA State Police site, but found nothing…
– I have found records using a different search criteria, that do suggest a person, but I’m not going to publish that…
– I have also found videos on YouTube of folks walking around the bridge train tracks >> it is illegalĀ to do!

Oct 8th 2014Downingtown Trestle Bridge Incident << No longer active

Additional Links

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By Andrew

A Father, Photographer and Computer Geek living in Chester County (PA).

My Photo Journal of images taken in Chester and Lancaster Counties, including Covered Bridges, Barns, Nature, Fine Art and Events. Images can also be found on VisitPA.com and ExplorePATrails.com.