Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 9, 2011

The Rosendale trestle is a 940 ft continuous truss bridge and former railroad trestle in Rosendale Village in Ulster County, New York, originally constructed by the Wallkill Valley Railroad. The bridge rises 150 ft above Rondout Creek and Route 213, and spans the former Delaware and Hudson Canal. It was the highest span bridge in the United States when it opened to rail traffic in 1872. The bridge was rebuilt in 1895 by the King Bridge Company because of stability concerns, and it has been continually reinforced throughout its existence. The sturdiness of the trestle was a major reason Conrail closed the Wallkill Valley rail line in 1977. Conrail sold the bridge in 1986 for one dollar to a private businessman who tried unsuccessfully to operate the trestle as a bungee jumping platform in the 1990s. A similar attempt was made the following decade. After it was seized by the county in 2009, the trestle is being renovated as a pedestrian walkway for the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.