Shocks Mills Bridge carries tracks of the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (3 ...

(formerly the

Atglen and Susquehanna Branch Atglen may refer to: Places *Atglen, Pennsylvania Atglen is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. According to the 2020 Census, its population is 1,311. History The area now known as Atglen was originally a wilderness. N ...

of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

) over the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

between

Marietta, Pennsylvania Marietta is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The population was 2,633 at the 2020 census. It is located on the east bank of the Susquehanna River northwest of Columbia. Geography Marietta is located in western Lancaster County at (4 ...

and

Wago Junction, Pennsylvania are native Japanese words, meaning those words in Japanese that have been inherited from Old Japanese, rather than being borrowed at some stage. Together with kango () and gairaigo (), they form one of the three main sources of Japanese w ...

Construction

During the early 20th century, the PRR constructed what it referred to as its "Low-Grade Lines", branches constructed with a minimal grade to divert freight traffic from its congested and steeper main lines. One of these new lines was the Atglen and Susquehanna Branch, which left the Main Line at

Parkesburg Parkesburg is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was counted as 3,866 at the 2020 census. The ZIP code is 19365. History Parkesburg was first known as the Fountain Inn, a tavern built ca. 1734. The inn cea ...

to cut cross-county to the Susquehanna River, followed the east bank of the river to Marietta, crossed the river and ran along the west bank to Wago Junction, where it met the

Northern Central Railway The Northern Central Railway (NCRY) was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1861, w ...

. The line from Marietta to Wago Junction was chartered as the York Haven and Rowenna Railroad, and much of the construction, including the crossing of the Susquehanna at Shocks Mills, was done by H.S. Kerbaugh, a major PRR contractor. The bridge was first opened on January 1, 1905, as a twenty-eight span brick arch.

Damage from Hurricane Agnes and repair

The bridge was closed during the flooding caused by

Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was the costliest hurricane to hit the United States at the time, causing an estimated $2.1 billion in damage. The hurricane's death toll was 128. The effects of Agnes were widespread, from the Caribbean to Canada, ...

in late June 1972. Penn Central's commuter train service between Lancaster and Harrisburg was affected by the damages to the bridge, and freight traffic to Harrisburg was required to be re-routed. In August of that year, the federal bankruptcy court, overseeing the reorganization of Penn Central, gave the railroad permission to make repairs to the span, a process that was expected to take "four or five months"."PC Given Signal to Repair Span", ''The Daily News'' (Huntingdon, PA), August 29, 1972, p12

References

Railroad bridges in Pennsylvania Bridges over the Susquehanna River Pennsylvania Railroad bridges Bridges completed in 1905 Bridges in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Bridges in York County, Pennsylvania Norfolk Southern Railway bridges Brick bridges in the United States Concrete bridges in the United States Steel bridges in the United States Arch bridges in the United States 1905 establishments in Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-bridge-struct-stub