The New Haven Line Stone Arch Above Highbrook Avenue

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There is a lovely stone arch of the New Haven line beneath which Highbrook Avenue passes in the Village of Pelham. In 1908 the Cyclopedia of Civil Engineering published information about the stone arch, as well as a schematic explaining its construction. What follows is a transcription of the text of that entry and an image of the schematic.



"448. Stone Arch. In Fig. 236 is shown a stone arch on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad at Pelhamville, N. Y. This arch was constructed over a highway, and the length of its axis is sufficient for four overhead tracks. The span is 40 feet, and the rise is 10 feet above the springing line, the latter being 7 feet 6 inches above the roadway. The arch is a five-centered arch, the intrados corresponding closely to an ellipse, the greatest variation from a true ellipse being 1 inch. The theoretical line of pressure is well within the middle third, with the full dead load and partial live load, until the short radius is reached, where it passes to the outer edge of the ring-stone, and thence down through the abutment. There is a joint at the points where the radii change, to simplify the construction.



The stone is a gneiss found near Yokers, N. Y., except the keystone, which is Connecticut granite, and the coping, which is bluestone from Palatine Bridge, N. Y."







Source: Turneaure, Frederick E., ed., Cyclopedia of Civil Engineering, Vol. IV, pp. 448-49 (Chicago, IL: American Technical Society 1908).



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