BK0004

“The idea for this book was spawned during my work on the Pier Railroad Covered Bridge Preservation Project in 2006/2007. Although a life-long resident of Newport, I was not aware that this town once had 19 covered bridges within its borders, 6 highway and 13 railroad. I was amazed! My first encounter with a railroad covered bridge was at the Pier Bridge. I was in awe of the size and strength of construction needed to carry the weight of the locomotives, coal tenders, box cars, passenger cars and cabooses. And yet, these bridges were typically built by local carpenters using a patented lattice truss design developed in 1820 by Ethiel Town. Most people are not aware that there are only eight railroad covered bridges still existing in the world and Newport has two of them, the Pier and Wright’s Railroad Covered Bridges. Newport is special and unique world-wide because we have them.”

Jacqueline Cote

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