Lyman Viaduct

LocationDickinson Creek and former Boston and New York Air Line Railroad right-of-way, Colchester, Connecticut

Coordinates41°33′49″N 72°27′8″W / 41.56361°N 72.45222°W

Area1 acre (0.40 ha)

Built1873


Lyman Viaduct
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


Lyman Viaduct Show map of Connecticut Lyman Viaduct Show map of the United States
Location	Dickinson Creek and former Boston and New York Air Line Railroad right-of-way, Colchester, Connecticut
Coordinates	41°33′49″N 72°27′8″W / 41.56361°N 72.45222°W / 41.56361; -72.45222
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1873
Built by	Phoenix Iron Works
Architect	Serrell, Edward W., Air Line Railroad
NRHP reference No.	86002729
Added to NRHP	August 21, 1986

The Lyman Viaduct is a buried railroad trestle built over Dickinson Creek in Colchester, Connecticut, in 1873. Along with the nearby Rapallo Viaduct, it is one of the few surviving wrought iron railroad trestles from the first generation of such structures. It was built for the Boston and New York Air-Line Railroad, whose successor, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H), buried it in sand rather than replacing it with a stronger structure. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 since it is capable of providing detailed information about construction methods of the period.^[1] The bridge now carries the multi-use Air Line State Park Trail.^[2]

The Lyman Viaduct is located in a rural setting of northwestern Colchester. Its center is about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west of Bull Hill Road on the state-maintained Air Line Trail. It is a wrought iron post deck truss design, 1,112 feet (339 m) long with a maximum height of 137 feet (42 m). The structure consists of bents formed out of three quarter-round rolled wrought iron sections, with flanges designed to facilitate riveted assembly. At the stream crossing point, there are four 30-foot (9.1 m) columns. Each tier of the trestle is joined horizontally and laterally to adjacent members. The entire structure is buried in earthen fill and topped by a dense pack of cinder blocks, now somewhat overgrown on the sides.^[1]

The bridge was built in 1873 by the Phoenix Iron Works for the Boston and New York Air-Line Railroad, which aimed to provide service between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, via Middletown, Connecticut. The trestle was one of the largest single capital expenses of the railroad venture, which was beset by cost overruns and failed after just ten years of operation. Taken over by the NYNH&H, the trestle was filled as a comparatively inexpensive means of strengthening the structure for use by heavier equipment in the early 20th century. The line remained in operation into the 1960s,^[1] and has since been adapted as the multiuse Air Line Trail by the state.

This trestle and the nearby Rapallo Viaduct, which was similarly buried, were among the world's first examples of wrought iron railroad trestles, and are the only known ones of that period that are believed to be in good condition, due to their entombment. The only earlier known examples of this technology include the Verrugas Bridge in Peru, begun before these, completed in 1873, and washed away in 1889, and the Kinzua Bridge in Pennsylvania, later rebuilt in steel. Because records of its construction are incomplete, forensic analysis of the structure (for example, by excavating a portion of the embankment) is expected to provide significant information about its design and construction, in particular how its construction may have deviated from known plans.^[1]

v t e National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut
Historic districts	American Thermos Bottle Company Laurel Hill Plant Baltic Bean Hill Burnett's Corner Chelsea Parade Civic Institutions Coit Street Colchester Village Downtown New London Downtown Norwich Eolia-Harkness Estate Gales Ferry No. 1 & 2 Graniteville Griswold Point Groton Bank Hadlyme Ferry Hadlyme North Hallville Mill Hamburg Bridge Hartford Colony Hempstead Hodges Square Jail Hill Jordan Village Laurel Hill Lebanon Green Little Plain Main Sawmill Mechanic Street Montauk Avenue Mystic Bridge Mystic River Noank North Stonington Village Norwich State Hospital Norwichtown Oil Mill Old Lyme Oswegatchie Poquetanuck Village Post Hill Preston City Prospect Street Quaker Hill Rossie Velvet Mill Salem Taftville Uncasville Mill United States Housing Corporation Walnut Grove Whale Oil Row Williams Memorial Park Yantic Falls
Historic properties	Abel H. Fish House Acors Barns House Alden Tavern Site Andrew Clark House Anshei Israel Synagogue Antone DeSant Houses Applewood Farm Ashbel Woodward House Ashlawn Avery Homestead Avery House Avery Point Light Bennett Rockshelter Blackledge River Railroad Bridge Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage Bradford-Huntington House Branford House Brewster Homestead Broad Street School Bulkeley School Burnham Tavern Capt. Mark Stoddard Farmstead Capt. Richard Charlton House Capt. Thomas Fanning Farmstead Captain Enoch Lord House Carpenter House Carroll Building Cedar Grove Cemetery Central Vermont Railroad Pier Clark Homestead Col. Joshua Huntington House Commonwealth Works Site Converse House and Barn Cooper Site David Chapman Farmstead Deshon-Allyn House Dr. Daniel Lathrop School Dr. Joshua Lathrop House Dr. Philip Turner House East District School Edward Bloom Silk Company Factory Edward Cogswell House Edward Waldo House Edward Yeomans House Fort Griswold Fort Shantok Fort Trumbull Gen. Jedidiah Huntington House Gov. Samuel Huntington House Greeneville Gurdon Bill Store Hamburg Cove Site Hayward House Henry Champion House House at 130 Mohegan Avenue Huntington Street Baptist Church Jabez Smith House John Palmer House John Randall House John Wilson House Jonathan Newton Harris House Joseph Carpenter Silversmith Shop Joshua Hempsted House Kinne Cemetery Lamb Homestead Lathrop-Mathewson-Ross House Leffingwell Inn Lieutenant River Sites 2, 3, 4 Lighthouse Inn Long Society Meetinghouse Lord Cove Site Luther Palmer House Lyman Viaduct Mill Brook Bridge Morton Freeman Plant Hunting Lodge Mystic Bank Natcon Site Nathan A. Woodworth House Nathan Lester House Nathaniel Backus House Nathaniel Hempstead House New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society Synagogue and Creamery Site New London County Courthouse New London Customhouse New London Harbor Light New London Ledge Light New London Public Library New London Union Station Norwich City Hall Occum Hydroelectric Plant and Dam Ohev Sholem Synagogue Old Bacon Academy Old Thames Shipyard Peck Tavern Pequot Fort Pequotsepos Manor Perkins-Bill House Perkins-Rockwell House Raymond-Bradford Homestead River Road Stone Arch Railroad Bridge Rocky Neck State Park Samson Occom Bridge Samuel Miner House Samuel Smith House Selden Neck State Park Seventh Sister Shaw Mansion Shepherd of the Sea Chapel Shubel Smith House Simon Tiffany House Slater Library Smith–Harris House Springbank St. James Episcopal Church Stanton–Davis Homestead Museum Stonington Borough School Stonington Cemetery Stonington Harbor Light Telephone Exchange Building The Seaside The Williams School Thomas Lee House Timothy Lester Farmstead Uncasville School United States Post Office–New London Main United States Post Office–Norwich Main War Office Wheeler Block Whitehall Mansion William A. Buckingham House William Clark Company Thread Mill William Gorton Farm William Noyes Farmstead William Park House Winslow Ames House Winthrop Mill Woodbridge Farm Wylie School Yantic Woolen Company Mill
National Historic Landmark Districts	Mashantucket Pequot Reservation
National Historic Landmarks	Capt. Nathaniel B. Palmer House Charles W. Morgan Emma C. Berry Florence Griswold Museum Fort Shantok Archeological District James Merrill House John Trumbull Birthplace L. A. Dunton Monte Cristo Cottage Sabino USS Nautilus William Williams House
Former	Ashland Mill Bridge
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in New London County, Connecticut and List of National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut

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