Mile Marker: 4.6

 

Resource:

Sweeneysburg Trestle

 

Location: Sweeneysburg

 

 

 

County: Raleigh

 

Designation:
Historic

 

This uniquely engineered bridge spans a steep valley at Sweeneysburg. It has an approximate length of 500 feet and is around 200 feet high. The bridge has a pronounced C-shape which almost appears to adapt to the contours of the surrounding hillsides.


Originally wooden, the bridge carried train traffic for rail companies such as Copper Coal, the Virginian Railroad and Norfolk & Western. Presently the bridge actively carries CSX rail traffic.

 

Paint Creek’s history is inextricably linked to the natural resources found in abundance in this area. Coal, timber and agricultural products would not have found their way to market without the railroad.  The story of extraction of these resources could not be told without first noting the importance of the efforts that went into constructing the railroad.