The photos and discussions about the Erie line through Passaic has prompted another question from me. I understand this bridge was steam operated. I'm interested if anyone has an idea of how this worked. I assume the steam boiler and engin were either in the pylon that the bridge swung on. I don't think there was room for it in the shack atop the bridge. How was this thing fired? I'm thinking it was oil. Where would they store coal? This must have been an expensive operation with a bridge that wasn't opened very much in the 50s and 60s. I'm assuming that some sort of stationary fireman or engineer had to operate this steam engine. I wonder why Erie didn't convert the operation to electricity in the 30s or 40s. Ed Montgomery ------------------------------
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