Switchback Bridge

In 1891, George Brooke Roberts, a Bala Cynwyd resident and president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), ordered construction of the Pencoyd Bridge off the Schuylkill Valley Division to the Pencoyd Iron Works. Until then, the iron works, owned by Percival Roberts, a cousin of the PRR president, had to use the Reading Railroad, which passed the factory along the river. The PRR branch was built solely to deliver coal and raw materials and to move out finished products for the Pencoyd Iron Works. This section of the trail was constructed on part of the land used for the switchback between the Manayunk Bridge and the trail's terminus at Rock Hill Road and Belmont Avenue. A chunk of the Switchback Bridge was found on the trail during a 2009 cleanup, an unusual discovery because all of the salvaged metal was thought to have been sold for reuse.

Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania · United States