“B&S NOV 1870 PENN” reads the guard rails on the bridge spanning the northern most bridge on the modern-day Connecticut Valley Railroad.
Most average people, railfans, and railroaders alike, would pass by this little tid-bit and dismiss it as “just some old rail”, but think about what it really means. This rail is some of the original 55lbs rail that the CT Valley RR laid back in 1871. At the time, the Untied States was less than 100 years old, the Civil War had just ended, and my great-great grandparents still lived in Europe. Much of the American West was still un-seen by European-Americans, the Titanic would not set sail for another 42 years, and there was no such thing as a “World War”. Ulysses S. Grant was in his second year of office, the steam locomotives currently running on the south end of the line would have been considered “futuristic”, and Doc Brown and Marty McFly would not arrive in Hill Valley for another 15 years!
That is just some of what 136 years means…

Photographed by Seth Erazmus, March 11, 2006.
Added to the photo archive by Seth Erazmus, March 13, 2006.
Railroad: Valley Railroad.

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