Looking towards Springfield, Meisel Ave. can be seen just up ahead.

The bridge straddles the border between the towns of Springfield and Union in the marshes of the Rahway River. This marshy area proved to be troublesome to the contractors building the line between 1904 and 1906.  "The story is told how disaster struck, as the line was being built toward Springfield. The grading crew knocked off work at sundown, about 450 yards west of Branch Junction. Returning the next morning, found that about 100 cubic yards of fill had disappeared into the marshland on the approach to the Rahway River. Considerable delay in the construction timetable resulted while a coffer dam was built and the soft footings removed. A firm bed was found somewhat lower and grillage dropped. The Rahway River span itself redesigned from the original plate span to a heavier truss bridge, mounted on stronger reinforced abutments." (Rahway Valley Railroad: Saga of a Shortline, by John J. McCoy, 1976).

Another interesting story from the time of the bridge's construction tells of an "awful" snapping turtle spotted here. "A snapping turtle of huge proportions, whose habit it is related was to plunge at men who approached it with a grunt resembling the bark of a ferocious dog, and whose glance was equally terrifying was caught . . . Workmen employed in erecting an iron bridge over the Rahway River at Springfield for the Rahway Valley Railway [sic] have noticed the turtle swimming about in the stream or basking in the sunshine on the bank." ("An Awful Snapping Turtle," The Washington Post, August 12, 1905)