Howe truss bridge

[Kevin Kierstead]

just read an old, (2003), Frommer's travel guide for N.H. that mentions Clark's Trading Post. The entry says that they, (Clark's), claim to have the last Howe Truss railroad bridge in the world. Any further input appreciated.
(maybe this belongs under a past subject: our own Howe bridge)

[Mike Fox]

It could be a simple play on words. They have the last Howe Truss Covered Bridge, where we have a Howe Covered Truss..

[Bill Piche]

At the time it was the only Howe Truss Bridge still in railroad service, which is what I think was what they were going for.

As Mike said, it's now joined by the Trout Brook Bridge but is still the only Covered version of the Howe Truss in railroad service.

[Ed Lecuyer]

Clarification: Both the Clark's Trading Post bridge, and the WW&F Trout Brook Bridge are Howe Truss Bridges that are covered. Both are now in active railroad service. For a time, Clark's claim was true; our bridge was out of active railroad use for many years.

One common misconception is that the Trout Brook bridge is not a covered bridge. It is very much a covered bridge, as the sides are covered - but the Trout Brook bridge does not have a roof. The purpose the "covering" of a covered bridge is to protect the trusses - which can be accomplished by using a roof or not. This is known as a "pony truss" - where the trusses are shorter than the traffic the bridge is designed to carry. Only 5 or 6 covered pony truss bridges remain in the US; some use the Howe design, a few use a different design that I don't recall the specifics of right now.

[Mike the Choochoo Nix]

The Howe and the Pratt may be the most common types of bridge trusses. The difference is that the Howe has the timber at angles and the rods vertical , the Pratt has the timber vertical and the rods at an angle.
M. Nix