The Trolley Bridge Between Sunbury & Shamokin Dam

 The new trolley bridge between Sunbury And Shamokin Dam opened on October 5th 1907.  The bridge was built for the S&S (Sunbury & Selinsgrove) Trolley line.

The bridge provided a rail line for the trolleys, wagons, and automobiles.  

A toll house was constructed on the east end of the bridge, in Sunbury.

Tolls were collected on the right side of the building, a store selling small travel items was in the left side.  The toll collector lived on the second floor.

Rates for the bridge, when it opened in October 1907

Twenty Crossings for $1

Toll Bridge Tickets

View across the bridge, from the Shamokin Dam side

Trolley crossing the new bridge

Sunbury Toll Bridge Tickets

Trolley on the bridge in 1908

Post card of the 1908 trolley bridge

In October 1928, the toll house was moved in preparation for a new  bridge to be built

MOVE HEAVY TOLL BRIDGE 

Sunbury Span Weighing Three Million Pounds Placed on New Location

 Three million pounds of steel and wood in the old toll bridge at the foot of Bainbridge street, Sunbury, was lifted from its foundations at 7:45 o'clock yesterday morning and in a few minutes was slowly moving down stream to false piers where it will rest and be in constant use while the new structure is being completed. Hundreds of people crowded upon the bridge as the work was started, and vehicles of all kind passed back and forth across the structure while the work was in progress. It was impossible to move the street car tracks while the bridge was in motion, but the trolley car stopped at the west end of the bridge while the passengers were transferred to a large Bus of the West Branch Transit Company and then hauled across the bridge to the terminal in Sunbury. The old bridge was erected by the York Bridge Company and opened to traffic October 5th, 1907. There are fourteen spans each 157 feet in length, or a total length of 2238 feet.

Each span weighs slightly over 100 tons. In three hours the bridge was moved four feet six inches, and the task was completed yesterday afternoon. It was moved 26 feet. Steel work for the new girder bridge is ready to be moved onto the site, and workmen arrived today from Bethlehem Steel Company ready to place the steel in position. Contractor Rockwell declared that the new bridge would be completed before Christmas if the weather continued favorable..

The new bridge opened in December of 1928. 

Lights were added to the bridge in October of 1929

The toll old house still stood, off to the side, into the 1950s.

The builder was Mr Rockwell, who also built the Watsontown-White Deer Bridge.

The new, smaller, toll booth in 1928

Lewis Banks of Lewisburg purchased the former Bainbridge Street Bridge, for $10,000

[It might be interesting to track what he did with it...]

The Toll House Was Torn Down in 1957

The bridge was incredibly narrow, and combined with the large traffic circle on the Shamokin Dam side, was a frequent source of complaints.

The 1928 Bridge was torn down in the late 1980s

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First Toll Taker Hopes To Take Final Fare, 1957