The New Great Scott
Until 2021 I had no idea the remote Scott Avenue footbridge over the LIRR freight-only Bushwick Branch had been recently replaced. I first spotted the older bridge it had replaced back in …. well, I don’t rightly remember the year; it could have been on bicycle forays to these realms back in the 1970s. I was aware of it when I got a series of photos beginning in 1999 that culminated in this FNY page describing it. That 1952 bridge was difficult to navigate because the stairs were steep and unforgiving. This new version somewhat addressed that flaw and it’s easier to ascend.
The neighborhood youth have already gotten busy with their inevitable, vandalistic work. The walkway has been completely canopied, no doubt to make it difficult for neighborhood youth to throw objects on passing freights. The slots in the metal are enough to shoot a camera lens through…
…and thus obtaining views of the Bushwick Branch tracks are still possible. The line runs from Bushwick Place and Montrose Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn to its junction with the Long Island Rail Road Montauk Branch near Flushing Avenue and Rust Street in Maspeth, Queens. At some points it’s smooth and well-maintained, but at others, it’s overgrown with weeds. It still sees a decent amount of freight trains.
More from East Williamsburg on this Forgotten New York page.
Kevin Walsh is the webmaster of the award-winning website Forgotten NY, and the author of the books Forgotten New York (HarperCollins, 2006) and also, with the Greater Astoria Historical Society, Forgotten Queens (Arcadia, 2013)