A sliver of early evening light illuminates the Northeast Regional train as it makes its way across the magnificent Hell Gate Bridge towards Penn Station in New York City. At the time it was completed in 1916, the Hell Gate was the world's longest steel arch bridge. The name for the bridge and the tidal strait it spans is derived from the Dutch word hellegat, meaning "bright strait" or "clear opening". However, the notoriously hazardous currents of this strait must have made the anglicized version, "Hell Gate", seem appropriate enough.
