9 5/8 x 13 in. albumen photograph on 14 1/4 x 17 5/8 in. cardstock mount with letterpress title and credit to the photographer.

Pictured is a multi-span stone arch bridge spanning the Juniata River. A Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive approaches the bridge from the viewer's left as a group of men and boys gather on the right.

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William T. Purviance, a Philadelphia photographer, began his career as a daguerreian but transitioned comfortably into wet plate photography in the 1860s and 1870s. He is primarily known for his work for a series of stereographs he issued after he became the official photographer for the Pennsylvania railroad In 1867. His large format images are comparably rare, and probably represent special commissions made as gifts to important stockholders or directors of the railroad.