Opened in 1931, the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(CNR) steel truss

swing span A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

railway bridge over the north arm of the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

in Metro Vancouver links

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

with

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and the south arm Vancouver Fraser Port Authority facilities on

Lulu Island Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River, located south of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the second-most populous island in British Columbia, after Vancouver Island. The city of Richmond occupies most ...

. The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) had planned to lay track from the north end of the

New Westminster Bridge The New Westminster Bridge (also known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge (NSRW) or the Fraser River Swing Bridge) is a swing bridge that crosses the Fraser River and connects New Westminster with Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. The bridge is ...

and cross the Fraser at the 1931 location. However, when the CNoR opened the Lulu Island branch line in 1917, it connected with the

British Columbia Electric Railway The British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) was an historic railway which operated in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Originally the parent company for, and later a division of, BC Electric Company (now BC Hydro), the BCER assumed contro ...

(BCER) Queensborough terminus. Since the original BCER Queensborough bridge was designed for

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s, not heavy locomotives, the CNoR westward route to

Steveston Steveston, founded in the 1880s, is a neighbourhood of Richmond in Metro Vancouver. On the southwest tip of Lulu Island, the village is a historic port and salmon canning centre at the mouth of the South Arm of the Fraser River. The early 1900s st ...

was an isolated branch line. After the CNR absorption of the bankrupt CNoR, the money-losing branch, and damage to trestles from a 1918

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...

fire at Mile 4, terminated all services. In July 1930, work began on sinking piers for the 4,200-foot-long bridge with a 240-foot central span. On completion in November 1931, work trains carried the steel rails across the bridge to lay of track for the Lulu Island industrial branch line. This comprised two north–south lines from west of the new bridge to connect with the remnants of the original east–west line at the south arm, with a scheduled completion date for the $2m project before yearend. Owing to the proximity of several bridges on the Fraser, the unique signal for the opening of the Lulu Island Bridge was four long blasts on the vessel's horn. In 2013, CN removed the observer-operator from the Lulu Island bridge, and now monitors river traffic by camera from the Fraser River Bridge in New Westminster.

References

{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = CNR Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = Queensborough Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream =

Knight Street Bridge The Knight Street Bridge is a crossing over the north arm of the Fraser River, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) line, and several roads, in Metro Vancouver. History Infrastructure The 1929 Vancouver Major Streets Plan designated the Clark-Knigh ...

, downstream signs = Canadian National Railway bridges in Canada Railway bridges in British Columbia Swing bridges in Canada Bridges completed in 1920 Bridges in Greater Vancouver Buildings and structures in Burnaby Buildings and structures in Richmond, British Columbia Bridges over the Fraser River Steel bridges in Canada

See also

References