The Montrose Swing Bridge is located on the

Welland River The Welland River (originally called the Chippawa Creek) is a river in the Golden Horseshoe that passes through the Southern Ontario cities of Welland and Niagara Falls. It flows from its source just south of Hamilton, Ontario to meet the Nia ...

at the junction with the Queenston Power Canal in the southeast portion of the City of

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It was built ca. 1910 to carry the

Canada Southern Railway The Canada Southern Railway , also known as CSR, was a railway in southwestern Ontario, Canada, founded on February 28, 1868 as the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway. Its name was changed to Canada Southern Railway on December 24, 1869. The 1868 ...

over the river (click the link to see a discussion of companies who used the Canada Southern tracks over the years). It is a two-track bridge, although only one track remains in use today. It crosses the river at roughly a 45-degree angle. This bridge is visually similar to the Welland Canal, Bridge 15, although it is a

Warren truss Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Governm ...

, compared to the

Baltimore truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

of Bridge 15.

Navigation on the river

The Welland River meets with the

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines ...

Port Robinson, Ontario Port Robinson is a small community in the southernmost part of Thorold, Ontario, Canada. The community is divided in half by the Welland Canal, as there is no bridge in the immediate vicinity to connect the two halves of the community. In the sum ...

. When the very first canal opened in 1829, it ended at Port Robinson and all vessels followed the Welland River to the Niagara River at Chippawa, Ontario. The canal was extended through to

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

in 1833, but the Welland River remained in service as a commercial shipping channel for approximately another century. It provided a route to the industries along the Niagara River and

Buffalo, NY Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, as well as access to the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

without journeys through open water. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, a military unit known as the "Welland Canal Force" (or, sometimes, the "Welland Canal Protection Force") was created to protect critical shipping links in Niagara, including this bridge. Images available from the Niagara Falls Library "Digital Niagara" collection show military forces on this bridge, as well as several other locations in the area. There is a level difference of about 8 feet between the Welland River and the Welland Canal, with the canal being the higher of the two. This was overcome via a lock at Port Robinson. This lock was of limited size. As ships increased in size, especially with the opening of the greatly expanded Fourth Welland Canal in 1932, the demand for navigation on the river diminished. A

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

timetable published in April, 1936 mentions this bridge and associated

interlocking In railway signalling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings. The signalling appliances and tracks are sometimes collectively re ...

. In an April, 1939 timetable, it is no longer mentioned, therefore it is assumed that the bridge had ceased to swing by that time.

The bridge today

Up until 2001, the bridge carried the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Hamilton Subdivision to the

Michigan Central Railway Bridge The Michigan Central Railway Bridge is an out-of-service steel arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, which purchased the single track str ...

crossing the Niagara River to the United States. The line saw several trains per day. Late in that year, the Hamilton Subdivision was abandoned where it passed through the busy tourist area of Niagara Falls and trains were re-routed over a Canadian National Railway line to enter the United States via the

International Railway Bridge The International Railway Bridge is a two-span swing bridge carrying the Stamford Subdivision of the Canadian National Railway across the Niagara River between Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, and Buffalo, New York, United States. It was originally b ...

. The track crossing the Montrose Swing Bridge was re-designated as the Montrose Subdivision. It now exists exclusively to service a couple of industries within the boundaries of the city of Niagara Falls and carries only one or two short trains per week.

References

* * New York Central Employee Timetables, No. 135 (April 26, 1936) and 141 (April 30, 1939), accessed via * * * {{cite book , last = Thorold Township Board of Trade , title = Advantages of Thorold Township for Industrial Purposes , publisher = The Semi-Weekly Post Printers , date = c. 1920 , location = Thorold, Ontario, Canada Railway bridges in Ontario Swing bridges in Canada Railway bridges in the Regional Municipality of Niagara Bridges in Niagara Falls, Ontario Bridges completed in 1910

Navigation on the river

The bridge today

See also

References