The Second Narrows Rail Bridge is a vertical-lift

railway bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

that crosses the

Burrard Inlet french: Baie Burrard , image = Burrard Inlet 201807.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , caption = Aerial view of Burrard Inlet , image_bathymetry = Burrard-Inlet-map-en.svg , alt_bathymetry ...

and connects

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

with the North Shore. The bridge's south end connects directly to the Thornton Tunnel, which connects it to the main Canadian rail network. As the name suggests, it is located at the second narrowing of the Burrard Inlet.

History

Background

During the Klondike Gold Rush, there were schemes to build a railway from Vancouver to the Dawson gold fields. The first stage in this would be to bridge Burrard Inlet and then build a railway north. John Hendry floated the Vancouver, Westminster, and Yukon Railway which built a line from Ladner to

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

and then to Vancouver via

Burnaby Lake Burnaby Lake is a lake located in Burnaby, British Columbia and is the focal geographic feature and namesake of Burnaby Lake Regional Park. The lake occupies of land, and is home to a large variety of wildlife. At least 70 species of birds make ...

. This line was paired with the Great Northern Railway who also wanted trackage into Vancouver. In the process, various other railroads all became involved in the bridging scheme: the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Man ...

, Milwaukee Road, and the

Pacific Great Eastern Railway The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The bridge itself would be owned by the Federal Government as they had control of harbours and shipping, and would lease access to the railways as they did with the rail bridge in New Westminster. One of the main reasons was that there was very little space on the south shore for wharves, thus railways wanted to develop the North Shore as the south side was occupied by another railway, the

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

. A company was floated, the Burrard Inlet Bridge and Tunnel Company, and contracts were issued to span the tidal bore. At one point, a causeway was planned to dam the narrows and create bridges and wharves that way.

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 ...

intervened, as did the bankruptcy of all the interested railways. With it went dreams of the bridge and rails up Indian Arm, the Capilano valley, or via Howe Sound. However, the predecessor railways did sign contracts to build a bridge and a new

Hotel Vancouver The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, formerly and still informally called the Hotel Vancouver, is a historic hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia. Located along West Georgia Street the hotel is situated within the city's Financial District, in Downtow ...

. Only after the war with huge increase in funding to improve harbours around the

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, partly due to problems associated with wartime shipping, did funds appear for the completion of the 1925 bridge. And so the north shore port became an amalgam of operations with

Canadian National 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 ...

Pacific Great Eastern BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...

and Harbour and Wharves Commission all using the bridge when it was not out of service. North Vancouver ferries operated at this time as well. The essential wartime shipyards in North Vancouver underscored the need for reliable industrial access. Further, the expansion of Lynnterm, Wheat elevators, coal and the sulphur port in the 1960s indicated the growing use of the North Shore.

Original bridge (1925)

The original Second Narrows Bridge was constructed in 1925, and was the first bridge to connect

with the North Shore over the tidal bore of the narrows. This bridge was constructed, by John Stewart and Northern Construction, with a car deck and a year later in 1926 trains began using the bridge as well. After being hit by a number of ships and being out of service for 4 years, in 1933 the provincial government bought the bridge and installed a lift section of the deck. In 1960, a new much larger and higher 6-lane Second Narrows Bridge with a span was completed alongside the original bridge, and the original bridge was converted exclusively for rail use. In 1994, the new road bridge was renamed the

Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, also called the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and Second Narrows Bridge, is the second bridge constructed at the Second (east) Narrows of Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Origi ...

in honour of the ironworkers who died in accidents while building it. However, the new bridge is still commonly referred to as the Second Narrows Bridge.

Second bridge (1968)

In 1968, the original 1926 railbridge was replaced by CN Rail with a larger, higher

lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

. A bridgetender activates cables and

counterweight A counterweight is a weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves energy and causes less wea ...

s to raise the span. Unless moving a train across

, the lift section is always in the up position to allow ships to go underneath. The current bridge has a vertical clearance of at the main lift span fully raised (open position). The vertical lift section of the Second Narrows Railway Bridge provides clear navigation width between rubbing fenders. However, the Ironworkers Second Narrows road bridge has a vertical clearance of and the shipping channel where the maximum vertical clearance is available is wide.

Chronology of the bridges

First Train Over Second Narrows Bridge with Automobiles and Logging Truck

* 1902: The V. W. and Y Railway is completed to Burnaby. A bridge is planned. * 1910: Bridge plans by the Burrard Inlet Bridge and Tunnel Company are proposed. * 1912: Land speculation happens on the North Shore, subject to completion of a bridge. * 1914: A railway to Deep Cove and Port Moody is planned. * 1915: Stock market collapses; P. G. E. Railway goes bankrupt. * 1916: A causeway is planned; Canadian Northern goes bankrupt. * 1925: A smaller, lower bridge than originally envisioned is completed. * 1926: Trains begin using the bridge. * 1927: The freighter , carrying large cargo of lumber, hits the bridge on March 10, causing almost $8,000 worth of damage. * 1928: Hit by freighter . * 1930: The freighter ''Losmar'' hits the south span. * 1930: On September 13, the barge ''Pacific Gatherer'' becomes wedged under the bridge's fixed centre span. The tide rises, pushing the barge up under the span, knocking it off its supports. The span hangs off one side before suddenly breaking free and sinking into the depths of Burrard Inlet. Lawsuits and the bankruptcy of the Bridge company delay any attempt at repairs. The bridge remains closed for four years. * 1933: The bridge is sold to the provincial government and repairs begin. * 1934: The bridge reopens, with the bascule replaced by a centre lift span. * 1963: The bridge is closed to highway traffic and sold to the CNR for $1. * 1968: A new, larger lift bridge is built immediately to the east of the 1926 bridge. * 1969: The Thornton Tunnel is dug for CN trains to connect with the rail line at Willingdon. * 1970: The old 1926 bridge is removed, as are its cement piers. * 1979: In October, the Japanese freighter ''Japan Erica'', carrying logs, collides with the bridge in a heavy fog, knocking a section of the bridge just north of the lift span into the water. The bridge is closed until March 4, 1980.

References

External links

A Short History of the Second Narrows BridgeSatellite image of the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing and Second Narrows Bridge1979 collision description and photos in Canadian Rail No. 344, 1980
{{Authority control Bridges in Greater Vancouver Bridges completed in 1925 Bridges completed in 1968 Buildings and structures in Vancouver Canadian National Railway bridges in Canada Transport in North Vancouver (district municipality) Railway bridges in British Columbia Vertical lift bridges in Canada