New Waneta Railway Bridge - Waneta, BC - Truss Bridges on Waymarking.com

The two bridges cross the Pend d'Oreille at its mouth, just before it empties into the Columbia. The original bridge was built in 1893, being completed on June 22nd of that year by the Nelson & Fort Sheppard Railway. The name comes from a misspelling of Fort Shepherd, a Hudson's Bay Trading Post across the Columbia, just north of the Canada-U.S. border. That bridge saw service until 1945 when the Great Northern, which had by then bought out the N&FS, began carrying heavier loads than the bridge had been designed for.

The bridge is a steel truss bridge of exactly 500 feet in length. It rests on a pair of concrete piers in the river and concrete abutments on each bank. The rail line, which had originally been built to service silver mines at Nelson, now runs only as far north as Fruitvale, to a lumber mill there. As well, it services a number of businesses in the industrial park at the Trail Airport.

Parking is available on the west side of Highway 22A, just past either end of the bridge. And, for the benchmark hunters, there is one each end of the bridge and another about 25 feet southeast of the southern end.

Parking Coordinates:: N 49° 00.299 W 117° 37.105 Date Built: 01/01/1945 Length of Span: 500 Feet www: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Log your find with a picture of the bridge with yourself or your GPS in the foreground. This shot does not have to be taken "on" the bridge. The shot should show the "truss" structure of the bridge as well.

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