Bridge Hunting – Waneta British Columbia

Here we look at the bridges of Waneta British Columbia. One, the elder of the pair, historically far more interesting and oh so photogenic, dates from the 1890s and once carried trains, It’s now used by highway traffic and is the oldest such span in this service in the province. The second, tight beside it, almost touching it in fact, replaced the earlier structure for train use, is a relative youngster and is from the 1940s. It sees the passing of freights every couple days.

The location here is within visual distance of the US border, not far from the West Kootenay community of Trail.

The Waneta Bridges span the Pend d’Oreille (or Pend Orielle) named after a local indigenous tribe. This river comes in from the US, crossing into BC briefly before emptying into the mighty Columbia just beyond the spans. Since the Columbia flows to the US a short distance away, water from the Pend d’Oreille is quickly repatriated. The Waneta Dam (circa 1950s) sits just upstream of the bridges. Signs remind anglers, which seem to like the area around here, that water levels can quickly change if the dam discharges. The Pend d’Oreille is a wonderful deep blue/green.

Bridge Hunting – Waneta British Columbia: two spans, side by side, both visually and historically interesting. Researched, written and photographed by Chris Doering and Connie Biggart (BIGDoer.com)

The oldest bridge: it was built for the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway (N&FS), that ran between the border, connecting with a US based sister-line there, all the way to Nelson BC. The structure dates from the line’s construction in 1893. It came from by the US based San Francisco Bridge Company and is just over 150 metres from end to end. It’s supported by two concrete and/or rubble filled riveted-metal piers topped by (what appear to be) stone caps.

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The bridge was used by the railway until the mid-1940s when the structure beside it was built. At that time the track was replaced with a deck, supporting a new highway heading south to the US. The bridge is single lane, which is not a big issue since the traffic here is pretty quiet (mostly anglers from what saw). The Canada/US border is about a click or so away.

The bridge has been well kept up and is expected to be remain in service for some time yet. An Osprey Nest can be seen atop it.

Technical stuff: the multi-part span uses a cantilevered pin-connected Warren Truss arrangement. Diagonals form triangles, some (alternating) under compression and others tension. The bottom cord is flat, the top cord forming two separated towers supporting the truss structure with pin-connected (so flexible) metal eye-bars. For railway use, especially for such a short span (relatively speaking of course), it’s not the most common design. This 1890s bridge is considered one of the oldest extant examples built to this specific form.

Visually the first Waneta Bridge is quite impressive, a masterpiece of engineering and is of course very historically significant. In the old days, the land around the it was a narrow shelf only wide enough for the railway. Today, it’s much more broad suggesting they had to add fill to fit the highway on it. Still, space is tight in places.

The newer train bridge beside the first has three connected spans also in a Warren Truss arrangement (but with flat top cords) and overall is the same length as its neighbour. It’s from 1945, so was a late example of this style, and sits atop two concrete piers – so close to the those of the first bridge, that they almost touch. Just an observation: Warren Truss train bridges don’t seem common in Canada, or at least where we hang out and the railways here seemed to prefer a similar looking but structurally somewhat different Pratt design.

The tracks seen, for the last decade, have been owned by the Kettle Falls International Railway. This firm comes in from the US many times a week, terminating at a couple reload facilities just inside the border in service of the huge Teck (former Cominco) Smelter in Trail. We prayed for a train to show. No luck!

These same rails also connect with the short line Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway, remnants of that original line and using the same name, in nearby Columbia Gardens. The N&FS serves a saw-mill in Fruitvale ten or so clicks away. This author visited this line (former International Rail Road Systems) and was given a ride which will be documented in an upcoming post here on BIGDoer.com.

In the past, the tracks at the Waneta Bridges once belonged to the original Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway (early 1890s), and US based Great Northern Railway (1890s-1970 – they built the replacement span), Burlington Northern Railroad (1970-1996) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (1996-2006). Interesting side note, they spelled Sheppard wrong, it should be Shepherd, and comes from an old trading fort once located nearby, incidentally right across the Columbia River from the bridges. It’s a one and a quarter century old error. Waneta, by the way, was never a town that we could find, but simply refers to the general area.

The original line once ran all the way to Nelson. Now only the short Kettle Falls Railway section (in Canada) and Nelson & Fort Sheppard line further on (interestingly, the company serves neither of the places in its name) are all that remains in use today. The rest closed starting in 1990s and much is a rail trail. This author visited some of the former N&FS this same trip.

Stay tuned for another bridge report from the area, a look at three crossings of the Columbia River, one old, one real old and due to be demolished and one still under construction, in the town of Trail. The river is big and wide here so all documented are particularly interesting.

More bridges…
Empress Subdivision Bridge.
Bridge Hunting – Rosebud River Valley.
Abandoned CPR Bow River bridge.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: July, 2016.
Location: Waneta, BC.
Article references and thanks: HistoricBridges.org, BC Ministry of Highways, Trail Historical Society.
There are spots beside the highway or near the river where you can safely view the bridges.

Waneta BC Bridges

The bridges of Waneta British Columbia.

Waneta BC Dam

Just to the east is the Waneta Dam.

Waneta British Columbia Bridge

The structures date from the 1940s (left) and 1890s (right).

Nelson & Fort Sheppard Bridge

The highway bridge once carried trains.

Oldest Highway Bridge BC

This one is the oldest of its kind in BC.

Historic Waneta Bridge

An Osprey Nest.

Waneta BC Railway Bridge

The pair span the Pend d’Orielle where it meets the mighty Columbia.

Historic Bridge Waneta BC

Driving across…

64 responses

  1. Eric says:

    The steel clad piers are unusual.

    • Indeed. Often the leading edge of a pier gets this treatment, to help fight ice flows, but here I think it was a reinforcement, in addition to being protective.

  2. MMc says:

    Hi,
    If I got to this bridge with my canoe, is there easy access to the river for a put-in site?

  3. Sylvia Nordstrom says:

    Thank you for the awesome history lesson. I use this bridge when I go into the US, though it’s been over 3 years since I’ve used it. The one way bridge is awesome and kinda scary at the same time.

  4. Holly Danielle Kelly says:

    We are lucky to see these it’s ten min from where we live ❤️ we always pick the dirt road up to view the dams. These bridges are stunning.

  5. Barry Davies says:

    The design and engineering of these bridges is incredible. A lot of smart people way back then

    • They did it all with slide rules and the like, or what ever engineers use. Amazing! I swear technology is working against us when it comes to smarts.

  6. Roy Heckler says:

    Interesting photo, thanks from Arizona

  7. Connie Biggart says:

    Spectacular!

  8. Martin Oskarsson says:

    I have been following your adventures for a while and I love them. You go to the kind of places I look for on my travels and it is fun to sometimes see you visit locations that I have been to! 🙂 These bridges look stunning!

    • Glad you’re enjoying what we do. We have fun with it. We like the more obscure backroad stuff and love digging up history on what we see.

  9. Mike Goff says:

    That old bridge is one heck of a structure.

    I check it out on our way back home from Trail a few years ago.

    There are a number of interesting bridges in that part of B.C.

  10. Stacey MacKinnon says:

    Was on it yesterday

  11. Kathy Morrish says:

    Fond memories of Sunday drives as a child….

  12. David Nichols says:

    Used to go over it lots heading onto the states

  13. Kathy Fromont says:

    Being fromTraiL, BC, that single lane bridge is still there. You can see the water flowing under it into the Columbia River. It can be scary, but it is awesome.

  14. Christopher Tindall says:

    This is pretty fantastic – going to have to make a side trip next year!

  15. Lori Boschman says:

    Putting this on my list. Thanks.

  16. Mike Bonkowski says:

    This Pend Oreille river set of bridges is on my bucket list. Such a magnificant & historical set of structures.

  17. Rosco P. Coltrane says:

    grew up down there, good fishing under those bridges

    • Saw many anglers on our visit including one fellow who we swore was Randy from Trailer Park Boys (on vacation?) shirtless and all. Maybe it’s fishburgers for him now?

  18. Teresa Marie says:

    I grew up near trail. I didn’t know that history, although I m sure my dad, long time Cominco photographer did. We often stopped to watch the water flow on the Waneta dam . I was there a year ago and someone was kayaking through those rapids…crazy water!

  19. Aljaž Skarlovnik says:

    Adaptive reuse

    • If something is still useful, it’s good practice to reuse. Not everything needs to be replaced. And this one’s so photogenic to boot. Win, win!

  20. Rick Turner says:

    Can cycle over it, and look down below your wheels to the rushing river. Metal mesh surface.

  21. Roberta Strangeway says:

    Love ol’ bridges – miss the ol’ Squilax bridge, taking courtesy turns to cross over.

  22. Jean Humphreys says:

    that old bridge is an absolute treasure!

  23. Gerry J Deemter says:

    Love it! What neat pictures!

  24. John William Kinnear says:

    What? Looks single lane . Was there yield signage? This is amazing ….What a blast it would be to be on that bridge with an engine going over the other one. You need that pic!!!

    • One lane, yes! Northbound traffic has to yield. We hoped for a train to show, but came away empty. It got bumped to the next day as it turned out and we were somewhere else.

  25. Malcolm Millar says:

    PAth the the Excited States of America south of Trail.. Pretty cool damn and lake structure those are close to.. And I did catch a train almost crossing.. It was sleeping a few miles back.

  26. Sonja says:

    Good grief, I remember exploring the area with my parents when I was a kid. That was many moons ago. That’s where I realized I was afraid of heights! Good memories!

    • We’re in the afraid of heights clubs (well one of us, the one typing this) and I could see how it might trigger those feelings. Glad it brought back some memories!

  27. Jo Tennant says:

    so much technical information – and fascinating – always the supporting information is a good read.

  28. Dolly Winterburn says:

    Elegant! Are you sure it’s the oldest in BC?

  29. Dan Murphy says:

    Nice work with the pictures!

  30. Steve S says:

    Great article (as always)

    It really is right next to the border.
    Google Maps shows it clearly.

    • Thanks a million. Keep coming back often and be sure to comment when you can. Yes, it’s very close to the border. Interesting, yeah?

  31. Ron Buser says:

    Beautiful scenery, beautiful photos.

  32. Jason Sailer says:

    AWESOME!!! That is so cool! Glad you guys were able to get down there. Would of been swell to catch a train crossing!

    • The Kettle Falls Railway said they might show up that afternoon, but didn’t. Still, even seeing the bridge by itself was awesome. It’s very impressive.

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