Canadian Railroads > The bridges of Cisco BC,

Cisco BC, is the location where CP and CN swap sides of the Fraser River.

CP came through first in 1885, and the Canadian Northern came through circa 1913.  

Both railways have spectacular bridges at Cisco.  Initially, CP had a steel deck truss bridge at this location, however later that bridge was relocated to Vancouver Island on the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway, a CP subsidiary. The through truss bridge that replaced the original used the same piers and abutments of the original.

The Canadian Northern built a steel arch bridge just upstream from the CP bridge. At some time, a derailment took place on the bridge which after repairs was only partially repainted in the then current CN bridge colour, orange.

During WW2, a connecting track was graded between the two railways , but rails were not laid at that time. Following the CN derailment on their bridge, tracks were finally placed on the connecting track. The cuts made to the hillside for this grade are visible on the right side of the images of the CN bridge.

The steeply graded connecting track has seen enough use over the years that CN has installed a signalled control point where the connecting track diverges from the CN main.

The Via passenger train was a demonstration train on May 27th,1985 that was visiting communities along the CN as planning for reinstating passenger service along the CN following the 1980 Trudeau service cuts. A daylight train through the Fraser Canyon didn't happen on Via until 1988 .

The CP train is an eastbound coal empties, the CN train a westbound grain train.

The Fraser River is in full flood during the spring run off. Note the trees floating down the river.

The first road through this canyon was built by the British Army Royal Engineers to the Cariboo Gold Fields in the 1860's. In the image of the CP bridge, the Trans-Canada highway is visible. Highway1 closely follows the original road. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/21 11:53 by eminence_grise.

Great shots. Where were the first three pictures taken from?

cvrrr

Posted from iPhone

cvrrr Wrote:
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> Great shots. Where were the first three pictures
> taken from?
>
> cvrrr
>
> Posted from iPhone

There was a construction era road above the CP bridge, fairly substantially engineered. It was probably built for the bridge and tunnel work. 

The Cariboo Road crossed the Fraser downstream on a suspension bridge imported from England. It's early 1900's replacement is still in place just upstream from the present Spuzzum bridge.

Excellent images.
Gary

Good stuff, one of those epic places not many people know about. Staggering to think how much of western Canada's watershed goes past that one one spot. Often wondered how deep it was right there. Great angle from the construction road.
t4p.

Very nice..!!