Oregon Trunk Rail Bridge

Oregon Trunk Bridge
Carries	Trains
Crosses	Columbia River
Locale	Oregon Trunk Junction, Oregon (in Wasco County); Wishram, Washington
Design	Pratt truss with vertical-lift span
Width	Single track
Coordinates	45°38′56.2″N 120°58′54.3″W / 45.648944°N 120.98175°W / 45.648944; -120.98175

The Oregon Trunk Rail Bridge or Celilo Bridge^[1] is a railroad bridge built in 1912 over the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It consists of eight steel truss spans and several deck girder spans, and includes a vertical-lift section.

It is part of the Wishram, Washington to Bend, Oregon line of the BNSF Railway. The bridge is downstream of the site of Celilo Falls, now submerged by water impounded by The Dalles Dam. The Dalles-Celilo canal passed beneath the southernmost span, which is a swing span. Completion of The Dalles Dam in 1957 inundated the canal, and the truss span to the north of the swing span was modified to lift for river navigation. All of the bridge's piers rest on rocks that were normally exposed during low water periods. During periods of high water, this stretch of the Columbia River became raging rapids, so the piers were built during low water. The north end of the bridge is a wye, where the rail line from Bend meets the BNSF Portland to Pasco mainline. On the south end of the bridge, the line crosses over and interchanges with the Union Pacific mainline.

See also

There are five other known Waddell & Harrington vertical-lift railroad bridges in Oregon.^[1] These are:

• Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1, crosses the Willamette in Portland
• Steel Bridge, crosses the Willamette in Portland
• Union Street Railroad Bridge crosses the Willamette in Salem
• Two unnamed bridges, cross the Willamette between Harrisburg and Junction City at river mile 162.7 and 162.8

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Union Street Railroad Bridge and Trestle" (PDF). City of Salem. November 2005. pp. 5–6 in section 8. http://www.cityofsalem.net/Departments/UrbanDevelopment/DepartmentProjects/UnionStreetRailroadBridge/Documents/06_dec_signed_nr_submission.pdf. Retrieved July 22, 2011. 

External links

• Circa 1912 image during bridge construction.