Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 or BNSF Railway Bridge 9.6, also known as the Columbia River Railroad Bridge, is through truss railway bridge across the Columbia River, between Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, owned and operated by BNSF Railway. Built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and completed in 1908, it was the first bridge of any kind to be built across the lower Columbia River, preceding the first road bridge, the nearby Interstate Bridge, by a little more than eight years.
The 2,807-foot (856 m) long bridge has a swing span, which pivots on its base to allow for the passage of taller ships. The bridge carries two railroad tracks, which are used by BNSF, Union Pacific Railroad, and Amtrak. It is one of only two surviving swing-span bridges in the Portland metropolitan area, which once had several bridges of that type. The other survivor is another BNSF bridge located nearby, on the same line and built at the same time, the Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge (also known as BNSF Railway Bridge 8.8). The 9.6 in the name is the distance, in miles, from Portland's Union Station, the same as for Bridge 5.1 (across the Willamette River) and Bridge 8.8 on the same line.
Read more about Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6: History, Operation, Gallery
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“I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say—I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”
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