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This large, heavy duty deck truss bridge crosses at the location of the worst rail disaster in Canadian history, involving a previous bridge at this location. The incident, called the St-Hilaire train disaster, occured in June 29, 1864 at 1:20am when a passenger train failed to stop for an open swing span, resulting in the train crashing into the river, killing an estimated 99 people.
The bridge seen today is a nice looking riveted deck truss of heavy construction. It appears to reuse portions of the stone piers of the previous bridge. The bridge seen today was not built with a swing span. The main spans retain historic integrity, but modern girder spans can be found at the west end of the bridge. Two of the girder spans appear to be located where the swing bridge span was previously located becuase there is a large round stone pier at this location. The bridge construction date is not known but it was built by 1920.
Above: Historical image showing the railroad disaster of 1864.
Above: Historical photo showing the railroad disaster of 1864. In this photo, the swing span appears to have been closed and is open to rail traffic again, even as cleanup continues below.
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