Tag Archives: Welland Canal

Welland Canal Bridge 15

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October 18, 2025

I recently visited Welland to see a new client and while passing through town I noticed an abandoned swing bridge. Naturally, this provided an opportunity to get some pictures and learn a little about the local history. The bridge is known as Bridge 15 on the Welland Canal and was built in 1910 to replace an earlier wooden bridge at this location. The bridge style is a Baltimore Truss Swing Bridge. A Baltimore Truss bridge is reinforced by an additional brace in the lower section of the truss. This is intended to prevent buckling in the beams and to reduce deflection. This style of bridge was primarily used for railway construction but is not very common with few remaining examples.

The bridge was built to carry the Canada Southern Railway (CASO) across the Welland River. The railway was founded in 1868 and went insolvent following the financial crisis of 1873. It was taken over by railway magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt who claimed it for the price of guaranteeing the bonds that had been issued against it. As ships became bigger the various bridges through town became an obstacle and a newer, straighter canal was envisioned that would move the canal away from this part of the river. The Welland Canal Relocation Project moved the rail line to the Town Line Tunnel to the east of the river.

When the bridge was built, the Third Welland Canal was in operation and navigation was only possible on the east side of the bridge. Electrical power was brought by cable from the west shore to the centre of the bridge. When the Fourth Welland Canal opened in 1932 navigation was possible on both sides of the bridge. This meant that the overhead power cable was no longer feasible. An underwater power cable was run from the shore to the tower on the northern concrete fender. (These fenders protected the bridge from collisions with ships when the bridge was in its open position.) A power cable was run between the tower on the northern fender and the one on the southern fender, pictured below.

Visible in this picture is the structure at the top of the bridge where electricity was supplied to operate the controls and swing the structure.

Originally there were two tracks crossing the bridge but one was removed after the main line was relocated in 1973. The other side remained in use until the late 1980s.

The bridge is now marked with no trespassing signs and the danger is quite real as there’s plenty of ways to get injured on this rusty old relic. Where the rails are missing the gears and turning mechanisms can be clearly seen.

Piers were sunk into the river bed on either bank of the river to protect the bridge abutments from impacts with wayward ships. These are rotting and slowly falling back into the water.

After 115 years the bridge is now a relic to a time gone by when the trains rolled over the bridge and ships passed by on either side when it was open. The railway line is gone and ships now pass a couple of kilometres east of the river in a new channel.

Related Stories: The First Three Welland Canals

Google Maps Link: Welland Canal Bridge 15

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Peterborough Lift Lock

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October 9, 2022

On a business trip to Peterborough in July I had a few minutes to stop and watch the operation of Lock 21 on the Trent-Severn Waterway. The waterway is 386 kilometres long and was first travelled by a European in 1615 when Jacques Cartier explored the region using long standing indigenous routes.

The canal was originally surveyed as a military route with the first lock being built in 1833 as part of a commercial venture. Three more locks were under construction in 1837 when the Rebellion broke out. It was determined that the canal would have too many locks to be used for rapid troop movements and so the three locks were completed, and progress was suspended. With the canal incomplete and no outlet to a major lake it was connected to other travel routes by toll roads, plank roads and eventually by railways. The image below shows the side view of the lift lock in Peterborough,

It was restarted in the late 1880s by the government of Sir John A. Macdonald, but little progress was made, and it was generally used as a political tool to get votes from the communities along the route. In the late 1890s it was undertaken with a new commitment, and it reached Peterborough and Lake Simcoe in 1904. The First World War slowed progress again and it didn’t reach Trenton until 1918 and Georgian Bay in 1920. By this time the ships had grown too big for the canal system and railways were carrying most of the commercial traffic. It became a pleasure route and eventually would be declared a National Historic Site of Canada and be used as a linear park. The image below shows the lift lock with the left hand side elevated and the right side being loaded for the next lift.

When it was completed in 1904 it was the highest hydraulic boat lift in the world and the largest concrete structure in the world. The vertical lift was 65 feet (20 metres) while most conventional locks had a lift of 7 feet (2.3 metres). The system consists of two identical caissons that sit at the level of the river at their lowest point. They each sit on a 7.5 metre diameter ram. In the picture below the lift is half completed and the two caissons can be seen beside each other.

When the lift reaches the top, it stops 12 inches below the water level in the upper reach. The gate is opened and water flows in to equalize with the level of the river in the upper reach. This causes the upper caisson to increase in weight so that it is 1844 short tons compared to the lower one which has 1700 tons of water in it. When the system is ready to reverse the valve between the two rams is opened and the extra weight in the upper caisson pushed the ram of the lower caisson up until the positions are reversed. The system requires no external power as the weight of the water is enough to operate the system.

Just below the lock is a swing bridge that allows the Canadian Pacific Railway to cross the river. When not in use by the railway it is moved out of the way of boat traffic on the river.

The Peterborough Lift lock was declared a National Historical Site in 1979.

Related stories: Newmarket Ghost Canal, The First Three Welland Canals.

Google Maps Link: Peterborough Lift Lock

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