CN Second Narrows Bridges over Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, BC

(Historic Bridges; Satellite)     (The Lions Gate Bridge is over the First Narrows.)

Eric Brighton posted (source) two photos with the comment:

The original Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver, BC was built for cars and trains in 1925. It was originally a Bascule drawbridge. But after several ships crashed into the bridge the center span was converted to a lift bridge. This made it the only combined lift and draw bridge in the world!

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The towers on today's bridge look a lot different from the towers in the above photo. So I wonder what the history of the lift span is.

Jonathan Konopka posted
This is the Second Narrows Rail Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a vertical lift bridge that was built in 1968 and carries a Canadian National rail line over the Burrard Inlet.

Even before the bridge was built, the shipping interests complained that the movable span was too close to the river bank. After it was built, those concerns proved to be correct. There were several booboos. The following photo of an allision shows the span that got knocked down is on the pivot side of the movable span.

By James Skitt Matthews - http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/s-s-losmar-after-knocking-down-span-of-second-narrows-bridge, Public Domain, Link
SS Losmar after knocking down a span of the Second Narrows Bridge

This would be a different allision because the span in the water is the one on the open side of the movable span.

By Leonard Juda Frank - http://www3.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca/spe/histphotos/histPhotoAdvancedSearch.html, Public Domain, Link

In Chicago, the more modern Strauss trunnion bridges use "elephant ears" for the counterweights so that they go down outside of the bridge deck. As an example, the B&OCT Bridge is raised on the left and the St. Charles Air Line Bridge is down on the right. The two white "ears" are the counterweights.

20170421 8720, cropped

In 1960, a 6-lane cantilever bridge was built for the road traffic, which was moved from the 1925 bridge.

3D Satellite

In 1968, CN Rail built a lift bridge that has larger clearances than the adjacent road bridge and removed the old bridge in 1970.

3D Satellite

Even with the wider span (500' [HistoricBridges]), the new rail bridge suffered an allision in 1978.

Canadian Rail, p2

sandeep singh, Jul 2018, cropped

sandeep singh, Jul 2018, cropped

Francesca Fiure, May 2018

Mariko Ishikawa, Mar 2018, cropped

Mariko Ishikawa, Aug 2016, cropped
[Note that three ships are docked here.]

When you do a Google search, the results are dominated by "collapse."

The collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge on June 17 1958.
The Rail and car bridge can be seen behind the fallen span.
© 1958, Vancouver Public Library.

Begun in November 1957, and built alongside the older bridge, the current Second Narrows Bridge, was intended to replace the narrow roadway of the rail and car bridge. The bridge would carry six lanes of traffic. Construction was marred by four separate incidents costing the lives of twenty-five men. The worst occurred on June 17th, 1958, when a large section of the bridge span collapsed into the inlet. Eighteen workers died. Some of them drowned because of the belts that had attached them to the bridge in case they fell.
The opening of the new bridge finally took place on August 25, 1960. Plaques were put up at both end of the bridge to commemorate the workers who lost their lives during the construction.
[CherryBouton]

The June 17, 1958 collapse, City of Vancouver Archives via CanadianEncyclopedia

I've seen both 18 and 19 specified as the number of deaths. The following explains the confusion.
"The collapse occurred near quitting time on June 17, 1958. At about 3:40 pm ironworkers toiling 40 metres above the inlet heard a horrific noise as Span 5 began to crash into the inlet in a mass of tangled steel. The momentum dislocated the columns of Pier 14, causing Span 4 to lose its grip and tumble into the sea. Seventy-nine workers fell. Among the 19 dead were 14 ironworkers, 3 engineers, a painter and a commercial diver who died a few days later when he drowned trying to recover a body. Twenty others were seriously injured." The main fault was faulty engineering calculations for the falsework by the engineer for Span 5, John McKibbin, that were not caught by the engineer in charge, Murray McDonald. McKibbin was killed in the collapse. [CanadianEncyclopedia]

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Information concerning the 1978 allision with the new RR bridge