Lost Bridge #20 over Welland Canal in Port Colborne, ON.

Lift: (Satellite)

Swing: (Satellite)

These bridges are (swing) and was (lift) on the Welland Canal.

John Greggio posted nine photos with the comment: "The Canadian National Railway Bridge (Bridge 20) Being Decommissioned 1997."

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The swing bridge:

Street View, May 2025

Barry Westhouse commented on John's post
An approach span consisting of a CN swing bridge on the west side of the canal remains in place, Bridge 21 (Clarence St) in the background. - I believe CSL Whitefish Bay is also in my photo - July 2018.

1973 Welland Canal Aqueduct over Welland River near Port Robinson, ON

(Satellite)

Welland Canal Overview

This is the aqueduct for the bypass canal. What is now the Welland Recreational Canal had an aqueduct over the river in Welland. Today, it has a siphon.

Dougie Jay posted

The Welland River Aqueduct at Port Robinson .. the CSL Tadoussac upbound in the Canal  .. also visible at upper left is the last remnant of the former Welland River channel before the New Canal Bypass was constructed; view looking NE (image by Carl Green)

🚢

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10166415799378135

Carl Green: Thank you for the photo credit. If you want to share future images of mine, please use the link to my post rather than downloading the image and uploading it again. That way I get the viewer count, which I get paid for. Thanks. [I clicked the link, but I got an "unavailable" in response. I did not know that Facebook monetized views. That probably explains why I'm seeing so much plagiarism on Facebook.]

Dougie Jay added three photos as comments to the above post.

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When completed, the new Welland Canal Bypass and the rerouting of the Welland River through the new aqueduct created what is now Merritt Island, this island stretches all the way to downtown Welland between the river and the old Canal.

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1930 (Barry Dunham)

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2016

CN Swing Bridge over Third Welland Canal

(Historic Bridges; Satellite)

R.S. Douglas posted
This is the bridge that crosses the 3rd Welland Canal. The canal hasn't been used since the 1930s, but the bridge, that was built in 1887, still sees daily use by passenger and freight trains. When the canal was in use, the bridge would swing open to allow ships to pass through the lock behind it.
[Historic Bridges]
R.S. Douglas also posted
R.S. Douglas also posted

Rene Ressler commented on the second post above by R.S. Douglas

Karen Limardi posted 12 photos with the comment: "The CN Railway swing bridge over the Third Welland Canal circa mid to late 1800's....around 1887. The span is a camelback warren through truss. Still an active track but no longer operational as a swing bridge . We hiked along the old Third Welland Canal this morning"

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Barry Westhouse commented on Photo 7
The CN Grimsby Subdivision extends from N.F. to Bayview Junction at Hamilton near the R.B.G.

1800's, and newer, Canals Overview

Interactive Canals Map

Metrotrails posted

A good overview of the historic canals of the northeastern United States. 

As a group we have traced all of the Morris Canal, Delaware and Raritan Canal, Union Canal, Schuylkill Navigation, Lehigh Canal, Delaware Canal, and Delaware and Hudson Canal.

We have traced sections of the Pennsylvania Canal (all of Susquehanna Division, Juniata Division, and Allegheny Portage Railroad), parts of Western Division, North Branch Canal, Susquehanna and Tidewater, Erie, Champlain, Blackstone, New Haven & Northampton, and more than half of Chesapeake and Ohio. 

Each has been amazing.

Vince Gargiulo: So out of the group how many used inclined planes?

Metrotrails: Vince Gargiulo Morris Canal had 23, 24 if you count the electric one. I understand there was one connected to the Potomac. Other than that no inclined planes on the canals themselves. The early connection railways had them, but it wasn't the same. The most were on Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad. Second most on Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad. Allegheny Portage Railroad had 10, Philadelphia and Columbia had 2. Lehigh and Susquehanna had 3. Mauch Chunk had 2 main, several connecting. Many early anthracite lines had them.

Comments on the above post

Comments on the above post

This is why the Erie Canal sparked such a canal building frenzy in the Midwest before the railroads made them obsolete.

Unify posted

"Why is patience so important?"

"Because it makes us pay attention."

— Paulo Coelho

Paul Petraitis shared

The blue lines indicated rivers that were navigable by riverboats.

24:29 video @ 6:28
The 19th Century Retailer - The Lost, and Found Riverboat Arabia

Old, and some newer, canals that I have noted:

• Welland
• Illinois & Michigan
• Miami & Erie
• Wabash & Erie and Whitewater
• Ohio & Erie and Muskingum River
• Hennepin/Illinois & Mississippi
• Erie
• Beaver & Erie
• C&O
• Lower Fox River and Milwaukee & Rock River
• Kentucky River
• Pennsylvania Union
• Morris
• Delaware and Raritan
• Lehigh Navigation
• Sandy and Beaver Canal

Bridge #15 over Welland Canal in Welland, ON

(Satellite)

Street View, May 2025

Bau Chinh, Apr 2022

Mike Jolin posted
Pic I took of bridge 15 (3rd and 4th Welland) canal at Welland. (I used a photo enhancing program to make it sepia) Bridge 13 was a railway bridge that was on the 3rd canal, built not long before work  started on the 4th; since the railways paid for their own bridges, they weren't going to replace it, just a few years after completion. Strangely, originally, the channel only flowed on one side and the bridge was landlocked when open until the canal was widened, for the 4th , when the other side was dug and the bridge sat on an island when opened.

Rob Sterne: I may be misunderstanding you here, but this bridge does not cross the 4th canal. The 4th canal is about 2 1/2 km to the east.

Mike Jolin: Well, technically, I suppose that it no longer crosses the 4th canal, but, for us Wellanders, the canal downtown is still the TRUE 4th canal, besides, I never mentioned the bypass, I was giving it's history before 1973.

Barry Westhouse commented on Mike's post
I have this bridge in my photo collection (July/2018) taken from Canal Bank Rd. - Prince Charles Dr. on the west side of the old canal can be seen as the bridge on the far end of this through-truss swing bridge.

I was going to skip this photo until I noticed how much the gusset plate and the top flange has rusted away. That strikes me as a little scary.

Giviner Onetime, May 2023

1927 Trillium Railway/CN (#17) Bridge over Welland Canal near Dain City, ON

(Historic Bridges; Satellite)

The 1973 bypass canal abandoned this route through Welland.

Street View, May 2025

Street View, Jun 2014

cmh2315fl Flickr

Welland Canal Bridge 17 - Dain City Railway Bridge (Welland, Ontario)

Historic Dain City Railway Bridge (Welland Canal Bridge 17) in Welland, Ontario, Canada. This section of the canal was bypassed by the Welland Canal Relocation Project (realignment around the city of Welland) in 1973.

The bridge is a Parker through truss vertical lift railroad bridge, although it no longer opens for water traffic. It was built ca. 1927 for the Canada Air-Line Railway (later the Canadian National Railway (CNR)) as part of the 4th Welland Canal expansion project (1913-1932). It is used today to serve local industries only.

Bill Martin posted
Bridge 17 Welland Canal

Jev's Photos commented on Bill's post

Postcard via brocku
"Dain City is a small suburb in southern Welland.  The area was named after the Marshall Dain Manufacturing Company (now John Deere) in the mid-1950s, the city's main employer at the time."
[This webpage has information on other bridges as well.]

Third Welland Canal Spillway Gate (The Rush or The Showers)

(Satellite)

Ron Dekker posted
Here we have a popular Summer destination back when I was a kid.  Been decades since I've been anywhere near it - and I don't know if the public still has access to it.  This is what I think is called the Spillway Gate on the Third Welland Canal.
[Several comments referred to it as The Rush or The Showers.]
According to some comments, gates now prevent driving there, but one can still walk there. But one is no longer supposed to walk in the outflow.]

Jon Lawrence commented on Ron's post
This was when they drain the reservoir up top. Only seen it happen once.

This is the reservoir to which Jon is reffering. It inundates locks 20-22.

Satellite

3:10 drone video of the structure

Old Guard Gate and Lost Bridges #7 and #9 on Welland Canal

Guard Gate and Bridge #9: (Satellite)

Bridge #7: (Satellite)

Michel Gosselin posted three photos with the comment: "The old guard gate above lock 7 in Thorold on September 15, 2024."

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Derrick Thornbury commented on Photo 1
Here's a photo of it I took in May 2005 from the paper mill...

Michel Gosselin commented on the above post
It was used to regulate water levels and could be closed if a ship took out the lower gates of lock 7, thereby stopping a flood of the lower part of the canal and surrounding areas. They didn’t need this because they put a guard gate at lock 7.

I think these secant gates are the current guard gates. I noticed them when I wasl looking for the former location of Bridge #7.

Satellite

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Bridge #9

This shows Bridge #9 operating. The road across the gates and the bridge was replaced by the Thorold Tunnel.

brocku, cropped

JD Holmes commented on the above post
Found this one online.

Rick Plato: JD Holmes that pic shows it back when it was the road connecting N.F. to Thorold, prior to the tunnel.

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Bridge #7

Historical Niagara posted four images with the comment: "Many take the Thorold Tunnel daily but before the 1960s  you had to take a Bridge to cross the Canal Bridge #7 THE PETER STREET BRIDGE was replaced by the Tunnel along with Bridge #9 at the Paper Mill..This was a Bascule style and was used a lot on the Canal ..a few still remain .."

Peter D. A. Warwick: Bascule bridge are actually the most common type of bridge on the present canal. Originally there were 9 such bridges, if you count the ones at Homer as being a double bascule. If you look under the bridge you'll see that they are the same design as the others only instead of having the deck at the bottom they have it on top making them also a draw bridge. Today there are 8. The two newest raised bridges on the canal are bascule: Carlton Street in St. Catharines built about 1968 to replace an earlier bridge that was damaged by a boat hitting it and Mellanby Avenue in Port Colborne, which I don't know when it was built. My guess would be the 1980s or 1990s. There were originally 10. Today only 3 remain. There were originally 2 swing bridges. Today none remain.

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