The Marpole CP Rail Bridge is a partially dismantled crossing over the north arm of the Fraser River, and River Dr., in Metro Vancouver. History The Marpole road bridge was a nearby sequence of separate structures dating from 1889. Early CP operation Once the Vancouver & Lulu Island Railway, controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), completed the rail bridge in May 1902, work trains carried the steel rails over the river to lay track on Lulu Island. The route proceeded due south from the bridge along today's Garden City Rd. and west along Granville Ave., before south on Railway Ave. The steel swing span railway bridge linked north Eburne with Richmond, and the then important community, port and canneries at Steveston. Created primarily to serve the canneries, the line was not the anticipated commercial success, because the companies preferred shipping directly by sea. Using steam locomotives, the twice daily Vancouver–Steveston mixed trains began that year, but the CP enthusiasm for electrification indicated a desire to off-load the service. BCER operation In 1905, the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) leased and electrified the line, as it later would with a new branch to New Westminster. The respective interurbans operated Vancouver–Marpole (formerly Eburne) (1905–52), Marpole–Steveston (1905–58), and Marpole–New Westminster (1909–56). During the early years, the Steveston tram ran hourly. Freight largely comprised smaller loads of way freight. By 1921, spurs to several customers existed near the northern and southern bridge approaches. Owing to the proximity of several bridges on the Fraser, the unique signal for opening the then called British Columbia Electric Bridge on the North Arm, was four long and two short blasts on the vessel's horn. By the end of passenger service in 1958, freight comprised boxcar loads, such as fish oil, often hauled by electric locomotives, soon to become an all diesel fleet on the removal of the overhead power wire. BC Hydro, the successor (1962) to BCER, changed the route in 1965. At the southern bridge approach, the freight track now paralleled the Fraser westward, at a distance of up to from the shoreline, before continuing south to join at the Granville/Railway junction. This catered to the Brighouse Industrial Estate, and the Van Horne Industrial Estate surrounding the foot of the bridge. That year, bridge maintenance comprised the renewal of four protection piers and work on the southern approach trestle. In 1967, when a barge carrying wood