Totally remember that humming noise… was always scared when our parents crossed it so we could visit relatives on Lulu Island. Then I also recall my Finnish father had friends / relatives that lived at the Fin Slough making a living fishing in the 50’s & 60’s. Wow lots of memories came flooding back after googling ‘a Vancouver Bridge that hummed’. Thanks Irwin

I’m not Gloria, however I think there was one bridge for trains and another for vehicles and that would have been in the mid 1950s. I remeber when you crossed on one bridge you could see another.
We lived on Ferndale Rd. in Richmond from Oct. 1953 to Nov. 1956. we then moved to Francis Rd between No. 2 and 3 Rd. There was no tram in that areas, so you took the bus along No. 3 Rd. At that time there were’t that many people living in Richmond and the Broodmour Subdivision still had to be built. The land in that area belong to the Herbert and Errington Farms. so from Francis Rd. to the River there wasn’t much. except those farms.

Its actually too bad they didn’t keep the tram. they could have used it once the population grew to 100K. O.K. I remember when it grew to 25K

Thank you for the article and all the comments.

I remmeber a bridge which went from Richmond to Sea Island and then another bridge from there into Marpole. then the Oak St. Briodge was built. sure was an improvement.

While the tram was still running from Steveston to Marpole, it went past Fernadale Rd. in Richmond. Recall being on that frequently as our parental unit took us into Vancouver to go grocery shopping at Woodwards downtown. Groceries would be delivered on Sat. by Woodwards trucks.
The tram went across the Fraser River into Marpole. On Sundays we took it to go to church in Vancouver. One Sunday it stopped in the middle of the bridge and we all had to get off and walk the rest of the way. It was scary, at 5 or 6. The beams were only every other step so you could see down to the Fraser River. Had to walk on my own because the parental units were busy getting two younger siblings across. It certainly was scary.
Remeber all those Richmond Bridges and Mitchell School. Across the street from the school on No. 5 Rd. there was a building on the corner and then the next one was white, had apartments upstairs and downstairs there was a butcher where a lot of Europeans went and the owners spoke Dutch. Later the credit union built on the other corner and a small strip mall on the 4th corner. There was also a woman, Mrs. Mackay, who had taught at Mitchell School for ever.
she was quite old when I was still a teenager.
Eventually a tunnel was built from Richmond to Ladner and we were able to get to Boundary Bay within 20, 30 minutes. In the summer we would go there after dinner to go swimming.
I do recall the Fraser St. bridge wasn’t that wide, because if you had been drinking too much would/could take up both lanes. O.k. there wasn’t so much of a stigma regarding drinking and driving back in the day. There was also no traffic on the bridge at 3 a.m.

An interesting bridge is the Lions Gate. Saw the old black and white silent film which recorded the building of it. The welding instructor showed it. He had worked on the bridge as a rivitter, said he was making I think he said, 38 cents an hr. and it was enough to get married on.

I worked for the department of highways and worked replacing the span with a triple triple Bailey bridge. the crew worked non stop until completed in three days. They were all dept of highways employees that completed the project. My name is W.Grieve dept of highways employee bridge crew out Fraser valley dept.

Hello Gloria, I vaguely remember as a young child crossing that bridge with my parents to visit my grandparents in Richmond. Now I have a question about that bridge and it is did that bridge double as a railway bridge and if so was it always a railway/vehicle bridge? Thanks for reading.
Darrell

James, when the bridge was first built in 1894 Heavy Transport Trucks were not as wide as a 1970’s Family Station Wagon.

Yes I remember this from the late 1970s. We sold a lot of my old toys there.

We always called the island Lulu Island. Not when the move to the Richmond name happened. But in about 1955, I had a job in lulu island and went to work with a neighbor. He drove across a railway /car bridge from Marpole to lulu Island. I wonder if that bridge is still in place serving train traffic?

My other memory of that afternoon was seeing a farm worker carrying a load – with two baskets suspended from a bar across his shoulders – like something out of National Geographic.