Brazos Vertical-Lift Bridge

 railroad, interlocking, railway bridge, interlocking tower

The Brazos bridge is a lift railway bridge with 98 feet of clearance above the Napa River. The lift structure remains in the elevated position except when a train passes. There is a fully furnished apartment atop the lift that provides accommodations for the bridge keeper. Originally, built as a swing bridge, it was converted to a lift bridge. On several occasions the bridge has not been in the proper position to receive trains, resulting in locomotives plunging into the river. The regional railway utilizing the bridge has episodically been active and inactive. The bridge was refurbished and reopened in 2009 in order to serve trains from the California Northern Railroad that accesses the railway system operated by the North Coast Railroad Authority and the Northwestern Pacific railroad near Schellville to the west.

In 1983 two Southern Pacific locomotives went into the Napa River here.
www.nilesdepot.org/niles/wreck.html