Petaluma SMART bridge (#0988)

Rail bridge over the Petaluma River. There was an historic bridge here that I kept meaning to photograph but never got around to doing it. Since bridges were a major focus of this trip, I decided to see if I could get a photo of it. Unfortunately, I was a year late. The rail line through Petaluma was owned and operated by Northwestern Pacific, but was recently bought (year unclear) by Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) for operation of a commuter line (see nearby photos). The 111 year old bridge (photo in link) was still used by freight traffic, but was deemed unsuitable for passenger traffic and needed to be replaced. The ‘new’ bridge in this picture is 30 years old and bought from Galveston, it was installed in 2015 and the old bridge was removed – per the article linked below, the old bridge is for sale! In this picture from the north end of the bridge, you can see on the right side of the bridge a commuter train (in testing) across the river bank.

www.petaluma360.com/news/3675682-181/smart-to-replace-historic-rail