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Has anyone here constructed  a scratch built bridge? I don't mean from a kit, or a trestle with lots of bents. I mean something like a truss, a cantilever, or an arch. I know there are many sub types within these general categories. Not interested in the girder type. How long was it? What materials did you use to construct it? Pictures are always a plus...

 

Thanks!

Chris

LVHR

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Yes,

This bridge is 48" long. The internal structure is pine 2" x 8". There is 1/2" plywood at each end and the base. Arches are formed out of Masonite. The surface is hydrocal molded with silicone "Arch" and "Abutment Wall" pieces. The base color is gray latex.  

vuJh1vTzRbCLUqoEKPKukA

This sort of took on a life of it's own. FWIW, I used 5 rail stainless GarGraves. We have never experienced a derailment on this bridge. 

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Picture of 3 bridges I built for a club layout some years ago.  Still have two of them, and others.  They are built out of suspended ceiling support strut materials and underground conduit "chairs".   I was an iron worker in prior years when first started in construction, and the suspended ceiling struts worked very much the same as I beams and angle iron, so to construct a bridge was easy.  I used rivets and steel perforated sheet to connect the sections.  Not exactly prototypical, but they work and are strong enough that I tested by standing on them.  Wanted to be certain a heavy, and expensive, Big Boy didn't  wind up down on the hard floor from several feet up.

Jesse   TCA  12-68275Lionel Post and bridges at Library

 

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First, Thanks to all who responded. Looks like we have some real talent here!

Joe, your work looks closest to what I have in mind. Those spans look about 3-4 ft long, correct? I like your idea of a fixture or jig to keep things straight. That makes a whole lot of sense to me. What do you use the fasten everything together? Glue? Screws? Pins? I have a shorter (24") wood through truss bridge that someone gave me years ago. That one has pins and brass rods. A nice work of art.

Al, Thanks for your offer of help. Are you going to York this spring?

 

Chris

LVHR

Mine is 30" long, 9" in height. Just finished up gluing one, building a 2nd, much wider one. Built from the leftover plywood strips I cut for my fencing. Another project trying to complete.1554347553326322734242466180663What's best choice of paint for a weatherd look?

Used an N scale bridge as a template. Printed to paper so all sides pieces were the same. Just finished expansion to run other rooms of house.

20190331_225431

20190331_22390420190403_193337

About half way on the bigger bridge.

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Hi Chris,

I built a "concrete" arch under bridge using particle board (for the concrete texture) with a pine 1 X 4 for the deck. The vertical strips are more particle board beveled at the tops and grooved with a table saw to give it interest. The area between the strips that looks like it is routed out is  just a masonite overlay. I used a piece of wood molding at the top along the entire deck. A small engraving at the top of the arch reads 1998 reminding me when the layout was nearing completion. The bridge was inspired by Clark Dunham's layouts.

The open deck bridge below it is an older Miami Valley redwood kit.

TJ

10 05 15080

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In the midst of building a too large RR too late in life I simply do not have enough time left on this side of the turf to do anything in detail.  There are several valleys that needed crossing so I copped out and used 30" to 90" plywood arch bridges.  They are either painted or will have faux masonry paper applied.

Due to box beam construction they are very strong.  No deflection with 12" cinder blocks placed on them.  The 7 1/2'  gorge was to have two stretched out bridges but the road crew got carried away and ran two additional tracks over the first pair.  Pure fantasy. One of the bridge tracks had an unusual blackened single center located guard rail.  The valley looks more like a 1955 department store train display.

Six of the bridges are fixed and five of them are equipped with circuit interrupters to lift out for egress or sump pump access. 

Highway bridges that inspired my design:

Steel Arch-Girder-Bridge long arch

IMG_8958IMG_9072IMG_9073

 Concrete arch bridge 011

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Last edited by Tom Tee
lehighline posted:

First, Thanks to all who responded. Looks like we have some real talent here!

Joe, your work looks closest to what I have in mind. Those spans look about 3-4 ft long, correct? I like your idea of a fixture or jig to keep things straight. That makes a whole lot of sense to me. What do you use the fasten everything together? Glue? Screws? Pins? I have a shorter (24") wood through truss bridge that someone gave me years ago. That one has pins and brass rods. A nice work of art.

Al, Thanks for your offer of help. Are you going to York this spring?

 

Chris

LVHR

Chris:

I have built from 24 -48 inches. 48 is about the limit for one piece of wenge w/o warping. The entire structure is built with yellow wood glue. You can always drill for brass rods but with my updated design  the glue is more than enough.

Attached are some designs that will help along with your visit to Alan

bridge 1

bridge 2

bridge3

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Tom Tee posted:

Tonkanut, tj,  Any possibly for additional layout shots?  Nicely done.

lehighline posted:

TJ,

Nicely done! That scene looks Frank Ellison worthy!  

 

Chris

LVHR

Thanks Tom and Chris, I appreciate it!

I have attached some of my favorite pix below and was featured in the OGR magazine Run 250 June/July 2011, OGR's Video Great Layout Adventures Volume7  from 2011 and TM Books and Video Toy Train Revue 3  from 2014.

If you're not bored yet I have several YouTube videos you can see by searching for "TJ's Trains" including my special effects and a recent postwar layout.

Here is a link to a fun short video which features Rich Melvin and Jim Barrett when they did their video shoot of my layout in 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwupYJoWZbo&t=51s

TJ

10 05 1500410 05 1501310 05 1506510 05 15096DSCF2619UP weed sprayer, Terry Johnson

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I've done a couple. Basically, theres a wood support structure inside with plywood skins on the sides and trim pieces on the superstructure. Not hard to do. We also have a couple of trestles that were much more involved in their construction. The first one is a basic concrete arch bridge modeled after the York Blvd. bridge over the Pasadena Freeway near Los Angeles.

Bridge 011Bridge 015

p_00070

2014-08-20 19.44.59

This was connected to a "stretched arch" bridge by a viaduct. The bents on the viaduct are 1x3 wood cores with 1/4" plywood facings and mouldings for the sides. The track support is HDPE lumber in a "ladder" style sub-roadbed which was bent to shape during assembly. Then girders were attached between the bents.

2011-11-26 18.17.32

The lower trestle was scratch built "upside down" -- i.e., we set the stringers at the right height and curvature, then installed the bents which were made in a jig and shimmed up. Scenery was put over the bases. This trestle is a 48" radius (O-96) curve approximately 2 feet tall and has over 1,500 nut/bolt/washer castings installed on the cross braces (a lot of pin-vise/drill work). It took the two members in charge of the project about 18 months to complete the bridge, though we could run trains across it much sooner.

2014-08-09 14.05.15

The upper trestle deck (plywood) was set in place and the bents constructed from steel angle, wood and styrene. The bridge girders are resin castings we made (same ones used on the viaduct at the other end of the building). We still haven't gotten around to ballasting the deck.

HPIM1118

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Last edited by AGHRMatt

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