Trussels, Bridges, and Tunnels

[Anonymous]

i need too build quite a few bridges and 1 tunnel. how do u sugest i go about building these from scratch???
is there a web site???

ooo yea
i live in a rain forest and i get 14ft of rain per year. what type of wood will last the longest or is there something i could put on it??

thanks
Super Chicken

[Capt Bob Johnson]

What does/did your local railroad use? I'd say that should point you in the proper direction!!

Did they use concrete culverts instead of small bridges? Then use concrete castings!

Iron or steel bridges instead of trestles? go in that direction!

Why reinvent the wheel? They had those high priced engineers to figure out what would work best in your climate, so take advantage of it!

[whiterab]

Daniel,

If you are going to model in wood you do have to be careful of the type of wood to use outside. The wrong wood will quickly get attacked by insects or warp.

The most common woods used for outdoor modelling are Western Red Cedar and redwood. Both of these woods will last a long time.

Do a search on this website and you will find several threads on wood choices and locations where you can find plans and kits for trestles and bridges.

In your climate, bridges will be your friend. Just like in the real world, an outdoor layout has to be planned with drainage in mind. Unfortunately Mother Nature doesn't provide for "scale" rain fall. A one inch rain scales to 24 inches for example if you are modelling in 1:24.

Wooden bridges and trestles are a lot easier to build than they appear. While they look complicated, they are generally very repetitive so once you get the hang of it they go pretty quickly.

If you have metal working skills, (I don't) there are some great examples on this forum of some really great bridges done in metal.

[Ray Dunakin]

SuperChicken, trestles are pretty easy to make. Western red cedar is a good choice of wood. You can find cedar lumber cut to scale on ebay. Here's a link:

http://toys.search.ebay.com/cedar_G-Scale_W0QQbsZSearchQQcatrefZC6QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfposZ92122QQfromZR10QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQfstypeZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsacatZ19151QQsadisZ200QQsargnZQ2d1QQsaslcZ2QQsbrftogZ1QQsofocusZunknown

If that doesn't work, just go to ebay and search on g scale trains, then search the G scale section for "cedar".

There are a few online dealers that sell cedar lumber for "g scale" too.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the site its great!!
whats your opnion on a 15 foot trussel
and
a 35 foot 180degree turning 4%grade

Super Chicken

[Anonymous]

I bought a Jigstones kit and i have made many different things out of concrete (cement) such as tunnel portals, pylons, abutments and now i am in the middle of making a railway station 500 mm long X 250 mm deep X 250 mm high it is exactly to "G"scale. As well i have built a 5 M long viaduct with 17 spans and it is very easy to do. Tiring and tedious but easy and satisfying.

Rgds Ian

[Anonymous]

sounds like an awsome viaduct could i see some pics im debating on a ~25 to 30 ft. g guage trussel??

is that too big>? any big problems with big tall trussels?

Thanks Super Chicken