Building Trestle + Girder/Truss Combo Bridge HO

[JCOURT]

I accidentally made a duplicate thread. Please refer to thread:

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/249505.aspx

 

[Redore]

Pre fab the bents to the correct height, build the trestle upside down on a flat table.

 

Sorry, I can't help you on the stone or concrete supports.

[rrebell]

For concrete I made a form out of styrene and cast them.

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

I'm assuming you are building in HO since you did not specify a scale.

For the three bridge spans you can use commercially available kits. Central Valley Model Works offer several bridge kits that you can place together. There are also bridge kits available from other manufacturers that would work too.

In a recent edition of MRR there was an article on 'Scratchbasing' a bridge (MMR; June 2015, pg. 48).

For the trestle bents I'd definitely build a jig. From the photos it looks like they are all about the same size.

For some of the parts of the bents you might consider buying wooden matches. They come in several sizes, are pretty consistent in thickness and length and closely replicate common timber sizes. Soak them in warm water to remove the flammable tips and then stain them. 

For the look of creosote I use Minwax stains. I combined one part Ebony 2718 with two parts Red Mahogany 225.

I put the items to be stained in a zip-top bag (the heavy freezer type) and add the stain mix. I then remove the stained items to several sheets of news paper, using a Nitrile solvent resistant glove. 

You can vary the amount of stain to achieve your desired results.

As far as the stone bridge supports you might look at commercially available items from Chooch Enterprises or other manufactures.

You could purchase them pre-made or you could purchase the sheet form and fabricate them yourself.

For the plate girder sections there are many options from scratch building the components from sheet styrene and rivet details to purchasing kits.

I was at a local train show and I found two Atlas Plate Girder Bridges for $1.00 each. I cut the track beds off and now have 4 sections of 65-foot Plate Girders.

Micro Engineering sells 4-packs of HO scale Girder Plates in various lengths from 30- to 85-scale feet. (Look under Bridge Parts.)

For patterns for your bents and other bridge components I would highly recommend the following books from Kalmbach Publishing:

• The Model Railroader's Guide to Bridges, Trestles & Tunnels; Jeff Wilson (2005)
• Model Railroad Bridges & Trestles; Ed. Bob Hayden (7th ed. 2006)
• Model Railroad Bridges & Trestles, Volume 2; Ed. Jeff Wilson (2012)

All three have plans that you can copy, put under a sheet of wax paper and use as a jig. For about $60.00 for all three I'm never at a loss for information and ideas.

Hope this helps.

 

[JCOURT]

JJ,

Thanks for the great suggestions! This thread is unfortunately a duplicate. Follow my progress on the correct thread:

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/249505.aspx

Thanks again!