I'm looking for bridge options for a 18" radius curve. I would prefer to avoid trestle as it will encounter little hands. Through plate would be nice, but it would have to be extra wide to accomodate the swings to cars around a curve.Model Power actually made a very nice one. Sadly they are no longer around.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
You are in N-scale if I remember.
I'm thinking you are looking at this backwards. What do you want to see on that turn? Something that wil stand the wieght of a 29 pound kid doing chin-ups and balance beam, but will look like it was built for the Pennsy in 1953.
Okay, you might have to comromise a little. But decide what you want and work back to how you will get it done.
I thought about you a couple days ago. I was digging through my stuff and came across an HO digitrax decoder with the wires cut to the nubs that you sent me and I thought, this will go in my old climax...
So last I heard, you were getting set to move from your house in Virginia--or was it to Virginia? Now you're in PA. The little ones are yours?
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
I scratch built this one after a real one I saw in a photo. The bridge is wider and that allows the track to curve. I also saw a prototype that looked more like a triangle and was supported in the three corners with the track curved on the deck. It was over a slough at the end of a rail yard.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
If, as Chip noted, you're speaking of N scale, an 18" radius isn't so bad.
How about Atlas' deck truss bridge? Here's a couple of them, in HO scale...
...and as you can see from above, the track on the last span is curved...
Another option might be Micro Engineering's 30' or 50' deck girder bridges, as shown below, on the taller bridge...
You can also buy the girders separately, and by using plywood of a suitable thickness as the deck (paint it black to make it "disappear"), simply glue the girders to the edges of the plywood for a very strong bridge.
The sharper the curve, the shorter the bridge spans need to be. A deck-type bridge won't restrict you from using longer cars, with their greater overhang in curves. If you need solid supports, use wood, cut to shape similar to the cast plaster ones in the photo above. A coat of concrete-coloured paint and a little weathering should give you a respectable-looking bridge that will stand up to those little hands.
Wayne
I can't help you specifically with scale items that I can suggest, but it's possible to curve tracks on segmented bridge decks. I don't know why you would be averse to a double-wide, if that is what it takes..........?
This segmented deck girder bridge on piers crosses the South Thompson River at its confluence with the Fraser River at Lytton, southern British Columbia at what is the northern end of the Fraser Canyon. You can see that it gets wide at that jink just 50 yards from where I was perched.
SpaceMouse You are in N-scale if I remember. ... So last I heard, you were getting set to move from your house in Virginia--or was it to Virginia? Now you're in PA. The little ones are yours?
...
Wayne, that is a pretty impressive scene... I always like it when bridges cross over one another...
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
doctorwayne You can also buy the girders separately, and by using plywood of a suitable thickness as the deck (paint it black to make it "disappear"), simply glue the girders to the edges of the plywood for a very strong bridge.
I am always impressed with your KISS ingenuity
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
Thanks, Steven. When I get done doing other stuff, I hope to make that area more photogenic with some scenery - it's been on my to-do list way too long.
Brian, thanks for your kind comment. I often set out to do things with a grand plan in mind, but when it bogs down, as those things sometimes do, it's good to have a simple fall-back option.