Building Trestles

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot, this will really help

[jfugate]

I recommend building trestles with styrene. You can "stress" the styrene quickly with rough sandpaper and/or a razor saw. The thing about styrene is it's very easy to work with, glues together quickly (make sure and use the liquid in the bottle, not the tube "kid stuff") and makes an *extremely strong* bridge that holds up well.

I've also built wood trestles in HO and they always got dinged easily and stuff would fall off when I cleaned them, no matter how careful I was.

Once you paint and weather the styrene, you can't tell the difference, but the bridge is mighty tough ... I use styrene for almost every scratchbuilding or kitbash job unless it absolutely calls for metal or wood parts. Here's a photo of one of my trestles:



To see a larger photo:
http://siskiyou.railfan.net/images/train/p09.jpg

I just built the track right through this scene on roadbed (but I cut the roadbed 3/4 of the way through on the ends where the bridge would go), then laid the flex track right on the roadbed just like normal. Then I put a piece of typing paper over the track and rubbed a #2 pencil back and forth to get a tracing of the railheads. I used this as a pattern to build the trestle upside down using styrene.

Finally I cut out the roadbed by cutting up from below with a keyhole saw (easy since I had already cut 3/4 of the way through the roadbed from the top before laying the track. I cut all the spikeheads off the flex track and let the roadbed drop away. Then I mounted the new trestle up underneath the hanging rails and spiked the rails to the new testle.

Oh yes, every fourth tie on the trestle is basswood to make it easy to spike to.

[Anonymous]

MR (Kalmbach) has published a book titled, "Bridges and Trestles". It was my guide to constructing the first decent trestle on my layout. It shows every detail of trestle construction including the size of timbers to use and the location of the nuts and bolts used as fasteners in the construction. The book covers much more than trestles. If you are into bridges, I would suggest this book as an outstanding source of information.

Tom

[Sperandeo]

Hello,

I agree with Paul's friend who advised building a trestle upside down. See the modeling notes with my article accompanying prototype drawings of a C&NW pile trestle in the June "Model Railroader" for my ideas.

so long,

Andy

[Anonymous]

For round "log" looking timbers I use dowel material. For square "rough sawn" look timbers I purchase my "lumber" from The Lumber Yard. It is a small Mom (Ev) & Pop (Dave) Shop and they provide VERY good service and low prices. http://www.dlumberyard.com/ They offer both sheets and cut strips.

To explain the entire process for scratch building a trestle bridge here on the forum is not possible. I do trestle bridges basically the same as cwclark. A couple exceptions are; 1. I draw my plan on a piece of white paper then tack the paper to the base working board. I use a piece of basswood vice plywood for the base working board because I use pins to hold the pieces in place rather than gluing spacers to the base board. Then I cover the drawing with wax paper. Wood glue won't stick to the wax paper and it keeps your drawing clean so it can be used again. 2. I prefer using basswood vice balsa wood to build the bridge, I feel that basswood takes stain better. I use a dark walnut stain for finishing. Do not use an oil base stain and stain the pieces before you glue. Stain will not penatrate nor cover Polyvinyl Acetate glues (wood glue, white glue, etc) once they are dry.

I have some templates I've used for building bents. I don't have them on my website so if you'd like copies please e-mail me.

[Anonymous]

Paul Templar used to have templates for building bents at his web site(s): http://www.badger-creek.co.uk/

They do not appear to be up any more, but you could try contacting him. He posts on several internet forums, but not this one... [:(]

Andrew

[cwclark]

I build my trestles from small dow rods, balsa wood, wood glue, and straight pins. First i make a jig from an old piece of plywood. I etch pencil marks on the board with a ruler where I want the trestle legs to go, then glue pieces of balsa wood to the board as spacers between each dow rod. After the glue dries I cut the dow rods to fit the height of the trestle i need, and then make cross braces with small strips of balsa wood and glue them in place. now the tricky part, I cut the heads from straight pins, sharpen new points on them with a dremel tool, and pu***hem into place with a pair of needle nose pliers where the cross braces and the dow rods meet..(be careful not to crack the balsa wood). they look like carriage bolts holding the trestle together when i'm done... after the glue dries I paint them grimy black...line it up on the layout depression where i want the bridge to go and drill holes where the legs of each dow rod is located and then glue the legs into the holes...I then use a long strip of balsa wood for the bridge track support and glue it on top of the trestle tops...I finish by hand laying some ties across the supports and then lay the track rails...they look really prototype when i'm done...

[Anonymous]

There have been many articles in the model press on building trestles. I suggest you look some up in the MR magazine index and seek out some of the articles. The work has already been done for you.

Bob Boudreau
Canada

[CBQ_Guy]

I've never built one personally but a friend did a few years ago. He said the secret was to build it upside down.
I asked him didn't that make him dizzy? <rim shot>

[Anonymous]

I'm looking to scratch build a trestle and have some experience scratchbuilding model houses for a friend.
I want to know if anyone has built a trestle and has tips to give

Thanks