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Road Bridges

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Posted by Track fiddler on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 6:48 PM

Not prototypical at all but functions for the situation dealt

 

The Alligator Bridge seemed to be a good solution at the time.

 

She was hard to put together and I swore a lotLaugh

 

 

 

PirateTF

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Posted by gmpullman on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 11:56 PM

OldEngineman
It's more of a thrill when you're runnin' the train.

The only time I got close to being in the "Cab" while going over was when I rode in the lead dome of the U-A Turbotrain and could look over the engineer's shoulder during the trip. It was after dark but still fascinating.

 A TurboTrain Dome Ride, 4 Photos by Marty Bernard, on Flickr

Great Fun!

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by OldEngineman on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 10:08 PM

gm pullman wrote (of the Hell Gate): "A hundred-four years old and still performing the duty it was designed for and looking beautiful to boot! I had the priveledge and honor to have ridden across the bridge maybe a dozen occasions. A thrill every time."

It's more of a thrill when you're runnin' the train.

Been over that several thousand times. Freight for Conrail. Passenger for Amtrak. Just about always the highlight of the trip.

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 9:42 PM

Is that a Musky or what?

I would have put him back in the lake if I caught him.

He's too old to keep but back to Bridges if you got em

 

 

Go ahead and post em. 

 

 

 

WinkTF

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 9:13 PM

I don't have a current bridge to post right now.

But you do!

 

 

 

Stick out tongueTF

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Posted by BigDaddy on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 8:38 PM

FF to 6:00 minutes

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 8:38 PM

That does make a lot of sense Henry.

When you look at the old school Roman Ruins!  They are all arches and pillars way before they started to think about trains traveling across the Earth

 

That makes a lot of sense to me!

 

 

 

TF

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 8:12 PM

This Tressel means more to me than you will ever know.

I grew up with Her with all my friends.  On a weekend none of us felt complete until we ended up there with her.  She was always calling us

This Bridges sent of creosote mixed with the chocolate Factory's chocolate across the four tracks was like candy to our noses!

I go visit Her every spring! 

I used to walk up these tracks when they were still there. 

Where did the time go away with them?

 

 

 

It isn't quite the same there anymore.  But neither am I or my friends and I still talk to themYes

 

 

 

 

WinkTF

 

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Posted by BigDaddy on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 8:08 PM

I had return to the other side, realizing if a train came, I wasn't fast enough to get off the bridge.  If two trains came, I would have burrowed between the two tracks. 

It wasn't Thomas, who invented the train of the same name, it was one of those Romans, Caesar or Mark Anthony.   https://www.britannica.com/technology/viaduct

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 7:48 PM

See!

I hate to admit it but sometimes I'm dumb as a bag of rocks.

Now I just learned tonight Viaduct is a bridge invented by ThomasYes

At least I learned it!

 

Thanks Ed

 

 

 

TF

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 7:37 PM

And what a Stone Viaduct piece of art that is Henry!

And a Chessie system coming over itYes

 

Being that you walked over that Bridge was kind of dumb in your words but your feet are much better today than mine!

 

My feet don't have a good enough story to tell like yours

 

 

TF

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 7:27 PM

Incredible History Ed!

I would have to be honest and say all news to me.  Very interesting news if I can say the leastYes

 

 

TF

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Posted by gmpullman on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 7:04 PM

Track fiddler
And your beautiful Bridge picture does not deserve to hide behind blue text.

Agreed!

 NY_Connecting-HellGate by Edmund, on Flickr

That must be Gustav Lindenthal front-center for the portrait.

A hundred-four years old and still performing the duty it was designed for and looking beautiful to boot! I had the priveledge and honor to have ridden across the bridge maybe a dozen occasions. A thrill every time.


Benjamin Henry Latrobe II was twenty-four years old when he designed "Latrobe's Folly" — the Thomas Viaduct. Built on a 4.5° curve and a slight grade, it survives today as Henry states. I can name a dozen friends that couldn't change a tire at 24!

Imagine trying to convince the B&O board to spend the money on a 26 foot wide deck when the thought of heavy traffic on double-track railroad was inconceivable at the time?

 

 

Cheers, Ed

 

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Posted by BigDaddy on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 6:56 PM

In the words of model railroader Crocodile Dundee, That's not a bridge, this is a bridge

Built 1835 when an SD70 was a couple of horses and 100 ton coal cars were science fiction, which wasn't invented in 1835 either. 

I walked across that bridge, one of the dumbest things I ever did.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 6:12 PM

Never no need for sorry

I like a thread hog Selector!  Be one anytime and that goes for all.

 

Extreme interest in your post because all of my bridges on my layout are curved and I have had to deal with that for three years and I'm a bit over halfway there.

Thank-You SelectorYes  Please be a post hog any time!

 

 

 

TF

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Posted by selector on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 5:53 PM

Another thread hog here...sorry:

This is a five-span combination bridge at Hortonville, Nova Scotia, across the Gaspereau River.  The railroad was the Dominion Atlantic.

Out of good view at far left, a girder, followed by two Warren trusses in succession, yet another girder, and the remnants of what must have been an original piling timber trestle at far right.

This is the view looking from the far, out-of-view initial girder in the first image.  You can see the super in the curve.

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 5:32 PM

And your beautiful Bridge picture does not deserve to hide behind blue text.

There She is, ...Extravagant and I don't even remember the last time I used that wordYes

 

Thanks for posting that one Overmod

 

I wonder if anyone has enough room to model this one on their layoutIndifferent

 

 

 

Stick out tongueTF

 

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 4:45 PM

BATMAN

POST HOG!

I remember going over this bridge in the car as a young kid, I was terrified a train would come.

Industrial History: CN Second Narrows Bridges over Burrard Inlet in  Vancouver, BC

 

You can be a Post-Hog anytime you wish to be one on my thread Brent!

I can only imagine when you were a kid and scared.

I ain't a kid anymore at 57 years old looking at that black and white photo of that bridge!  I would have to say, ...If given a choice, I don't want to go over that bridge eitherIndifferentTongue TiedCrying

 

 

 

LaughTF

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 4:35 PM

Now I am fascinated againStick out tongue

This is the same knuckle Selector posted earlier in the thread Brent.

The fact that both of you got to experience this and I didn't, really leaves me hanging out on that limb of not as much funTongue Tied

 

Very much Fascinated by it though! Yes

 

 

 

 

 

TF

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Posted by BATMAN on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:54 PM

POST HOG!

I remember going over this bridge in the car as a young kid, I was terrified a train would come.

Industrial History: CN Second Narrows Bridges over Burrard Inlet in  Vancouver, BC

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

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Posted by BATMAN on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:46 PM

Back in the day the bridge at New Westminster also handled vehicles.

Fraser River Bridge: New Westminster Public Library Heritage Photo Tour

New Westminster Railway Bridge (Fraser River Swing Bridge) -  HistoricBridges.org

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

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Posted by Lazers on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:34 PM

Overmod

The approach to the Fraser River bridge made me think of this, a favorite when I was very small:

https://www.structuremag.org/?p=8199

The bowstrings, more than the big arch.

Strange, but I remember them as being heavier chord section.

 

And again, Overmod - that was very interesting & enlightening. It made me wonder, after the digital era post-construction survey, just how much 'lighter' the design & construction would have been, with modern tech, knowledge & experience of R/C applied. Thanks, Paul

"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:16 PM

I really am enjoying all the pictures and descriptions of Bridges posted here.

Thank you for participatingYes

 

Here She is.

One on my list of favorites in Lions neck of the woods in Beastmark North Dakota.

Even the approach of the bridge is huge.  I've never been to the other side but one of these years I'm going to figure out how to get there.

The water was a little high in the spring.  The no parking sign is helpful but I don't think you can park there.  I don't leave until a train goes over the bridge you know.  The sound of the engines and the Clickity Clank of the wheels as the water amplifies itBow

Over 100 years old and still standing "Strong"! over the test of time.

I visit her every time I go to visit my Son and my Grandchildren.  Why wouldn't you?  Not quite but almost as important to me when I go over there.

 

 

TF

 

 

 

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:09 PM

The approach to the Fraser River bridge made me think of this, a favorite when I was very small:

https://www.structuremag.org/?p=8199

The bowstrings, more than the big arch.

Strange, but I remember them as being heavier chord section.

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 2:49 PM

Not the first time I've seen it but I've always enjoyed the bridge built around the bridge to make up for the heavier modern-day loads.

I'm glad you posted that one too Ed.  A Marvel and there is nothing like that anywhere else.

 

 

TF

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 2:47 PM

That's the one Ed that was took by the tornado because of the faulty anchor hardware.

The magnificence of it before looks like a toy spread out on the ground that proves how powerful Mother Nature really is.

And that view you provided looking through the bridge descending to the vanishing point looks like a kaleidoscope

 

Thanks for posting EdYes  Thoroughly enjoyed!

 

 

TF

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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 2:41 PM

My Grandfather Stuart Fraser was born and raised in Canada before he moved to Minnesota shortly after I was born.

This makes me wonder if his blood name was somehow tied to that bridge in some way.  Probably not but it still makes me wonder.

 

 

TF

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Posted by gmpullman on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 2:16 PM

While this isn't a road bridge it is one in my neck of the woods that I've been on, under and across over the years:

 RR_views_0020 by Edmund, on Flickr

It was actually being repaired/reinforced when a tornado came through in 2003  and knocked her right to the ground (except the short section that had already been rehabbed). 301 feet tall and 2,052 feet long.

 

 Kinzua-1 by Edmund, on Flickr

The Kinzua Bridge was being used as part of the route of the Knox, Kane and Kinzua tourist railroad.

 RR_views_0023_edited-1 by Edmund, on Flickr

Underneath offered a pretty neat view:

 RR_views_0016 by Edmund, on Flickr

When I heard the news that a storm had knocked the bridge over I was incredulous. Never heard of such a thing but I guess an engineering firm had said that the risk was very real.This video is full of a lot of hooey, but some of the photos are neat:

 

I've got another bridge in mind, too but I'll have to do some digging to remember the name of it.

Here it is:

Aaron Hockley photo, Creative Commons

I always admired how the engineers just built a new, stronger trestle within the existing one in order to beef it up. Great Northern at Rock Island, Washington, over the Columbia River. Amazing. The original truss work was built in 1893 and the added structure in 1925.

Overland made a brass model of this in HO!

Regards, Ed

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Posted by Lazers on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 1:46 PM

selector
And this complicated wedge truss is at the north end of the CNR bridge across the Fraser River about 10 miles east of Vancouver, British Columbia. Photo by Andy Cassidy:

Hey Selector, That Fraser River bridge really is something else. As Track Fiddler mentions - 'a prototype for everything'. I checked it out on Wiki & Maps. Lucky it survived that fire in '82 and I guessed the disconnected Gusset-plates on the Catwalk, once continued back to land. Also, there is what appears to be a Hovercraft on the river and a Ship-breaker in the distance - both examples of things not often modelled. But just look at all that fantastic Steelwork - and it was all designed on Drawing-boards, long before CAD, 2D or 3D and Structural-design Software came along. Paul

"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".

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