General Discussion (Model Railroader)

If the railroad paid for and built the bridge they will follow the the normal paint schemes developed by their Bridge and Building Department.

With the advent of the Interstate Highway System, bridges that go over the highway are subject to the rules of the governing state DOT.  For example when I first worked for ODOT bridges were painted with red lead primer, then two coats of Aluminum final paint.  After a while the Aluminum was changed to Gray and now it rotates between Gray, Green and Blue.

Up in Michigan they went for a while to Cor-Ten steel which rusts once, then the rust that forms prevents further rust from forming and keeps the steel from deteriorating further.  Michagan also later went to the Gray, Green and Blue rotation.

Rick 

The collection of bridge photos form Loather gave me a lot of ideas. I'm going to save that in my favorites. The photo from MisterBeasley is also a real eye-opener, I hadn't thought of that. I'm defiantly going to try something like that on at least on of my bridges.

Some of you mentioned decals, which I had forgotten about, so I'm going have to do a little catalog searching. I bought a Walters catalog, but haven't gone through it all yet.

On my way to work this morning, I noticed that all the bridges that I could see from the road were kind of gray looking. It could be sand blown aluminum or maybe dirty silver or gray primer, I'm not sure. I have got to start taking my camera to work with me. Everyday I see such great trains and wish I had a camera. Tomorrow I'm planning to take the wife up to the famous Tehachapi Loop and although there are no bridges on the loop it self, there are some bridges on the way that I can actually get up close to.

http://hewgill.com/photo/trips/tehachapi-loop/

I found a can of Rust-Oleum Aluminum paint in the garage and I think its still good. I'm going to try that first in a little while, but if my memory is any good at all, I think it was a little bright. I have an assortment for spray paints and I'm going to experiment with various overspray colors to make it a little more sand blown.

This is off the subject but I thought was interesting. I was searching for some photos of bridges around Barstow and I came across this panorama view of the old train station, which has been closed for many years. The California Zephyr used to run through the Barstow Station. Use your curser to rotate 360 degrees

http://virtualguidebooks.com/SouthCalif/SouthernDeserts/MojaveRiver/BarstowTrainStation.html

SleeperN06 wrote:

I found a can of Rust-Oleum Aluminum paint in the garage and I think its still good. I'm going to try that first in a little while, but if my memory is any good at all, I think it was a little bright. I have an assortment for spray paints and I'm going to experiment with various overspray colors to make it a little more sand blown.

Sleeper...if the silver paint is too bright, give it a coat of clear gloss. It will dull the silver out.

Rotor

Rotorranch wrote:

SleeperN06 wrote: I found a can of Rust-Oleum Aluminum paint in the garage and I think its still good. I'm going to try that first in a little while, but if my memory is any good at all, I think it was a little bright. I have an assortment for spray paints and I'm going to experiment with various overspray colors to make it a little more sand blown. Sleeper...if the silver paint is too bright, give it a coat of clear gloss. It will dull the silver out. Rotor

I should have also added, after you spay the clear gloss, you'll need to spray it with dull coat to take the shine off. Using just the dull coat doesn't seem to have the same effect as the gloss for dulling out the silver paint.

Rotor

reklein wrote:

As long as were talking colors here,I discovered that Testors Panzer Gray in the rattle cans is a close approx. of Poly scales Grimy black. Thats if you use spary cans.