Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Sharing bridge construction projects - ME viaduct and brass through-truss

14218 views
38 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2016
  • 10 posts
Posted by Michael Pags on Monday, February 15, 2016 11:52 AM

I am replying to the post yesterday by HObbyguy. I am interested in the trestle supports shown in the first photo.  I will have several elevated sections on an O gauge layout I am planning and wonder if they might work.  What is the source of those supports? DIY or commercially available?

Thanks,

Michael

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Monday, February 15, 2016 1:34 PM

Great-looking scenes with the trees and undergrowth added, Walt, and the backdrop looks very well-suited to the three dimensional stuff.

Michael Pags
....I am interested in the trestle supports shown in the first photo. I will have several elevated sections on an O gauge layout I am planning and wonder if they might work. What is the source of those supports? DIY or commercially available?

Micro Engineering and Central Valley both offer structural steel members similar to those shown in the photo.

Wayne

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Canada
  • 1,284 posts
Posted by wickman on Monday, February 15, 2016 2:38 PM

Walt love all your bridges and  appreciate your abutment information,very timely. I'm working  on a homegrown truss bridge and I'm thinking of  wood abutments, I'm not much for concrete.

  • Member since
    February 2013
  • 479 posts
Posted by HObbyguy on Monday, February 15, 2016 6:17 PM

Michael, I built the bridge from a Micro Engineering kit.  To be honest I don't know what is available for O-gauge.  I think the ME girders would probably look small.

Yeah abutments are always the tricky part.  The brass bridge is a pretty massive structure and it really calls for concrete abutments.  But wood might be the ticket for a smaller bridge, especially if the bridge itself is built out of wood.

All of the landscaping and detailing work has been addictive the past couple of months.  Not looking forward to constructing new benchwork, and cutting and fitting sub-roadbed again.  And it definitely will slow down the pictures for a while.

Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger...  doing it my way.  Now working on phase 3.      - Walt

For photos and more:  http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/

  • Member since
    January 2016
  • 10 posts
Posted by Michael Pags on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 6:38 PM

Thanks for the suggestions re: Micro Engineering and Central Valley. I found the website for ME, and yes, the items may be too small for an O gauge layout, but I could not find the bridge supports just to be certain.  I also could not find the website for Central Valley.  Have the URL?

Thanks,

Michael 

  • Member since
    February 2013
  • 479 posts
Posted by HObbyguy on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 7:35 PM

Here is the Central Valley link showing their bridge girder packs.  But it looks like they are also limited to HO and N scale.

http://www.cvmw.com/bridges.htm

Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger...  doing it my way.  Now working on phase 3.      - Walt

For photos and more:  http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/

  • Member since
    January 2016
  • 10 posts
Posted by Michael Pags on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 7:56 PM

Thanks, got it. Yes, the bridges are for a much smaller scale. I am willing to view HO scale items, but the bridges clearly will not work. I am actually looking for the trusses to support an complete elevated section of my layout and the ones in the photo appeared tall enought to work in O gauge. I still can not seem to see them either on the ME of Central Valley websites.

Thanks,

Michael

  • Member since
    February 2012
  • 28 posts
Posted by TractionNut on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 3:28 PM

I missed the party, HObbyguy! I like what I'm seeing here! This forum is almost 2 years old, but I still want to comment on what a great job you've done. I just purchased an Overland HO scale brass, pin-connected truss bridge today. Its a single-track model and its unpainted. 

I am going to look to this forum for some instructions and inspiration. Keep up the good work! Wink

 

Regards,

 

TractionNut

 

  

Smile

  • Member since
    February 2013
  • 479 posts
Posted by HObbyguy on Thursday, June 22, 2017 9:21 PM

Maybe late to the party, but does it ever really end?  Big Smile

I hope that some of the hints here help you with your bridge install.

Its been a long time since I posted progress here but still working at it.  The other end of the truss bridge no longer heads out to nowhere and I have most of the landscaping finished underneath.  Here are a couple of progress pics- with links to new non-PB uploads (thanks PB Indifferent)  If anyone wants to see any particular previous photos let me know.

I wasn't happy with the joint between the abutment and the stone wall so I covered the wall with ivy.  I still have more landscaping to do under the bridge but put that off to some time in the future.  I decided not to attach the track to the bridge.  It just lies on the stringers.  That way it is very easy to remove the bridge- just slide the joiners free on one end of the bridge tracks, pull the tracks loose from the joiners at the other end, and pull the bridge off.

800

And here is a current photo.  I have been focusing on the new hillside and coal mine complex for the past year or so.  You can see the truss bridge to the rear.  I still have a long way to go in this area but at least all of the track is down and fully operational.

Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger...  doing it my way.  Now working on phase 3.      - Walt

For photos and more:  http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!