Good morning. I am in need a 2 N scale bridges to cross a river on my layout. I built a double track truss bridge that will be good for the double track but there are 2 more places that a single track will have to cross the river. I am trying to model in the late 1800's and would like to know what type of bridges were used back then.
Also, what type of tunnel portals were used then? I suppose there were stone portals, but were there any wooden ones?
Any help would be great and so would some pics if you have them. Thanks, Mike
Here's a single track Pratt truss bridge in brass. It certainly resembles (at a quick glance) photos of bridges that I have which were built in the late 1800's.
http://www.micronart.com/2083_Med_Pratt.html
I think BLMA has a similar product. They say the prototype dates to 1938, but it's not far off older ones I've seen. See this thread.
http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=92123
and
http://www.blmamodels.com/cgi-bin/webstore/shop.cgi?ud=BQkFAAsMBgUDBxQUEBEcHAYNAAYEBwcECQkTEQAA&t=main.red.htm&storeid=1&cols=1&categories=02002-00022&&c=detail.red.htm&t=main.red.htm&itemid=2001
Regards
Ed
It was not uncommon around the turn of the last century for a line to be built with double track infrastructure (bridges, tunnels, etc.) but only with one track installed. This was the case on much of the Western Maryland's extensions built between 1905 and 1912.
You can see the piers are wide enough to carry a second track. At Keystone Viaduct, the through truss bridge was built wide enough for two tracks as well, with only one ever being installed.
This was done in anticipation of increasing traffic volumes. By the time those volumes arrived, though, so had Centralized Traffic Control, allowing traffic to be managed more efficiently over a single track line.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Thanks for the replies, I would rather not spend $200.00 on a brass bridge, although I am sure they would look great. I am wanting more of a simpler bridge, maybe a girder or an arch bridge. I am not sure if there were girder bridges back then.
The river I am building is about 4'' across where the tracks will be and about 2 1/2'' deep with the river banks nearly virtical with a tall clif on the back side.
As you can see, the river is at the bottom of a large clif with the train comming thru a tunnel and imidately across the river. This is where the bridge will be.
I still need to do a lot more carving on the clif and the river banks. Any more suggestions?
Mike
Your bridge needs some masonry abutments... For the late 19th century, these would be cut stone. Check out Chooch Industries, I believe they have a pretty good selection.
Plate girder bridges would have been around at that time as well, typically in short span applications over highways or other narrow openings. You could get an Atlas plate girder bridge, cut the sides off, then place the girders below the track, or use Micro Engineering bridge girders, available in 40' and 80' lengths.
This bridge is composed of two sets of 80' girders.
If you want a single track truss bridge, the Kato Unitrak bridge is pretty good. It looks better if its weathered up a bit. I see you're using code 80 track, so you can tie into the unitrak pretty easily.
I replaced the Unitrak with ME code 55 bridge track, which approves the appearance immensely.