Multiple kit bridges

[Santa Fe all the way!]

I've gathered two of the Atlas truss bridges and some Chooch piers and bridge abbutments. My idea is to add the two and maybe three of the kits together for one long bridge. I've been putting this project off for a while and I need some inspiration to get me off my butt. Please, if you have a multi span bridge, please post some pictures.

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

 If your referring to the pre-built Atlas truss bridges do yourself a favor and start by throwing them in the garbage.They are best suited for going around the Christmas tree. If your talking about the 18" long kit bridge they have thats a nice bridge and will look good for what your planning.

I am currently building in my work shop a similar module but it has a Walthers Double track through truss bridge with a Central Valley double track plate girder bridge on both ends of the truss bridge.

Let me educate you on bridge shoes ad Chooch piers. They are not a perfect match up.Then again neither are Walthers bridge piers or anyone other manufactures.  So just as with the prototype you will have to shim the bottom of the bridge shoe with something like sheet styrene. I am currently in the mock up stage but have all my 3/4" birch plywood pieces cut and ready to start on tomorrow. what I have in mind is a 3/4" plywood base with 3/4" plywood end. If you measure the bridge pier and compare it to the abutment you will find that the abutment (which you should only need one pier in the middle) is 1/4" shorter then the pier, the pier will need to be mounted higher on the plywood end walls so the two abutments and the center pier are all the same heightwise. Then once your bridges are built and ready to be installed is when you'll need to shim under the bridge shoes to get them to the exact same track height

I'm finding out it's not as simple as it looks and requires a litle planning and engineering but the end result should look great.

[doctorwayne]

A few photos that have been shown here before.  The first three are of the same two bridges, as viewed from different angles.  The taller bridge in the rear is a combination of Micro Engineering parts, while the lower bridge, as seen in the second photo, is composed of, from left to right, an M.E. 50' deck girder, an M.E. 30' deck girder, two Atlas deck trusses, and the sides from an Atlas through girder, cut from the floor and rebuilt as a deck girder.  The piers and abutments were cast in patching plaster:

The next three photos of are another bridge, again from different angles.  The two deck truss spans are from Atlas, with the towers and girders by Micro Engineering.  Abutments and piers are built-up from .060" sheet styrene:

This one appears to be a two-span bridge:

...but viewed from above, a third span is revealed:

In the last photo above, the short girder is from Micro Engineering, while the two deck trusses are again from Atlas.  The piers and abutments are cast plaster.

The last bridge is comprised of five spans across the Maitland River:

Starting from the west bank of the river, there's an M.E. 30' girder (hidden in the bushes) and an M.E. 50' girder...

...followed by an Atlas through girder modified into a deck girder, and a Central Valley through truss...

...and ending in another modified Atlas girder bridge...

Piers and abutments for this bridge were cast in patching plaster, and all bridges shown here are removeable as complete units, with their piers and abutments remaining on the layout.

I hope these photos offer a little bit of inspiration to get you started.

Wayne

 

 

[tbdanny]

Wayne,

I can't go away from this post without saying that those bridges look awesome!  That might be enough to get me started on my own bridge project.  What did you use for the water?

Thanks in advance,

tbdanny

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Wayne ... Your bridges are truly outstanding !!.

tbdnny ... This is my bridge over the "Mrs. Hippy River" in HO.

It is double track. Each end has two Atlas single track bridges side-by-side. There are two Walthers double track bridges. The combine length is four feet. The piers and abutments are made from 1/4" plywood. It has homemade wood ties and hand-laid rail.

[doctorwayne]

Thank you both for the kind words. 

Garry, that's not only a good-looking bridge, but I also like the scene around it, and the piers are very well done, too.  I see that you've also included the telegraph arms, something I've yet to do on my Maitland River bridge.

Danny, the "water" is Durabond patching plaster, applied over a plywood river bottom.  It's about 1/8" thick, I think, with the ripples and white water effects added with a drywall knife just before the plaster set.  I brush painted it with latex house paint, then applied three coats of high gloss water-based clear urethane, also applied with a brush.  There's no "creep" up the river bank or piers, and the hard plaster and tough finish stand up to my habit of placing the camera atop the "water" for photos, and, of course, the occasional cleaning with my shop-vac.

Wayne

 

[MisterBeasley]

This is an Atlas chord bridge.  It's no longer in production, but they'v replaced it with a different 18-inch bridge.

Earlier in construction, it looked like this:

 

[wm3798]

 

A Walthers double track through truss with Micro Engineering plate Girder decks.  Piers are scratch built from sheet styrene.

Lee

[selector]

Great work, Guys!   This is really a showcase thread showing really top notch work! 

I'm jealous...

[twhite]

Some great bridges here! 

Wayne: I've admired your bridges for years!     It was great to see the close-up shots of those viaducts!

Garry:  I love that Mrs. Hippy bridge. 

Well, here's my multiple-kit bridge, the Deer Creek viaduct in the Sierra Nevada.  It's made of two ME Tall Viaduct kits constructed on a 36" radius curve and 2% grade. 

Pardon the unfinished scenery.

Tom

[doctorwayne]

Great work on that rusted finish Mister B. - makes me want to sandblast it, particularly that second view.

wm3798,  I like the way that you've integrated the deck girders into the rest of the span, and the angled nosings at the base of your scratchbuilt piers is especially realistic.

selector

I'm jealous...

 

Crandell, I've seen enough pictures of your well-executed layout to know that your jealousy is misspent. 

Tom, I've always admired that spindly-looking viaduct of yours as seen in the first shot, but the second view looks to me as if it will be even more impressive from that angle.  I can't wait to see some shots once the scenery is finished, although the view shown will probably be educational to those modellers familiar only with stacked-foam scenery.

In talking with a friend who has an operational room-sized layout with no scenery as yet, we agreed that a bridge, especially one over water, is a scenic element that almost all layouts should have, even if the rest of the scenery never gets built.  Not only is it a good place to learn all kinds of scenery techniques, but it's also a fantastic site at which to show-off your locomotives and rolling stock.  On his frequent visits to photograph his stunning collection of brass locomotives on my layout, probably 90% of the photos are taken with the subject on a bridge.

Wayne

[steemtrayn]

Walthers and Central Valley components are being used to build this skewed double track thru plate girder bridge.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2627035330039019157qRmJpw

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Great work.. Steemtrayn, Tom, Lee, and Mr. B. ...

Thanks for kind remarks everyone about my Mrs. Hippy River Bridge.

Wayne ... I just went back and admired your bridges some more with the great looking "water".

Cheers.

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

Ok I responded to the O/P telling him I had a similar project under construction in the work shop so here it is be kind fella, I need some input. It is presently in the mock up stages more or less. Nothing is glued in place the bridge shoe shims have not yet been constructed but I know or at least I think I know how thick they are going to have to be.

 Here you see the Walthers Double track truss bridge with the Central Valley bridge butted up to it. You can notice the difference in how the track is placed on both models Central Valley would have you glue down rails with C/A or the like using their deck with the plastic ties etc. Walthers provides you with the I-Beams with the intent that you use their Bridge Track. 

You also get a general idea of the shimming involved to get all the track heights the same, for now there are just pieces of strip wood, I will take a measurement and make plates out of styrene or I was considering the lack of base on the top of the pier I was thinking of possibly using an I-Beam

 

 

 Here you can see the Chooch cut stone bridge piers which may not have been the best choice being as they are just kinda tight with wise for my liking. but I wanted to keep the stone piers to match the other bridges crossing this river.

 You can see the Chooch stone retaining wall which will go on the side of the abutment and will have the hillside go partial up the side of the wall so it doesn't have 90 degree drop off.

One of my question sis, would the tie of the bridge track rest right on top of the stone abutment as seen here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here I tacked a couple of pieces of Homabed to the top of the plywood to get an idea how hihg the abutment needs to be so everthing lines up.

 

 My question is do I leave the central Valley decking in place and strip away the ties from the Micro engineering bridge track and glue the rails in place or do I remove the decking and just glue the bridge track ties to the girders  of the bridge keeping the uniformity of the ties all the way across the bridge?

Keep in mind I still have to bend and glue in the safety rails on the M/E bridge track.

 

 

[doctorwayne]

To align the track vertically, either file or cut the top of the abutment or pier to suit if you wish to lower a span, or add shim of sheet or strip styrene of an appropriate thickness if you wish to raise the span. 

For the situation where the Central Valley bridge tracks don't line up with those on the Walthers bridge, my choice would be to cut the Central Valley bridge along both sides of the central girder, add a suitably-sized extension, on each side of that girder, then splice the cross-pieces back together with the central girder.  It involves a bit of work, but would give you the best-looking results, in my opinion.  The surgery, once painted, wouldn't be noticeable, and if you use a good solvent-type cement, the bridge will be as strong as ever.

As for the bridge ties on the abutment, that's the method which I generally use, as I prefer to place the rail joiners beyond the end of the bridge.  (My bridges are made to be removeable.)

Wayne

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

" For the situation where the Central Valley bridge tracks don't line up with those on the Walthers bridge, my choice would be to cut the Central Valley bridge along both sides of the central girder, add a suitably-sized extension, on each side of that girder, then splice the cross-pieces back together with the central girder.  It involves a bit of work, but would give you the best-looking results, in my opinion.  The surgery, once painted, wouldn't be noticeable, and if you use a good solvent-type cement, the bridge will be as strong as ever."

 

I'm not really following you here the CV will line up to the Walthers as there is no track mounted to the Walthers Bridge. That just a piece of Micro Engineering bridge track that I layed on the walthers bridge. A little shifting from side to side and the rails will line up with the CV tie plates. It was just a question of weather or not I wanted to use "two different systems" or use just the micro Engineering track all the way across the span.

After posting I thought of another alternative I pulled out a section of Central Valley Bridge Tie section form an unbuilt kit and layed it on the Walthers Bridge. I think rather then try and debond the glue used to hold down the tie sections (4) it may be easier to glue in and paint some CV tie sections to the Walthers bridge glue down some rail and call it done.

[Last Chance]

 Thank you kindly for those honest workshop photos. They really tell me a story on how things are coming together.

All the bridges here look really good.

 

Pardon me while I still write a low deck trestle crossing a mountain stream on paper for future layout. The thing might be 10 feet up and 70 feet long if that. Nothing like the glorious bridges I see and enjoy here in this thread.

 

I say this. The proof is going to be in the trackwork, would not want any of the equipment to take a fall.

[doctorwayne]

Allegheny2-6-6-6

I'm not really following you here the CV will line up to the Walthers as there is no track mounted to the Walthers Bridge. That just a piece of Micro Engineering bridge track that I layed on the walthers bridge. A little shifting from side to side and the rails will line up with the CV tie plates. It was just a question of weather or not I wanted to use "two different systems" or use just the micro Engineering track all the way across the span.

After posting I thought of another alternative I pulled out a section of Central Valley Bridge Tie section form an unbuilt kit and layed it on the Walthers Bridge. I think rather then try and debond the glue used to hold down the tie sections (4) it may be easier to glue in and paint some CV tie sections to the Walthers bridge glue down some rail and call it done.

 

Sorry, I misunderstood your original question:  in your first photo, the bridge ties in the foreground don't appear to line up with the support girders on the truss bridge.

As long as the top of the tie strips line up evenly, you should be able to use the CV tie strips on the Walthers bridge, which should make installation of the guard rails simpler.

Wayne

[jambam]

Curious. . . . .  Other than the obvious issue w/ clearance under the bridge, why would a bridge builder opt to place the trestle structure above the tracks vs. below?  I've seen bridges w/ all the structure above, all below and some above and below. . .   thanks.

[doctorwayne]

Here's some info on bridge basics.

Wayne

[rdgk1se3019]

 Speaking of bridges.......where could I find plans for a Pennsylvania type thru truss bridge?

Would like to build an HO scale model of 1....about 300' long double track.

No place to put it on my layout.....but thought it would be a neat project to keep me busy for a little while.

[doctorwayne]

As the man said elsewhere, "Google is your friend." 

I quick search yielded THIS.  Scroll down the page if you want to see an actual Pennsylvania-style (Petit) truss, and there are lots of illustrations of other types of truss bridges which would be suitable for a bridge as used by the Pennsy.

For plans, try typing the name of the style which you like in the google search box, like this:  Pratt truss bridge plans. 

Wayne

[leighant]

Here is one I snapped together using the out-of-the-bubble-pack Atlas bridges for a layout I threw together in ten days.

No, not perfectly accurate, but it impressed people who had never seen any layout except one on a flat ping pong table.

[csxns]

leighant

No, not perfectly accurate

But i think you did a great job.

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

Last Chance

 Thank you kindly for those honest workshop photos. They really tell me a story on how things are coming together.

All the bridges here look really good.

 

Pardon me while I still write a low deck trestle crossing a mountain stream on paper for future layout. The thing might be 10 feet up and 70 feet long if that. Nothing like the glorious bridges I see and enjoy here in this thread.

 

I say this. The proof is going to be in the trackwork, would not want any of the equipment to take a fall.

 

 

You mean like this one? pardon the poor photography 2:00am with a camera phone. No where near finished yet but I think you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

[der5997]

If I may weigh in on this multiple bridge kit thing, I really appreciate the work that you guys have posted, most impressive and enjoyable. Thanks.

My N Scale Maritime Trunk has two multiple kit bridges. The smaller is just twin Walthers Cornerstone double track kits across a river.   That's on a removable module in a window.

The larger is a viaduct made from six or seven Atlas 3 arch viaduct kits on a removable module across a doorway.  Scales out at about 640 feet long.   As you can see, the height far exceeds the length of the Atlas piers, and I cast plaster pier extensions to accommodate the difference. .  I had to shorten the Atlas piers for the ends of the viaduct where the terrain rises.

Since this module gets moved in and out of the doorway on a fairly frequent basis, I've give up on rail joiners, and rely on friction provided by pieces of (suitably coloured) card folded up as wedges filling the gap at each end of the viaduct to hold the rails in alignment by holding the whole structure in alignment. Sorry about tha trun-on sentence! The piers are stuck to the scenery base by silicone to provide some vibration dampening when the module moves. It's on sliders with adjusting screws to get the verticle alignment right at each corner.

John.

 

 

[Santa Fe all the way!]

Sorry for posting this thread and not getting back to it sooner, life got in the way. I would like to thank everyone for posting all their beautiful multikit bridges!! To let you know where Im at with this project, I've built the base and backdrop. I used 1"x8" solid wood for the base and Masonite for the backdrop. My layout is a shelf layout that circles the second floor of my home. After building and placing the bridges, Im using shelf brackets to mount it into place on the wall. It fits into a space between a doorway and a wall that will be penetrated. The base is kinda shaped like this.  -------l__________l------  The bridge kits are the 18" code 86 Atlas bridge kits. To be honest, I looked over the Walthers bridge kits and decided I liked the simplicity of the Atlas kits. I have a couple other hobbies and I like the time savings. The bridges really do look pretty good.  Im painting the bridge with MM steel with a light wash of rust. I will do a mock up tonight, but I already know that the Chooch abutments and pier will need to be altered, shimmed or both.  Again, thanks for the pictures.

[der5997]

SFatw: Enquiring minds need to know...you did say a shelf layout around the second floor as in the entire upper storey of your home? Wow!  I thought I was doing well to get an entire spare bedroom for my shelf! John.

[Santa Fe all the way!]

Im divorced, so there's no one to say "your crazy, your not doing that!!" To be accurate, the layout circles two of the three rooms upstairs, the hobby room and my bedroom. It goes thru my closet, thru the wall seperating my bedroom and the hobby room, around the hobby room, across my daughters bedroom door( making a swing down "bridge" for this) across the bridge that is the topic of this thread, thru the wall seperating the hobby room and my bedroom, and around my bedroom and into the closet. Being HO, I still have room for my clothes.  So far, I have the benchwork up for most of the hobbyroom and a little inside my closet.(enough to back a 10 car train into) If I ever remember how to post pictures, I'll show you what I have so far.

 

PS John, I once lived in a small two bedroom apartment. I used half my daughters bedroom for a 4x7ft layout!! Bad daddy you think? I made it up to her by making a cool playhouse for her under the layout. It even had strings of Christmas lights for lighting.

[Santa Fe all the way!]

John, the bridge in the first picture you posted is exactly the look Im going for.  Woodland scenics makes some fisherman and a boat Im going to use, I think it really adds something.