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
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Great work, Guys! This is really a showcase thread showing really top notch work!
I'm jealous...
A Walthers double track through truss with Micro Engineering plate Girder decks. Piers are scratch built from sheet styrene.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
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:
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
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
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.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
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
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
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.
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.
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.