No, not a trip to the dentist, but a trip to Larry Mosher’s. For a price I couldn’t refuse, he had two 7 foot long Eaglewing camelback bridges, the same design of bridge I was going to steal from Stan’s place. NO, not steal, copy, yea, copy. Anyway, I picked them up last night. Here they are, with a 1:20 caboose for scale.
To keep Fred happy, I need to have bridge ties, and, of course, guardrails. Which means mounting ties to it somehow. I have a few sections of bridge track that I made, used, and changed my mind. Here is one of them sitting on the bridge.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/bob_mccown/Trackwork/Bridges/bridge_3.jpg)
And it hit me. The inner bars are about 2 1/2 inches apart. So have a wood batten run the length of the bridge, and attach the bridge ties to it. Here is that same bit of track, squashed down into the slot.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/bob_mccown/Trackwork/Bridges/bridge_4.jpg)
This might be easier than I thought!
Bob
Glad you got the bridges. They will look great on your railroad.
For our bridge we used contact cement to glue the ties to the bridge. Thw wood batten approach is a good method as well.
Stan
So Bob
Were are they going???
Sean
Thats going to look good Bob. Cant wait to see it with trains running on it.
Very nice.
I’m still trying to figure out how to build the through truss bridge I want.
Send me a pic and I can draw something for you and maybe build it too…
Way cool Bob !!! Just make sure if you put one at Majestic that you raise the track an half inch or so 
Now that will look correct, Bob…although the guard rails should extend about a car length or so, beyond the end of the bridge abutments…
I’ve been looking at the “display rail” by Trains-Li as a cheaper alternative for guard rails.
John
Marty Cozad tried it for guard rail and in the heat it look like a snake.
It has a lot of expansion and contraction.
Code 250 alum is about the same price as the plastic rail and it looks good.
Bob
Nice looking bridges and looks good in narrow gauge.
Rodney
Thanks Rodney! Well I will scrape that idea, my bridge sits in direct sunlight.
Today I cut out all the spline, dug away the rock and dirt, and built one of the piers. First pic is the new height of the ROW at the bridge. The spline is the old level, the green string is the new BOTTOM of the bridge.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/bob_mccown/Trackwork/Bridges/increase.jpg)
Here is the right hand pier. I have several thousand used bricks, and decided that instead of concrete piers, brick ones would blend in better with the gardens.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/bob_mccown/Trackwork/Bridges/pier1.jpg)
The bricks are mortared to the big stones behind it, and, once the mortar is dry, I’ll back-fill and ‘rock up’ to the new ROW level.
Bob,
Nice move on the bricks - they look good. I’m glad to see the extra clearance.
I guess no one will be able to step over there any more. 
That’s a neat idea! I always try to remember it is a “Garden Railroad” and try to tie the two together. Bricks are always one of my favorite tools.
Ric Golding said:For the RR or throwing at Andy? Wait maybe both?? ;)
Bricks are always one of my favorite tools.
Would have said less, but my message was too short. Whatever.
Looking good Bob.
Did a little bridge work today myself. My 5 foot outdoor lift out was made with a plywood deck and 1x2 lumber about 5 years ago. It started to sag after about 3 years. Last year I tried to level it back out a bit, but by spring it was sagging again.
I picked some heavy gauge 2" x 2" square aluminum tube out of the junk at work last week. In about an hour with 7 passes through the table saw I had a solid metal girder to replace the sagging wood bridge. A fresh length of track was laid over the top to test and it works great.
I sure would like to do the nice bridge ties like yours, but I don’t have the patience to spike it. Maybe I’ll put some long ties between the tie strip ties. Going to the hobby store tomorrow to find some .125 angle to simulate plates on the sides.
The other pier will be shorter, probably 4 courses, since the yard slopes up there. Build that one tomorrow, and set the bridge in place for a test on monday. Thats the plan, anyway.
