Large Scale Central

New Bridge for the LCNGRR

Track and Trestles
#1

Hi all I haven’t posted here before, but have on the “other” forum. I have been working on a railroad in the back yard for about 9 months now and this weekend finally completed a new trestle bridge and pony truss as per the pics below: Firstly, the trestle and truss combination

Next shows the scale of it with the Porter on an early morning caboose hop

Another shot of the caboose hop on the truss

I enjoyed the build process, using hardwood garden stakes for the most part as getting hold of other outdoor suitable timber was a little challenging out here in Oz. The best tool to help things along was a little brad nail gun. It also made me really appreciate the engineering in the pony truss, they are an amazing piece of design when you finally figure out what all the bits mean… I know it ain’t perfect, and if doing it again, I’d probably make the bents a little closer together, but they are similar in distance to the types of trestles we have out here and most people who see it don’t notice anyway (heck, my wife reckoned the bracing timber spoilt it and wanted just the bents on their own!). Next job is a turntable, and then some buildings if I can find something reasonably weatherproof to build them out of. Cheers Tony

#2

Tony,
timber is without doubt the most satisfying material to build outdoors with. You have done well by mechanically fastening the pieces together. Glue alone will not suffice.

    In so far as a turntable,  then I built mine from aluminium sections and then 'plated' over the deck with clear cedar.  For simplicity it is manually indexed and uses the stock stainless rail connector to lock in position and to conduct power.  This so far has proven very reliable.  The base is a 'lazy susan'.


    go to this link for a photo.  It may give you some inspiration.  I like the features of both the gallows and cantilevered type deck turntables and so combined the features of both.  My turntable is built on an elevated road and so no requirement for a pit.

http://www.gscalemad.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=12607

#3

Nice. Looks like it should last a good long time.

#4

Thanks Tim and Ray

Tim, I like the aluminium frame idea, especially using the rail connectors as a locking mechanism and power pickup. Looks like a trip to IKEA might be in order. I’m sure that will meet with domestic approval relatively quickly (as long as the real reason for going is somehow disguised)…

Cheers
Tony

#5

Looks Good Tony! Welcome into LSC! thanks for posting!

#6

Looks great! thanks for sharing.
Terry

#7

Very nice.Was it less expensive using the hardwood garden stakes?
I would like to do something very similar to what you have.
Ralph

#8

Hi Ralph, Terry and Cale

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated

Ralph

The hardwood stakes were about $7 for a bundle of 12 x 4’ stakes, so for the whole bridge I needed around 4 bundles, so around $30. I had the brass rod lying around for the truss rods, so they’d be a little extra, but all up, it was a cheap project. Our big model train show is on at the moment, and they had the Aristo pony truss on special at $279 (Oz $$), so its worked out a damn sight cheaper than that!

Cheers
Tony

#9

Nice job on the trestle and bridge Tony. Looks like an interesting line you’ve got there.

#10
Richard Smith said:
Nice job on the trestle and bridge Tony. Looks like an interesting line you've got there.
Ditto!

We’re in Perth’s northern suburbs, yellow sand banksia country. I’d love to use timber on our RR, but since this is serious white ant country I stick to concrete and metal on the ground.

Tim, I like your turntable design - looks like it would hold my weight! We have an old gas BBQ that’s the right shape, so a conversion might be feasible.

#11

Hi all Thanks for the comments. As one who has only recently joined the large scale fraternity, its nice to know I’m doing OK with my bridge. A couple of people asked about the track itself. Well here are a couple of shots before the bridge went in. First my Connie going over the spot where the bridge is now

(http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/4963/img027smallld2.jpg)

Here is the track plan so far, made in the Atlas freeware track planning tool.

(http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/1204/gardenrailwaytrackplanvgu3.jpg)

and another version of it done in the Trainz simulator software to check for operations

(http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7895/trainzshotsmallrb5.jpg)

and after a hard day’s work, one needs to relax with ones favourite ale

(http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/3510/img036smallde7.jpg)

Cheers Tony