Large Scale Central

Trestle Across Davis Slough

Track and Trestles
#1

Took the partially completed sections of the new trestle outside today for a trial fit and some pix.

The total bridge is just under 15 feet in length. The girder portion is a Garden Metals 35" deck girder. The idea is to model an inlet slough that is always at low tide thereby simulating a water area without the water on a 4’ wide benchwork. Ought to be an interesting challenge. hehe! Originally I’d intended to make the trestle lower than you see but a deck girder bridge just doesn’t look right skimming the ground. I think I got it about as low as I could and still have the girder look reasonable. I still have the timber guards and walkways to install and I’ll probably include guard rails as well if I can get them secured well enough without looking like Godzilla did it. hehe! An additional 8 foot section of benchwork is ready to be placed. It will be at my normal height of 40". This will bring the total benchwork thus far to almost 100 feet.

#2

Beautiful work as always Richard. I cant wait to see how you landscape the benchwork.

JR

#3

Richard ,
You’re a bit of an artist with wood , aren’t you ? I cannot see how anyone could fail to be impressed with what you have done . It all goes to show the truth of the old adage , if it’s worth doing , it’s worth doing properly .
Beautiful work .
Mike M
ps you are really trying to brainwash us into thinking the sun always shines in Oregon , aren’t you ?

#4

Thank you Jon!

Mike: “ps you are really trying to brainwash us into thinking the sun always shines in Oregon , aren’t you ?”

Ah but it does Mike, it truly does! :wink:

#5

Cool!

(Sorry, I ran out of syllables replying on MLS)

#6

Richard ,
As I have commented before , it’s a brave man who takes photos of his work in cruel sunlight .
I counted the upright sections , I made it 24 . This will provoke another comment from a Southern Gentleman from
Loosyanny about my capacity to do useless things , having time on my hands and so fifth .
But , I have to ask you , Richard , at what stage did you say to yourself --"I wish I hadn’t started this " --?
But I am so glad you did start it , it really is something .
I can hear the wheels clackety clacking across there , with the train rocking along in tune . You lucky man .
Mike M
PS Keep Fr Fred away , I hear he attracts burning trestles .

#7

With track laying as perfect as Richard is showing I doubt there will be too many trains rocking on down the line.

As usual. Beautiful work.

#8

Very very nice! Your work always amazes me. What will go beyond?

#9
Tom Ruby said:
Cool!

(Sorry, I ran out of syllables replying on MLS)


Hehe! I hope it was at least half the work for you to write that word creation of yours as it was for me to pronounce it!

[b]Thanks much guys!

Bruce,[/b]
The trestle provides a scenic break between the Coos Bay terminal and the next town on the line, Bandon. I don’t have enough length of run to put a meaningful distance between towns so I’m using scenic breaks instead to help define separate locations from one another. After Bandon I’m thinking of using a short bridge and a very short tunnel or cut of maybe 12" or so to separate from the 3rd town, Port Orford.

I also plan eventually to use some live foliage (very limited) such as Lemon Thyme or similar in the background to more subtly divide scenes. The nice thing about operating so close to such a large scale is that you can quite literally lose yourself in a particular location with minimal scenic blocks.

#10

Richard,
Forgot to comment on that obvious bridge - how did you do the lettering? I’ve got a similar Garden Metals Bridge - and I just think that the railroad name on it would add a whole lot of my memories onto it! I had not thought of it until I had seen your great shot - now I want it!

#11
Bruce Chandler said:
Richard, Forgot to comment on that obvious bridge - how did you do the lettering? I've got a similar Garden Metals Bridge - and I just think that the railroad name on it would add a whole lot of my memories onto it! I had not thought of it until I had seen your great shot - now I want it!
Bruce.

The RR name is 1/2" vinyl alphabet lettering applied one letter at a time. The small lettering is 1/4" and is “DG 15.0” on the left (Deck Girder at milepost 15.0) and “7 - 06” on the right (Date installed July 2006).

When figuring how to letter I list several possibilities and denote the center point of each and then the center point of the bridge to see which will fit the best. For example if “Railroad” didn’t fit well in the name I could have used “Port Orford Coast R. R.” or just “Port Orford Coast”. Also on the other side I just put a POC herald along with the 1/4" data. RR’s usually didn’t print out the whole name in a direction that didn’t show. Your herald is especially attractive and would look great on a bridge along with the name or in combination although you would probably have to mask off and spray a white oval on which to place it.

It is a neat way to immediately identify your RR to visitors without putting up an actual sign.

#12
Richard Smith said:
Thank you Jon!

Mike: “ps you are really trying to brainwash us into thinking the sun always shines in Oregon , aren’t you ?”

Ah but it does Mike, it truly does! :wink:


I’ll find out how true that is in Sept when we fly out to visit my son in Grant’s Pass…BTW Richard, excellant work as usual…:wink:

#13

Richard,

What is the story behind the name “Davis Slough”? Your work is always an inspiration.

#14
Ric Golding said:
Richard,

What is the story behind the name “Davis Slough”? Your work is always an inspiration.


Ric,

Davis Slough is an actual inlet off of Coos Bay (the bay, not the town). It’s located just south of Coos Bay/North Bend and highway 101 crosses over it. I’ve endeavored to use real place names to better give the POC a sense of place.

#15

I thought maybe that was it, but then I also thought it might be named for a family member or some part of history. Well, I guess there is actually a history to the name, anyway. Thanks for the reply. I’m always interested in your next phase. It’s like watching a 1:1 railroad develop.

#16

Great work. It looks fantastic!

Jon.

#17

Ric,
I do often name businesses, equipment and such after people I know but try and keep place names to actual geographic locations.

Jon,
Thank you much! Good to get your post & see you’re still around. :slight_smile: