@Randy Harrison posted:Alan:
Your layout is a true work of art and dedication to our hobby. Your bridge is outstanding! Is it scratch-built? I not, where did you get it?
Thanks Randy! The bridge is in fact scratch-built by a man that had a large layout in the St. Louis area. He had from what I was told around a dozen bridges of various types and sizes (this one was of medium size). Apparently he had a wood working shop and built all of his bridges by cutting up lumber and making each piece of the bridge from plans he had drawn. In other words, he built them "the old fashioned way".
I saw this bridge at my first York I attended. It was being used as a display by one of the vendors. I took a little heat over acquiring it by some of our forum members who thought that I bought it before the start of the meet. In fact, after we set up our booth, I returned to my hotel room and called the vendor to ask if it was for sale and he told me everything at his table was for sale! We discussed that he could not sell it until the meet opened so no price had been established. The next day as soon as the meet opened, I rushed over to the vendor's table, agreed on a price, and bought the bridge. Jim Barrett helped me bring it over to our booth. I had a PT Cruiser at the time and the bridge would not fit in the car because it was too long! It originally had a foot long approach on both ends. We borrowed a skill saw from Bachmann and cut off both approaches and then with quite a bit of effort, got the thing in my car. As it turned out, no other modifications were needed as it fit the space I had for it perfectly!
