awesome

Amazing!

I’d like to see the effect created by the LED strip lights in the dark, lighting the bridge from within. 

Being a toolmaker and a welder, all I can say is:

Wow!!

That is one super duper erector set.  Nice work!

I can only imagine the time it took. My 42 inch two track open deck all steel girder bridge took me about a month!

Very cool!!

Great stuff. The black bridge is a replica of the C&O railroad bridge that crosses the Ohio River in Sciotoville, Ohio. Here's a picture I found on the net...wonder if it's the same.

Dave

What material?  Steel? Aluminum? What do you suppose it weighed?

"Impressive" is not adequate....but: 

- What's with the rope lighting? Why a cheesy touch like that on such gorgeous work (or pretty much anywhere)?

- Hopefully some more photos will come along containing more appropriate trains than that MTH Coors thing.

- Really stupendous work. 

thats gonna hurt the pocketbook??

Wow!

Peter

Very interesting!

A lot of places to jump from!  That's one of the more unusual layouts I've seen.

Mega kudos to the guy that built these and the guys that assembled them for the layout! Awesome does not begin to cut it! I'd love to see how this thing comes apart and gets transported. Not to mention an article on how he builds one of these. Having been in modular railroading for many years, I can appreciate the effort that went into this display!

Chris

LVHR

are they for sale and does he do custom work  

Sure would make a great photo op for a reprint of an old Erector Set catalog!    Thanks for taking the pix and sharing, it really is quite impressive!  Russ

The bridges are wonderful.  What craftsmanship and skill and perseverance.

Just bringing all the bridges to the show was a huge task and effort too. 

Thanks for sharing.

Charlie

The builder's name, Harold  Woods, Jr., appears in the first photo.  A quick Google search led to this link featuring his 45' Standard Gauge Hellgate Bridge model--that's right, 45 feet of Standard gauge Hellgate bridge:

https://www.artprize.org/65041

The link also shows his O scale, 15' long scale model of the Illinois Central Bridge at Metropolis, Illinois.

Astonishing!!!!

Edit:  Per Matt GN027's post below, Mr. Woods' middle name is "Virgil."

I wonder if there might be a Guinness World Record here? Maybe the Guinness Company would give them the world record for the longest train layout built entirely of bridges. I wish someone would send these pictures to the American Society of Civil Engineers ( these are people who design bridges for a living ) to get their take on it. They might publish it in their magazine called Civil Engineering.

That is one heck of a guy to do all that welding. Amazing.

tncentrr posted:

I wonder if there might be a Guinness World Record here? Maybe the Guinness Company would give them the world record for the longest train layout built entirely of bridges. I wish someone would send these pictures to the American Society of Civil Engineers ( these are people who design bridges for a living ) to get their take on it. They might publish it in their magazine called Civil Engineering.

 He said he builds all those based on pictures and any other drawings he can get a hold of.  So everything in the pictures already exists someplace...

Pingman posted:

The builder's name, Harold Woods, Jr., appears in the first photo.  A quick Google search led to this link featuring his 45' Standard Gauge Hellgate Bridge model--that's right, 45 feet of Standard gauge Hellgate bridge:

https://www.artprize.org/65041

The link also shows hisO scale, 15' long scale model of the Illinois Central Bridge at Metropolis, Illinois.

Astonishing!!!!

 Thanks for the link Carl. My sister does not live to far from there... I'm going to make a little side trip....

I'm a bridge troll and I love this. Steel trusses are beyond my capability. However, I'm looking at building this one to scale when I retire. In O scale it will be 20' 6" (984 feet) and about 25" high at the deck. Definitely a back yard project. I'm thinking part of a river/waterfall/pond thing would be nice. The only thing I'd change, which would make it proto-freelanced is I'd put two tracks on it. I'm thinking PVC construction for stability.

Now PVC sounds like a good idea Matt... That would make a good base.....

Stoshu posted:

Pingman posted:

The builder's name, Harold Woods, Jr., appears in the first photo.  A quick Google search led to this link featuring his 45' Standard Gauge Hellgate Bridge model--that's right, 45 feet of Standard gauge Hellgate bridge:

https://www.artprize.org/65041

The link also shows hisO scale, 15' long scale model of the Illinois Central Bridge at Metropolis, Illinois.

Astonishing!!!!

 Thanks for the link Carl. My sister does not live to far from there... I'm going to make a little side trip....

Stoshu, I believe (incorrectly as pointed out by Matt  BN027 in the post below) the large bridge that spans the operating layout in your first photo, and bears the builder's name is, in fact, the O scale model of the 708" span of the Metropolis, IL bridge referenced in the link I provided.

From Wikipedia:

Total length of the bridge is 6,424 feet (1,958 m). The largest span stretches 708 feet (216 m), and remains the longest pin-connected simple through truss span in the world. Cost of the bridge when built was $4,000,000. 

O scale being 1:48; 1/48 of 708' is 14.75'.

Check the photo in the Wikipedia link.

Thanks for bringing this gentlemen's extraordinary art form to our collective attention.

Absolutely Amazing Work.

Pingman posted:

Stoshu, I believe the large bridge that spans the operating layout in your first photo, and bears the builder's name is, in fact, the O scale model of the 708" span of the Metropolis, IL bridge referenced in the link I provided.

@Pingman, it is not the Metropolis Bridge. The bridge in the first photo is, as @luvindemtrains says, the C&O's Sciotoville Bridge. (And, as luvindemtrains surmises, the photo that he found on the web is the same model. Here's the article that the photo is from, crediting Harold Virgil Woods Jr.)

Neither is the bridge in @Stoshu's second photo the Metropolis Bridge. The Metropolis Bridge has six through trusses, the tops of which are all rounded/arched. The bridge in Stoshu's second photo has five through trusses, four of which have flat tops.

Stoshu, thank you for sharing your story and your photos. Mr. Woods's creations are extraordinary.

Matt GN027, thanks for clarifying the bridges modeled by Mr. Woods presented in Stoshu's photos; and for supplying his middle name.  I've edited my posts accordingly.