Bridge help

How about an "el"?  That's what the area seems to call for.

George

You could cut one piece out of plywood to get you past this area & use dowels to hold it up or as i did i used 1 1/2'' x1 1/2'' lumber to hold mine up i used 3/4 ''plywood under my tracks .

What is an "El"? And I may consider doing that Gerald but I'll have to cover it with bassWood to go for the look I'm wanting. I'm trying to make everything as real looking as possible while running 6 trains on a 3 layered 8x12 layout. A little much but I think it may work out if I can just figure out this bridge situation 

How about a stone viaduct:

This one is lightweight foamcore construction with inkjet printed red brick glued on top.

The stone viaduct would be awesome but I still don't think it would fit like I would need it to, the issue I have is the track is slightly offset from the track underneath it, so the base would have to be a little smaller than the base of the track. If that makes any sense. It will consists of 3 10" straights before it makes its 90 degree turn with 2 O36 turns where I can make a standard wooden trustle bridge again 

Im not personally a fan of these trestles from Lionel but I was going to make my own in this styling. As you can see, where the track will be going it will involve a different build along this straight. Through the turn I have a pretty solid plan of how to make it work but the straight I'm having trouble with. I may make some similar trestle styling along this straight in a "half trestle" and build a larger base at the top and secure it very well hoping it looks and holds up well. This train will be coming out of a tunnel in a mountain prior to going on the bridge so I can use the sheet of wood the track is on as a base of strength. Not sure I really have any other option here...

This is the bridge I was originally going to build, im thinking maybe I can just make it around the lower track and have the lower train "tunnel" through the bridge maybe? Anyone done or seen anything like this before? I've been looking on the internet but haven't found anything yet

Scroll down to NYCFAN's 12/5 post here and take a look at the video he posted: https://ogrforum.com/t...ristmas-trees?page=3.  If track relocation can't be done, you may need to have large inverted U shaped bents or "El" type latticework and steel like you can see in Skip's video.  "El" is a nickname for the type of "elevated railways" you see in large cities, especially New York and Chicago.

It keeps telling me "home disabled" when I click the link

OK.  It's page 3 of the "Show us your trains under your Christmas Trees" thread.

Excuse me, "Let's see your trains under your Christmas trees" thread.

"El" or elevated railway like a subway - Chicago.

Something like this.

George

Very  Nice  looking . 

Good luck, John 

That is really nice looking!

So far this is what I have for a possibility also, what do you think? This is really the style I'm going after... 

That is also drawn to size it would be on the layout, although on a screen it may not matter... lol!

From the photos you posted the overlap is more severe.  Looks like you should move the upper line over on your plan till the edge of the ballast is much closer to the center rail of the lower right of way.  (Of course that's only what it "looks like" in the photos.)  Get exact measurements and make sure there's correct clearance to avoid future problems.

The photos may have made it seem a little more severe and I too thought it was (after I added a straight piece and took a pic it looks better), but I used a 90 degree straight edge and got the measurements to everything, it seems though this may work nicely this way. Hopefully it isn't "too much" though

I'm going to attempt to make an wooden overlay on the FasTrack because this whole gravel in the air look is going to throw off the whole "realistic" thing I'm going for

I used a combination of EL type plastic columns and Lionel truss bridge supports. For the longer span, I used a longer support that I purchased at York, then modified by adding a lower section to make the bridge depth deeper, to look OK for the longer span.

I hope these pictures help and give you some ideas.

That looks really good! But I think I might stick with trying this first and if it fails I'll go with that as my next option. My more revised drawing is this currently which will be made from 1/4"X1/4" bassWood 

From what I recall seeing, sections of Japan high speed trains(elevated, no grade crossings) are supported on reinforced concrete piers that are T shaped, the vertical leg of this shape is the support column the horizontal leg is the track bearing support. You can make the T shapes from lumber and paint them light gray to simulate concrete. Using a sheet of plywood , 3/8 or 1/2 inch thick, cut to your track base width plus clearance both side you must determine this overall width, cut the plywood sheet to this width and length, for example 2.5 in track width plus 1/2 inch clearance each side total width 3.5 inches length 8 foot(assumed 4'x8' sheet of plywood). Determine the total length of elevated track and number of 8' Lengths you will need, these lengths will be the base deck of flat girder bridges, use 1/16 inch thick basswood sheet and strip lumber for the bridge sides, consider placing the T shaped supports on 2 ' centers to prevent the plywood strip from deflection under load, the basswood girder sides add some stiffness to counter the load deflection.  In reality these basswood sides are used to simulate the actual structural vertical framing of a plate girder bridge. Butt and lap joint the individual girder bridges on the horizontal leg of the T shaped column using  wood screws. I would recommend using using a 1" x 3" wood strip for this leg, you should be able to lap the base of the bridges on this wood by 1-1/4 inches since this strip should actually measure 3/4" x 2.5". You may also consider the use of a 2" by 2" wood strip for the vertical leg. Center the horizontal strip on this leg, drill through and countersink the horizontal strip, drill pilot hole in vertical strip, wood glue  and screw both strips together.  Use a wood glue that is paintable,  scratch built the girder sides and glue to girder base, I painted my bridges with acrylic delta ceramic(available Hobby Lobby) craft paint and Testors paint brushes. Hope this gives you some ideas for an elevated bridge and  track, this combination adds an additional dimension to the layout. 

You'recould pick up a length of Atlas or Gar Graves or even Super O and adapt it to that, but fyi Ive seen lots of girder bridges with ballast. Those all have a rail profile.closer to FT than tubular. I used to fish from a ballasted girder bridge when I was a kid.

When your looking at a trestle or girders on the underside they are referred as "under-trestle". They were used both ways, and in combination with other styles(though I'm still missing some support too)

   Not pretty, but similar set ups were used on Els, and elsewhere. It's where I got the idea on how to straddle the track. You're only 90° away from a solution   . The combo is a mini-copy of the Gomez Addams bridge, but again, Ive seen a picture of a real combo of 1 trestle bridge butted to a girder bridge, and two girder bridges together, so three isn't too much of a stretch ....hey dats kinda punny too.

I'm not crying, seems the milk didn't spill, lol.

A lack of focus? You can call this train guy Shakey too. (Shakey II?)

Merry Christmas!

My only other concern is I'm trying to do a much earlier theme where everything is wooden more so than anything. All I have is steam locos and older cars/horse and Buggy so I need to stay within those means for looks

How early? In the early 1800s it might be brick or stone, but if your talkin, say around 1860 and later, I think you'd be looking at steel going up in a city.

Take a look at a design Alex Mallie did, or used.  A single post the spreads out to the width of the track.  I don't really understand your design.  If you have support under the track, why are you adding the section to the left that goes over a track like a shed?  What purpose does that serve?  Also, steam engines weren't made out of toothpicks.  Seems like steel would have been made at the time they were making steam engines.

From my neck of the woods.  Steal is that way to go even at the turn of the century. 

Kinzua Viaduct

I could just get rid of that side part of it. It isn't needed as much as I thought it would be, looking at it now. I could use steal, but I really like the look of the wooden tie bridges personally and was hoping to just use wood. I may have to change that though. I see what your saying, that side part is pretty much useless 

Have you tried using dowel rods about half inch(maybe even three eights)  round? They don't take up much room and you can even have a train on the lower level pass by without hitting it. Secure the dowel rods to the track and from underneath the layout if possible so it don't move.

Lee Fritz

Maybe a small fitter piece of fastrack in between one of your curves on the upper platform will push the straight track out a bit so that it centers between the two lower tracks better.  That way you can build your supports and have the decking centered.

I don't know why I didn't think of that ahead of time^ just a small 1 3/8 piece or something would probably work perfectly 

This is what an EL (NYC) or L (Chicago) typically looks like from a model standpoint. This design lends itself to easily trans versing existing lower tracks, highways, structures, etc as was done in the real world.

Depending on the length of the bridge you need, you could build what I call a 'ladder trestle'.  Cut two pieces of plywood about 2" wide to the length you need then attach them together with 1X2 (the rungs of the ladder) between them the width of your track.

Fasten one end to the edge of your mountain side then at the other end where you have clearance.  It will be strong enough to support the trains for the length of the bridge.

Encase you guys ever in the need for Subway Signals down the road.

kb2agpjohn@aol.com

Good luck Thanks,John  

William 1 posted:

  .....  Seems like steel would have been made at the time they were making steam engines.

But heavy beams and hardness not as common and pricey. Rails also went through a lot of changes. Towards the end of the century huge leaps in metallurgy and production occurred making its use more common. I'm no expert, but that's always been my impression.