Colorado O Scale St. Vrain River Bridge Project

Thanks guys...

Johnson wants to hand lay with tie plates doing the trackwork. I agreed, I used Monster Model Works per Johnson's request. They had the tie plates that Johnson wants or meets his expectations to his custom made spikes.

I would also like to recommend Right of Way for track spikes and tie plates however Johnson could not find the square opening variety he was after at ROW.  Jay Criswell at Right of Way will be supplying us with all the rest of the trackwork detailing. I will be generating a BOM for him this week. 

These are the tie plates offered by Monster Model Works:

http://monstermodelworks.com/o...-138-148-8-hole.html

This is an opportunity for Johnson to bring his enthusiasm with P48 in on this project. When the exhibit is set up the viewer is close enough to the model inches at times that leaving off crucial trackwork detail such as tie plates is blasphemous, for a lack of a better word. 

I hope this project will be pleasing to the viewers and history buffs.. oh and the toy train enthusiasts. 

I will be back with more, the saga continues. 

Johnson took some photos this morning of the tie staining .. we went with the darker stain using felt tip markers and some tints with real wood stain. 

Nice job Johnson!

Another picture Johnson sent me today. 

Nice job Johnson! Keep it up!

John wrote: 'Ties with guard timbers. Project going well.'

John says... "5 to go.."

Very nice work to say the least, that is really going to be eye catching.

Nice work. What's the thinking for walkways to replace the Overland brass assembly that has been removed?

Hi Bob,

From my research the walkways were originally designed for crews and if the bridge was within range of a turnout for the obvious reasons, cutting cars and the like. The placement of the bridge on the layout is not within range of a turnout in our simulation. Furthermore a walkway encourages trespassing and walking the span. It was decided to drop the walkway assembly as it was easily removed and I suspect intentionally left that way for this reason from MS models Korea. I think the bridge will look far better without the walkway as most of the bridges I've seen in this design don't have them any longer and this holds true into my era of modeling the 1940's and 50's. Thank you for asking Bob I really appreciate the comment. 

Erik

Thank you Chris. Please forgive the poor quality of the photos as most of them are off Johnson's smart or dumb phone.  

I should leave an camera body up there for Johnson 

Great great work on this bridge; looks so real!

jpv69

Progress update: 

It appears Johnson is having some fun! Thanks Johnson for sending the photos this morning. 

Extreme filigree of detail in the decking and Truss bridge will yield an exiting element to photograph outside with the shadows cast on the river bed below.  

John has been a busy guy. How he handles the through plate will be much easier as he states. Using the feet from Scale City Designs has come up with the exact dimensions for he final installation. 

Experimenting with some of the filters on the ties. Generally when a railroad does any replacement of the ties they do them all at the same time.. however they do split in a short amount of time and dry out to some extent. Showing this as it would have been in the 1940's and 1950's on a 25 year old span will be rather straightforward. 

We have removed the original walkways from the truss bridge and are building a new deck using D&RGW standards for timber decks from the 40's.  Lumber is Mt. Alberts Scale Lumber (nice stuff) stained with felt tip pens (water based).  First black,  then texturing with a hacksaw blade.  Any fuzz is scraped/sanded off then a brown stain (touch up pens) is applied.  It's subtle,  but gives multiple hues to color.  Experimenting with a white felt tip pen to lighten without filling texture.  Deck assembly about half way across and moving along well.  Assembly delicate but not too fragile to handle so far.  Using Titebond glue which gives a little flexibility over the brittle bond of CA adhesives. 

Johnson sent some new images taken on his LG smart phone of today's progress. He has completed the the bridge decking on the Pratt truss. Great job John!

When I get a chance to drive down to Longmont I will get some studio shots; bring the lights and the D4S! 

Erik - Any new photos of this build?

Bob S

Thought it might be good to update the old thread so we can see the progression. 

I love it, spikes and tie plates everywhere!

Thank you Chris, moving on to the Plate Deck and wood section of the span next up the piers and abutments. 

Thanks for the exceptional photos.

Better, a post on the products used and the method and tools used to accomplish this wonderful modeling. 

Erik C Lindgren posted:

Thanks guys...

Johnson wants to hand lay with tie plates doing the trackwork. I agreed, I used Monster Model Works per Johnson's request. They had the tie plates that Johnson wants or meets his expectations to his custom made spikes.

I would also like to recommend Right of Way for track spikes and tie plates however Johnson could not find the square opening variety he was after at ROW.  Jay Criswell at Right of Way will be supplying us with all the rest of the trackwork detailing. I will be generating a BOM for him this week. 

 

These are the tie plates offered by Monster Model Works:

http://monstermodelworks.com/o...-138-148-8-hole.html

This is an opportunity for Johnson to bring his enthusiasm with P48 in on this project. When the exhibit is set up the viewer is close enough to the model inches at times that leaving off crucial trackwork detail such as tie plates is blasphemous, for a lack of a better word. 

I hope this project will be pleasing to the viewers and history buffs.. oh and the toy train enthusiasts. 

I will be back with more, the saga continues. 

Products used seem to have been supplied.   Any info on technique/tools used?

It's a beautiful thang, Erik. 

Thank you Max!!

I don't stop in at OGR as often as I used too. Here is a little update on the bridge exhibit. 

John hitting the text books with the standards manual.. again and again. 

Scale lumber

before fitting the guard rails in the Open Plate Deck. Thanks to Right Of Way and Jay Crisswell for these little tidbits; couldn't have done it without you bud! 

Some of the left over jewelry.. makes for great scenery additions. 

Bridge feet brought to this project proudly by Scale City Designs! Marty we LOVE your stuff. 

Coming up the wood section of the project. 

I hope you have enjoyed riding along with this project as much as I have. 

Fantastic detail, hard to tell from the real thing. Color is right on too.

Malcolm

Erik,

it looks like you constructed that better than the real thing. Great job to all who created it.

alan Graziano

_

Alan Graziano posted:

Erik,

it looks like you constructed that better than the real thing. Great job to all who created it.

alan Graziano

Thank you Alan

Brother_Love posted:

Fantastic detail, hard to tell from the real thing. Color is right on too.

Malcolm

Between Brother Love and Erik as well as others, tremendous.

Dick

CBQer posted:

Between Brother Love and Erik as well as others, tremendous.

Dick

Dick, The C&S caboose is a Brother Love build! 

Figures. I have one of his Milwaukee rib side cabeese.

Dick

Those photos right there are why this hobby is so darn cool!  So many talented folks out there....what a treat. 

WOW!!!!

just wow..... 

Erik and John,

Great work, great photography, terrific project.  I have been following this project from the beginning.  John,  I love those O scale dial calipers that appeared in one of the photos.  Where can I purchase one ?

Thanks.

Ted Michaels

This work is done better each time I come to this thread; it's fantastic to follow! 

true to life!

jpv in France