conrete arch bridge....... paint choice

Looks great!

Excellent!

Great work, if you have a minute, I'd love to hear more about building the arches...

What a wonderful arch bridge! I agree with everyone above, you make one think about building one!

Outstanding Tom Tee! Looks terrific!

Understand, my work is all fantasy. like these 8' bridges;

The first thing I do is to make an 8  1/2" wide  subroadbed of 3/4" Maple plywood.  Then run a 3/8" router bit along each edge. 

Follow that with placing  3/4"  thick piece of plywood pier face perpendicular to the ROW.  Two for each arch.   Also add several 3/4"  angel edge cross braces to pick up support for the arch roof on the bottom of the subroadbed. 

Then add a 5 ply 1/8"aircraft/marine ply or Masonite face for sides to the uprights with precut radiused arches.  Small arches on the inside, larger radii on the out side face.   I use Locktite premium urathane adhesive for most assembly with a whole big  bunch of  clamps  and a few pneumatic brads just to index the panels not for assembly strength.

At that point with the bridge upside down I avoid all the tricky math and lay in over sized one piece flexible material for the inside of each arch and uprights.  Take some rough cuts, then whittle down to a fine fit then clamp it all in place with the urathane  adhesive.

After the glue is set I sand all edges smooth, fill in as needed and paint.  Lots of paint, lots of coats.  Spent more $$$ on spray paint than plywood!!

I needed a lot of bridges and no have desire to spend a lifetime satisfying rivet counters.  Just a former flooring contractor with a big hammer and a lot of clamps.

Thank you all for the very kind words.

Something to consider.  All my bridges are less than a full sheet of plywood long.  Working primarily in 2 rail there is less forgiveness with a lack of maintaining plane.  So, all my  bridges have  a tongue so to speak which is gusseted  to the ROW on terra firma.  This provides  flat continuity.  Flat is not level, flat is just flat,  like a surface plate.

The two photos below have tongues which run about 8 inches onto the main benchwork.  64" radius curved bridge.

The valley will be developed to provide abutment bases.  Again,  first goal is to get trains running.

Look closely at the left end of the bridge in this view, you will see one of the 8" tongues.   I have  found these tongues to be a asset in resolving right a way speed bumps.  This bridge has 72" and 76 1/2" radius tracks.  (0144 & 0153 diameter).

Great job, Tom!  I also love arch bridges and agree with the theatrical approach.   Time and interest permitting, you can always go back and super detail them if need be.

Art

Thanks Art,

However, my idea of super detailing the bridge would consist of running a Sunset Y6b over it.  tt

Tom the bridges look great and I love your idea of detailing!