This year I wanted to upgrade my elevated railroad. Its 3/8" plywood deck and 3/4" supports were functional-but-not-pretty. I investigated the ready-made solutions but I found it was going to be around $500-$1000 to replace my 16' of Fastrack with a prototypical elevated railway. I decided to roll my own and for under $50 here's my before and after:
The girders were pretty simple. I followed the lead of @Jim Policastro (https://ogrforum.com/topic/677...37#67736898054209337) using 1/8 hardboard and coffee stir sticks. I ripped 8ea 4ft strips of hardboard 1-1/2" wide with my circular saw. To cut the 720 1-1/2" pieces of coffee stir sticks I used a Harbor Freight mini-chop saw. I set up a stop at 1-1/2" and could cut 5 at a time.
The stir sticks were glued to the hardboard with wood glue. As I went along I used a square to make sure I didn't glue any on a slight angle. Yes, the 1-1/2 sticks should all be the same length but the coffee stir sticks and junk-store chop saw are not the most precise so this made sure I stayed on track.
My supports were made from 1/8" hardboard and 3/8" poplar dowels. I cut the skins out of the 1/8 hardboard. I cut the inside profile of the skin with a Forstner bit, chop saw (verticals) and table saw (horizontal). I made the vertical and horizontal cuts a saw blade width outside the circles to give a little architectural flair to the corners. (This was the most complex part of the build and I've fully documented it on my blog. If you want to read more, the URL is in my signature.)
I made a jig to hold the supports and used a couple of 1/8 strips of hardboard (green arrows) to inset the dowels. The goal was to give it an I-beam look. The skins were glued to the dowels with wood glue.
The supports were then finished with a 1/4" deep dado on the tops and each got a pair of 5/8 x 5/8 x 1" blocks glued to the top. The blocks and top support were then drilled to allow me to screw a 1-1/4" #6 sheet metal screw into the bottom of the plywood deck. So for under $20, I have 32' of girders and 10 supports.
To add a little architectural flair to the outsides of the supports I cut the edges off a pack of Central Valley 1902-5 HO-scale Bridge Girders with a Dremil and glued the X-brace strips into the outside reveal. (This added another $20 to the project.) Also from @Avanti (https://ogrforum.com/topic/riv...1#145297443030966761) suggestion, I added faux rivets with a dressmaker’s Ponce wheel. The hardboard is soft enough to press into with a sharp wheel. My rusty green paint job was a base coat of rattle can flat red primer with Turquois acrylic craft paint dry brushed on top. Then I added a black wash to accentuate the rivet detail.
My layout deck is 2" foam board so I used 3" machine screws with fender washers from below to attach the supports to the deck. I screwed a pair of 1-1/4" #6 sheet metal screws into the bottom of the elevated 3/8" plywood deck. To assemble the girders I used wood glue and finishing nails to attach the girders to the edge of the plywood deck. I predrilled the girders and hammered the 1-1/4" nails into the edge of the plywood deck every foot.
The 1/4" notches in the tops of the supports allow the girders to sit down into the supports giving them a more integrated look. Even with my tight 036 curves, I was pleasantly surprised when installing the girders, none of the horizontal stir sticks came off. The wood glue really cements the stir sticks to the hardboard.
My upper-level track is now supported with good-looking bents and wrapped in girders for under $50. The towns folk of Oasis Palms feel safer now that the El wont collapse.
And yes, the ladies working at Foxy's Nightclub in the back of the Hotel California appreciate the shade provided by the El.
