No stone pier trestle sets for regular O Gauge track??? Bummer!

Hi Manny,

I'd use printed paper or cardstock glued to a block of wood.  I don't think dipping wood into wet concrete would give you the effect you're looking for.  I've carved cobblestone like rocks into the pink / green foam from the big box stores.  It looks good but foam by itself doesn't have the structural integrity to support a heavy train.  Keep us informed which ever direction you decide to go.

John

I was thinking of using Lego stone blocks (medieval castle stuff?) for the basis of some stone piers. A B&O bridge over the Jones Falls gave me the idea with its huge blocks.

Nothing beats carved pink foam to simulate stone surfaces of all kinds. It would be very easy to carve a "stone" veneer to apply over the wood support. The hardest part would be to slice the veneers thinly enough.

You can scribe the "stones" onto a flat sheet:

or you can cut and lay individual stones:

You might not even need the wood. A solid block of foam insulation is pretty strong.

Fantastic look Pete!

But, I'm afraid I would be about 90 years old before I finished 20+  piers.  :-)

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

Fantastic look Pete!

But, I'm afraid I would be about 90 years old before I finished 20+  piers.  :-)

Mannyrock

Thanks!

You may want to try a prototype. You might be surprised how fast it goes once you get set up.

I think Lionel made stone type piers for their extension bridge a few years ago. But not a trestle set of that type.

@PRRMP54 posted:

I was thinking of using Lego stone blocks (medieval castle stuff?) for the basis of some stone piers. A B&O bridge over the Jones Falls gave me the idea with its huge blocks.

Along these same lines check this out from our talented cohort John Sethian:

     The bridge abutments and overpass on which the railing sits are Lego Bricks (1/21/21) | John Sethian

Mike

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

Along these same lines check this out from out talented cohort John Sethian:

     The bridge abutments and overpass on which the railing sits are Lego Bricks (1/21/21) | John Sethian

Mike

I remember that thread, one of the scenes looked very familiar to a NEC location that I had been to.

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

Along these same lines check this out from our talented cohort John Sethian:

     The bridge abutments and overpass on which the railing sits are Lego Bricks (1/21/21) | John Sethian

Mike

I saw that thread and attended one of his clinics at (I think) the RPM meet last year.  He does absolutely spectacular work!

George

A few homemade types:

Jim

The MTH stone piers for Realtrax might suit your needs.  Looks like you would just have to do a quick mod to the top of the pier to allow your 3-rail track to be mounted to it.  Has anyone used these piers and can confirm that the Realtrax mounting plate comes off the top?

~Larry

@b2flier posted:

The MTH stone piers for Realtrax might suit your needs.  Looks like you would just have to do a quick mod to the top of the pier to allow your 3-rail track to be mounted to it.  Has anyone used these piers and can confirm that the Realtrax mounting plate comes off the top?

~Larry

I used the MTH girder piers - they have the same Realtrax (or Fastrack, depending on which one you buy) mounting plates. I cut the mounting plates off and sanded the top surface. I then used gorilla glue to affix a 1/2” square wood dowel to the sanded surface. Once painted, it looked like part of the girder and provided a nice surface to secure to the underside of the bridge decking with small screws. You could do something similar with the stone piers.

I built basswood boxes for bridge piers.  Overlaid with concrete panels printed on matte photo paper.  The boxes allowed me to build customized piers for a 12' long bridge.

I used the MTH version and I modified the clamp to work with atlas track, this worked well.

A second option are the stone piers made by scenic express, they can be cut down to make tiered supports.

I also used the MTH graduated trestle set (the clamps can be removed) in one section of my layout and also made these simple, old-fashioned, three-piece wooden trestles (two uprights, one cross) out of 1" square stock that was stained and the uprights screwed into the ends of the cross piece. The screw holes were then filled with wood putty, sanded and re-stained.

I should note that the Fastrack was first laid on 1/8" ?   "luan" plywood for additional support before being placed on top of the trestles.

When set up as an assembly line, it goes fairly quickly. I also cut small strips of self-stick automotive insulation to put on top of the cross pieces to help deaden sound and make up for any small height differences.

Hobby shops carry styrene sheets with various block patterns and textures. Can search online and see them, too.

I made these trestles out of a 2x6 then cut the grooves in them with a fine hand saw.  I then sprayed them with Krylon textured paint.  I think the color was garnett gray.

Just completed a grade and made “stone” piers with “Concrete” caps and bases..

5/4” pine wrapped in Noch paper  & 1/4”  Masonite painted with 3 colors of spray paint..

Manny- I found a great stone print paper online when I started my layout. Probably would take some work to wrap piers but it's as cheap as printing the images on card stock.

https://www.textures.com/

Bob

Thanks for sharing these great ideas and works of art with me.

Mannyrock

Mannyrock,

The MTH graduated stone piers can be adapted to accommodate 0-gauge track and made to look much better very easily…

The large  bridge pier is what the shortened piers looked like prior to “fixing”