Rolling Lift Bridge ...old school

Carey,

now those are some great / functional lift bridges!! It looks like you posted to the “2Rail Scale” section of the Forum. Hopefully everyone sees your post!!  These bridges could also inspire a lot of 3 rail folks as well. I personally would love to see some 2 track lift bridges made from plans or kits, but have not seen any.

Carl J

Instead of harming the original, why not clone it?

Build a copy of the sides, and then widen it by customizing what goes between them to accommodate a two-track main. Widen the floor cross-members enough to add a second track at whatever mainline spacing you use, then measure out the diagonals for the upper chord and build to suit

If you need a row of trusses between the two tracks, then build a copy of the single-track bridge, but with a double-wide floor to accommodate the second track. Then, add a third set of trusses to enclose the structure around track two.

At least, the above is what I'd do..

---PCJ

Carey,

  Very nice and very nicely executed my friend. I noticed those counterweights/sinkers...they look very, ahem, fishy! 

  I'd be interested in a video of you raising lowering the bridge, what you have to do and how long it takes if you are able to do one. 

  Tom 

I had a similar problem, but not in a basement.  My double track "bridges" are just lift-out sections, with vee shaped alignment blocks at each end, and those rail joiners that get slid in and out.

Mostly they stay in place and I duck under.

Hello all ...thank you for your kind words ...and suggestions ....  I'm all about reusing the old / vintage ...mixing it all together so it does not look like a bunch of old / vintage stuff mixed together ....so building new is a no no ...  

however over the course of time (80 years )  several manufactures / builders / some guy with a basement or garage have built  ,manufactured , advertised and I assume sold ....rolling lift bridges  and vertical lift   bridges ...  two folks out of NJ ... at least ... 

so somewhere out there they exist....  just have to have the stars align ...  sooner or later  , one will appear .. 

one rolling and one vertical both beautiful , wonderful , great , and would have worked perfect were at York a few years ago ...but with a price tag of 5K each ......thought that was a bit excessive  ...  the only thing harder than buying a big bridge ...is selling a big bridge 

I've added the other two pages of the article  .....seems to me over the course of the last 80 years of model railroad periodicals   they have been other articles  about grabbing some tooth picks and building a bridge ...  

author had a gauntlet track over the bridge ..which is wonderful ...however for this lap burner ...two continuous loops are needed without the worry of a cornfield meeting .

Cheers Carey