Update: 11-21-2014...
I added truss type girders to the sides of the road and railway deck beams which added a nice detail as you can see in the pictures which I am adding to the post dated today on page 3 of this thread. Hope you enjoy....next will be some walkways...
Update: 10-30 2014....
I now have the bridge installed on the layout having worked on it each evening for the past week or so. I am posting updated pictures starting at the October 25th post on page two of this thread. There are a lot of pictures so I hope you enjoy!!
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ORIGINAL POST:
Well....this may not be a find of a lifetime for many of you but for me...WOW!!! It is something else! Here is the story: I have been wanting to add a highway/railway bridge to the layout between the central part of the city and the west wall. The idea was to have a bridge that would span from the downtown area near the passenger station over the imaginary river (the aisleway) and then over the large freight yard. The bridge would then attach to the wall near the freight yard giving the impression that the highway and rail traffic continued..."somewhere". You see, our layouts don't just end within the room we build them but go on to destinations outside of the part we are modeling (hey...you have to have an imagination!!) The bridge would be at a high enough level that it is a simple ducking of your head to pass under it...no back breaking duck under!!
Anyway, I had started to scratch build a bridge months ago and didn't like any of my beginning efforts....and actually I didn't get very far beyond parts and pieces. So...I started to take a look at what was available from several of our advertisers and sponsors. I had not made up my mind even though I did find several offerings that would work......then came YORK!!!!
On Wednesday, the OGR team arrived at the Orange Hall. Jim, Don, and I had been visiting downtown York and were now ready to look over the hall to prepare for set up that rainy day. As we were walking around I spotted THE BRIDGE!!! It was sitting between Nassau's display and Jim's Train shop display. Charlie was there and so I asked him if the bridge was a display or if he knew it was for sale. He told me that it belonged to the guy at Jim's Train shop...but he was not there... This is where the smart phone comes into good use.... I immediately went online, and with the help of Google, found a phone number. I called the number and on Thursday as soon as trading began, the bridge was mine!!
You see...I think this was meant to be...let me tell you why: I made a deal on the bridge as soon as possible without making any measurements. When the measurements were made, the length of the bridge was 8 feet..!! The height was almost 2 feet and width was almost 8 inches. The space I have to put the bridge in was only 78"... Well....I decided that I would find a way regardless of the length for the bridge to fit in the space I had. The bridge has a roadway on the lower level and a railway just above the roadway. Exactly what I wanted! The roadway extended past the bridge proper making the entire length 8 feet including the roadway extensions. Get this: When I measured the length of the bridge itself, it measured out to be exactly 6' 6"...that is 78"....EXACTLY the length needed to fit perfectly in the space I had! DUMB LUCK??? perhaps.... DIVINE GUIDANCE...perhaps...no matter, it worked!! So now I had to find a way to get this thing back to Mountain Home...over a thousand miles from York. I have a PT Cruiser and have found it can carry a lot of things. Having already removed one of the back seats before I left home, I had the height and width problem licked already...but the length of 8 feet was a challenge. So off I went to look for a saw to cut off the unneeded road extentions! Larry at the Bachmann booth came to my rescue and provided a battery powered saber saw. Jim Barrett loves power tools so he grabbed the saw and went to work cutting off exactly the amount needed to get the bridge in my car!! So....now the bridge is in my workshop/garage area and I am working on it in the evenings preparing it for the layout.
Yes...for me this was THE FIND!! I just can't believe that the bridge is the exact fit for the space I had....how good is that I ask!! Here are a few pictures...please excuse the mess around it as I am working on it. More pictures to follow after it is installed. I hope those of you that were at York made your "FIND"!! Thanks for looking!!
Alan
