Next up, a makeover at Fordyce. As I progress on the layout, I have come to realize that I have fallen into the age old trap of cramming 10 lbs of crap into a 5 lb bag. Fordyce is a good example of this. In the images below Fordyce has two industries. One is the Flappers Chicken Plant, things were fairly OK until I added in Gavilon (the one in the background of the first image), I added Gavilon so I could even out the workload back when I had two locals running on the layout. I really like the premises of Gavilon but it got too close to Fordyce. So I never got around to working on Fordyce until now. The easiest thing that can be done is to remove the actual Flappers building and only leave the siding for the litter loading of tank cars. By doing this it'll leave me a lot of negative space for scenery and hopefully I'll be able to make some sort of view block. What I've come up with is to add a slight hill, maybe no more than 2" tall and add some tall trees which will somewhat block the view of Gavilon, at least at track level. I'm also hoping it'll also help force your eye to the middle of Fordyce a little better? This what I had planned for Flappers at Fordyce. It's literally a stones throw from Gavilon on the outskirts of Haskell. So I started removing everything today and wound up with this, a wide open space and one siding for the tank cars. It's a bit long but as a friend said "Try to make it a bit longer even though it will only be a two-spotter so there's "breathing room" This give you and idea of how much space I have to work with. Here's a rough rendering of what I have in mind. I'm planning a bridge to cross the slough.
Thanks Hemi! I forgot to post an image of the bridge that I found. Someone on my blog posted this link that had a couple of images of a bridge that's north of Fordyce, AR. https://www.meridianspeedway.net/tedder-green.html While this bridge is straight, due to my track that's already installed, mine will have a little bit of curve to it and won't be quite as long. I'm figuring it'll be about 12-1/2" long. But it should add enough flavor to this scene. I don't think I'll include the road in my scene? But that may change as I progress... (Google maps, era 2014) (Peter Smykla photo, Russell Tedder Collection)
Fordyce bridge bents I used a scrap of 1-1/2" foam and glued a layer of cork on top so I could use "TEE" pins to locate and hold the parts in place while the glue dried. I made the plans on CorelDraw for the bents and taped them down to the foam/cork boards with a sheet of parchment paper over the plans. For the most part, I just eyeballed the bents and cross braces. This print and MEK made quick work of the bents. As they are right now, the bents are taller than I need and I will cut them to a closer length once I get the ceiling tile and foam cleared from the area on the layout. I did much the same thing for the stringer. Instead of making a pair of stringers, I decided to cheat and make only one stringer 3/8"wide. Once I get things painted and assembled, I doubt you'll even be able to see it? Doing it this way made it very easy to shape the pieces and glue them together. If this bridge would have been positioned up front, towards the edge of the layout, I probably would have opted to use wood, but so far, using styrene, this has been a breeze to build. Once painted and weathered, I think it'll be tough to notice that its styrene and not wood.
What's a Bent? So many words used in these forums that I don't understand, although I have been a member for 20 years here
Yeah I was a little surprised about seeing they were straight as well. Someone told me because they were so short, they didn't need the stability like taller ones do. They also seem pretty close together, 10'-12' apart? Maybe that's correct, or maybe it's the camera angle, but there seems to be more than a normal trestle?
I believe "standard" is more on the order of sixteen feet spacing between bents. In your instance, perhaps they substituted that distance, due to fewer piles for load support? Or perhaps they needed them closer together to carry weight vertically, due to soil/geology? I suppose this is an unanswerable bit of pondering...
I think you're right Ken. If they did put them closer I bet it was due to the ground being kind of soggy and prone to flooding.
They’re not short. They are driven deep. Angled wouldn’t work due to the soil composition. I’ve seen water almost to the deck of that trestle.
Not sure who said they were short. We were talking about bent spacing, which effects loading bearing capacity. And I also mentioned geology, which also is considered- so your saying that soil composition is in play confirms that possibility I had suggested.
My intended post got messed up somehow. I was just meaning that even though the pilings may look short above ground, that they are actually driven very deeply into the ground. The bents are closely spaced because of the reasons that you and Allen were talking about. That is bottom ground and it does flood there at times. This is from a 1:24000 map of exactly where that trestle is:
After getting the bents (or pilings) assembled, I got them painted using Vallejo German Camo Black Brown. It's a little dark but I'll use some lighter weathering powder to lighten them up a bit and add the water marks before installing the bridge. Once the paint was dry, I took the next step and got them assembled to the stringer. MEK made quick work of the assembly process! This is the main reason I chose to build the bridge out of styrene as opposed to wood. I had to scrape a little bit of paint off of the parts where the joints would be made because I didn't waste time masking them. After it was assembled, I touched up a few spots...good as new! Of course, I couldn't wait to see what it would look like, so I grabbed some Micro Engineering bridge flex, cut a chunk longer enough to use and placed on the bridge and then set some locos on it. As it is right now, the bents are about 1/2" to 5/8" longer than they need to be, so I'll trim them right before I get ready to set it in place. This is also the area where the bridge will end up at.
