I am wondering, how many of you N scalers out there are interested in wood trestles? Companies like Campbell and P&M Bridges and bents make kits in HO. I also know ME has N scale versions of the tall steel trestle, but I haven't really seen any manufacturer tackle N scale wood trestles. What say ye? -sd80mac-
I like them but I wouldn't use one (wrong era). Although over on the E&N on Vancouver Island in British Columbia there are still some fabulous tall wooden trestles still in use, and, very very old. I have ridden RDC's over them.
Doesn't some company make bents in different heights already? I would like to have a wooden bridge on my layout if I could fit it in somehow.
Although I'm not sure of its name, there is a company that makes a curved wooden trestle kit. It looks pretty sweet from the pictures on the box, but it IS a LOT of work. Also, Blair Line makes (I assume they still have it available) a small wooden trestle kit. I'd use a small one on a little spur or something if I could fit it in.
I think they look best with steam locomotives on them I would not build one, as I would be too impatient to get it finished! They do look good though in the right setting (see Badger Creek)
If you have ever put a flying model airplane together, a wood trestle is no more difficult. You lay out the tallest bent and where the cross braces and stringers go. Tape or glue the paper to a suitable sized piece of foam board, or balsa wood. Cover the paper with wax paper, or use paste wax to cover the paper good then polish it. Decid where the bents will go, make a small box at those locations to pour plaster in later. Measure each one and allow an 1/8" longer, and cut your pilings to length. Hold them in place with straight pins, and glue the stringers and cross braces to the pilings. When dry, remove the pins, paint the bent, and make the others. Lay a straight piece of wood across the canyon and clamp each bent in place aligned with the roadbed, and pour plaster in its footing box. When all bents are in place, remove the wood "roadbed", and glue the bridge ties to the top of the bents until you have it all the way across. Then glue the spanner braces to each bent. By painting all the wood to begin with, you only need to touch up the ends you cut to length (that show) to be finished. It isn't that hard. Besides, then you have a piece of history to talk about or photograph. You don't have to use it, it can be an abandoned part of an old road, just weather it gray instead of creosote black.
Personally I Love the look of the wooden tressle bridges . I am planning to model a modern era freelance north america but there are a few things im going to do right or wrong , one it is my layout and I will be placeing a wooden tressle bridge one of 2 bridges on my layout , storie line behind it the engineers have the determind the bridge to be safe for use so the company wont spend the money to replace till it nolonger meets safety requirements . (the Company CEO has been know to be frugal that way ) two, it is not going to be a tall tressle only prototipicly about 40 to 50 feet high and if possible i plan on running a couple steam engines as well on my lay out story line the local historical society raised the money to restore one or 2 engines that once ran in the area and are running a steam tour . if I can work out the curve radius properly . Walthers N&Z 2002 Model rail road reference book lists several diffrent wooden tressle bridges : the cornerstone series, timber tressle. Blair line Common Pile tressle . of course the Campbell Scale Models; tall straight timber tressle, low curved timber tressle , high cured timber tressle, and thru timber bridge ( these are all N scale bridges). Rix Products ; makes single and double bents to make your own tressle ,and a single track tressle kit . I just want to show there are several choices available for wooden tressle bridges, if you want the wathers numbers I will gladly share them email me or contact me on MSN kc8koz1@attbi.com or MSn wolv_cub@hotmail.com I picked up the Wather N&Z scale reference and us it to judge fair priceing from a couple of the local dealers and some of the train shows that I visit . It covers every thing from locos to detail parts for every thing, tools and equipment . [ 26 March 2002, 17:33: Message edited by: Wolv_Cub ]
Hi SD80MAC, Here's a double track trestle I scratchbuilt in N-scale some years ago. If you need help in making one, I will let you have drawing of a jig which will make life easy. Paul
Wooden trestles fit in well on branch lines and short lines. For instance, the Paris & Mt. Pleasant crosses the Sulphur River bottoms on a wood trestle. The tight-fisted owner has not yet seen fit to replace the trestle with a steel & concrete bridge, even though carloadings have increased. Much to his credit, however, the trestle is kept in good condition. It's kinda marshy in this area, and the trestle requires maintenance (plus has a 10 MPH speed limit), but it serves the railroad well.
Although I'm HO scale, I'm modeling the B&O's Sand Patch area and included in this area is a HUGE steel trestle that once served the Western Maryland RW. Well in my researching for something relatively close to this trestle. So I'm modeling it out of wood. All the steel will be represented, although from wood, and stained. The real Trestle is all green from years of mother nature.... But how I modeled the area the stained wooed trestle looks real good and even tho its slightly different it fits in and everyone thats seen it knows what it actually is.. The entire structure is almost all level. The bents are about the same length... Not alot of the shorter ones as you get closer to either end of it. I think if I remember right the total difference in length only fluctuates a 4th of an inch to 3/8th of an inch... But the longest bent is 8 inches tall... It crosses a valley for a river bed between 2 mountains. Just as the real thing does to this day! Mr. Templar is the pro at these trestles in my eyes, but I must say. hes beaten me in length with the old Badger Creek 9 footer.... but the one I made is almost half that length. mine's right over 4 feet long, and completely straight. And a single mainline for it only the trestle was made for double mainlines.. The Western Maryland in real life put their line through Meyersdale, PA as a double mainline, but only a single mainline was ever completed... So all bridges, trestles, culverts etc were designed for a double mainline. So this is how I modeled this portion of my layout on a complete other layout stacked on top of the B&O section. So I basically took and built one layout, made sort legs and built another and sat the second on top of the first and then built it in, and ran the scenery to the second level and about that... This is how I got the prototypical B&O and Western Maryland on one layout. The B&O runs the lower double main line as the Western Maryland runs the upper single mainline... Now to just get the new addtion completed. My locomotive service facilities.. And then I should have a completed layout to a point. I'll then begin collecting people to populate, and cars as well... Just finding the era I need is my only problem....
I love trestles too and had one on my logging branch line on my old layout and will include a smaller one on the logging line on my current layout. They are easy to scratchbuild if you have a bandsaw to cut the timbers or else buy timbers at the hobby shop. There is a Klambach book that shows the "how to"
Walthers Cornerstone makes a nice trestle, for both straight and curved bridges. It's made of plastic and the pieces are pre-formed so construction is quite easy. Looks pretty good, too. I've got it on my W&PRR, a modern day shortline, and have had many compliments on it. Have a picture of it, but can't post it to Trainboard just yet!
I have constructed several trestles, some from kits and some from plans, the largest of which is 405 scale ft long and 155 scale ft high. The Kootenay and Kettle Valley divisions of Canadian Pacific's southern mainline through British Columbia and Alberta had several such spans along the line. Notable among these were the Myra Canyon Trestles on the Carmi Subdivision which had 18 bridges in 5 1/2 miles, 16 of them being timber frame trestles. They ranged in size from 80ft to 434ft in length and were used untill the end of operations in 1972 (they were used again during the filming of "The National Dream" in 1973), and all still stand as part of the Trans Canada Trail. These wooden bridges could handle the weight of multiple diesel locomotives including lashups of SD40's which ran over the line in 1967. Although there are no large frame trestles remaining on CPR's mainline that I am aware of (Somebody correct me if I am wrong), I beleve that there are several low pile trestles along the Windermere subdivision between Fairmont and Golden and are used to get the line through some swampy and slough sections along the Columbia river and range in size from 45ft to 195ft. Building wooden trestles is no longer a challange to me, as I have built several, however they are still somewhat time consuming, although I have several jigs to help me along (they are an absolute must if you intend to build a large structure and wish to keep your sanity). Several railroads still use trestles and most of us, with a little imagination could install one or two on our layouts, even if it is on a abandoned or re-aligned stretch of track. Try it sometime. Cheers. Terry
Well seems as how the IC coal line just down the street still uses them, I plan to have a similar IC coal line with wooden trestles on my new layout on the high line. The rest of the layout will have modern steel bridges on the 3 trak main low line.
Having purchased and built a Campbell HO tresstle way back in the 80's I would have to say that all you really need are the plans. I have seen plans published in several magazines and I think the Kalmbach bridge book has some as well. If you get HO plans you can reduce them (is it 54%?) into N scale - actually to be frank, bridges aren't really scale specific so exact ratio's don't matter as long as the ties and rails are the correct size Then get some strip wood and/or dowels and start building
While it might not fit the "modern" main line picture, they are still in regular use around the country on branches and secondary tracks. There is a large one in the Seattle suburb town of Bellevue. Built originally by the Northern Pacific as part of their "Lake Washington Belt Line." It has been modernized where it crosses over SE 8th Street, when that road was widened some years ago. (To older residents formerly known as "Richard's Road.") The portion over the street, actually two streets now, is steel span on concrete piers. But the rest of this large structure is still wooden. It sees a regular BNSF local train run with fairly modern four axle power. And occasional detours of main line trains. And yes, as I design my new N empire, based in the late 1960's, there are already two large wooden trestles included in the plans. After all, it's my little world to enjoy!
