close up pictures

I like trestles.

Do you have any close up pictures? I've just build a trestle for my Silver Creek module, not yet finsihed. I have still to install guard timbers.

Wolfgang

Abutments

The abutments came out great. I first thought you had carved them into the foam, but the card looks fantastic.

I thought of you, by the way, reading this months RMC!

The brickwork....

The brickwork looks great. I really like that bridge and the idea behind the brick application with the foam.

I also have to agree with Charlie when he says that is a nice backdrop. I would love to read more about that.

Mike Martin

backdrop details

 Check the following link for more discussion on the  backdrops

no close ups yet.

 As far as I can tell, they didn't use guard timbers in the US ACW.

Fantastic!

That's a great scene Bernie!

As Charlie mentioned the transition from scenery to backdrop is near perfect!  Can't wait to see more.

Bridge standards.....

This late 19th century wooden trestle carrying a narrow gauge train near Orinda, CA seems to have been built to similar standards.  (The railroad intended to go from Oakland, CA to Utah, but only got as far as circumventing the first set of hills which made for a dandy Sunday outing...  I wonder if that's a vineyard in the background.)

What really stands out in bkempin's photo is the backdrop.  His blog gives a brief description on how he did it, but what I'd like to see is a video of how it's done, especially how various images are blended.

San Pablo road?

Mark,

Your photo looks how I remember San Pablo road north of Orinda from the mid 60's (before the hillsides were festooned with houses). Do you know where this photo was taken?

Charlie

You were there, Charlie

Your memory is excellent, Charlie.  San Pablo Dam Road follows the western side of the canyon, while the railroad weaved..While the picture was taken northwest of Orinda in the San Pablo Canyon, I don't know the exact location.

fast and simple

I think I see some vertical posts under the stringers in the California narrow gauge photo. So in that sense, it is not the same. This is pretty much the conventional trestle design.  

I have yet to see an example of "W" bents in an ACW photo, so it may be that Haupt was theorizing on an "ideal" design as opposed to what was used in practice when he included it in his book. Many of the USMRR ACW trestles I have seen appear to only have two posts. The key criterion for military bridges was fast and simple construction, even more so than what one would have seen in narrow gauge RRs.

Nevada County RR?

Mark,

Is that on the Nevada County Railway?

No, it was the California &

No, it was the California & Nevada Railroad which became defunct around the beginning of the 20th century.  Part of its right of way (between Oakland and Richmond) was purchased by the ATSF several years later.  The Nevada County Narrow Gauge ran until about 1940 between Colfax and Nevada City in gold country, about a couple of hundred miles northeast of Orinda.

Military railorad bridges

Military requirements make bridge building requirements different in that the bridge has to be built quickly to permit use as quickly as possible. Making them last is a secondary requirement that can be worked on later after access to a particular area is established. This realy isn't anything new though its not usually understood. But this has been the standard from the first time a military bridge was made by chopping down a tree to provide a quck way to get troops form Point A to Point B without requiring a time consuming detour via Point C.

Irv

close-ups

I posted some close ups photos and description of the wood finishing process at my blog here.

Here is a sample