Without any further delay

Without any further delay here is a picture of the model in primer after the initial assembly. Please ignore the color of the water representing the Potomac River... that is a work in progress and it is completely wrong at the moment.

A view from above showing the C&O towpath and a small sliver of the C&O canal, no the canal was never blue! LOL. I will fix that later. Everything is at the rough-in stage with a bit of paint, it is no where near finished.

A corner shot showing K street, Lone Star Cement, and the Aqueduct Bridge. The small control panel will have a scenic cover in place when not operating.

Some of the parts prior to assembly.

Nailed it

The work certainly paid off. A very impressive structure and landmark for sure. It is rare to see full size models on our railroads but this looks right at home. Well done.

Excellent bridge

Talk about proof of concept. That came out great.

Thank you Neil and Kent, The

Thank you Neil and Kent,

The hardest part of this build were the stones on the radius corners. While all of the stones in the entire project needed to be drawn in so the could be extruded those on the radius had to be modeled, then stacked in place one by one just like laying stones in mortar...  I was pulling my hair out but it worked.

The printer used was a Prusa

The printer used was a Prusa Mk3s with the standard .4mm nozzle with the print height set to .2mm. I printed the model in white PLA, approx. one roll, about $22.00 worth of plastic.

Looks good!

I like your choice in printers; I've been getting a lot of use out of my Prusa, too.

What 2D CAD program were you using? I don't quite recognize it as either FreeCAD or AutoCAD.

For 2D drawing I use CMS

For 2D drawing I use CMS Intellicad.  It was the only reasonably priced, non cloud based, software that would open my collection of architectural drawings originally created in AutoCad.

I eluded to the radius stones

I eluded to the radius stones being the most difficult part of the build.

Here is a picture of a the stones being built in a radius to form the curved wall.  While this took a considerable amount of time I think the curved walls look nicer because the face of the stones stick out randomly.  The flat walls have the stones extruded .016 from the face of the structure to form the mortar lines. On the flat walls I could go back and push or pull each stone to form the random face but the task seemed monumental at the time.

exorcist stairs

Are you going to model the " exorcists stairs" (formerly the Hitchcock stairs) that are almost directly behind the aqueduct bridge if it had extended straight into georgetown (and been able to go up that tall hill)? You could at least paint them onto the backdrop! The steps were built in 1895, so they should be there from then on.

I grew up in the area and rode right past the aquduct bridge twice every sunday for years on our way to/from church (crossing Key bridge from virginia and turned left onto canal road) and I never once noticed the aqueduct bridge remains. It's kind of down over the edge and probably not visible from cars on the road. 

Aquaduct Operation

I lived in the DC area on and off for a number of years as well. I also never took note of that aquaduct.

Can someone explain the operation/need for that aquaduct,...origin, suppy, etc. Did it cross the river and the original canal.

I don't seem to recall any rr tracks running along the canal paths? Weren't the canal and the railroad two competing projects??

radius stones

You shouldn't have pointed that out. Dang. Now when I look at the flat parts of the stonework they are calling out to me to get the same treatment! More monumental effort...

Awesome work, just magnificent. And I'm hoping Brian's question about the structure gets some feedback, I'm puzzling over the nature of that structure too, I can't quite make out how it worked. Was it an abutment for an aquaduct bridge structure? Did the canal go under the lower arch with towpaths on both sides? 

Thanks for posting this, really cool stuff. 

Jeff Allen

This site will explain it

This site will explain it all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqueduct_Bridge_%28Potomac_River%29

The first bridge was built to carry water from the canal across the Potomac River, no railroad existed under the bridge at that time. 

At some point the aqueduct portion was abandon, a deck was installed on top and used as a standard bridge. When the railroad came through the first arch was raised. Another rebuild added street cars and widened the bridge. Once the Key bridge (seen in the background) was constructed the aqueduct bridge was removed.

I hope to be able to render the stairs, stone wall, and street car barn in the backdrop. I grew up in DC, on 48th street N.W.

Thanks Kelly

That was VERY informative.

Very nice work.  I take it

Very nice work.  I take it your operated Autocad for some years.