Great thread! So many awesome photos; Mike, you are a bridge-building machine, man! So many cool builds. If I may, I’ll share these photos of a very big viaduct I built for a friend back in 2005-06. This is a model of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western RxR Delaware River viaduct. Built for my friend who was modeling the DL&Ws Bangor & Portland branch in eastern PA; he was going to include only a small representation of this bridge but I convinced him that it would be a centerpiece scene that would ‘wow’ visitors, as it would be the first major scene they would see upon entry to his layout room.
The model is built from styrofoam insulation board, cut with a hot-wire cutter. It is 9-1/2 feet (3 meters) long, and is about 90% of HO scale. It is “compressed” from the prototype having 2 fewer arches. The bridge is not only curved at one end, it is also “skewed” as it crosses the river at an angle. The hot-wire was the perfect tool for this. I built the majority of the bridge and my friend laid the track and made and installed the railings.
In June of 2020 he reached out to let me know he and his wife were moving and he needed to dismantle his layout, and would I want the bridge; I said sure, but that I expect him to re-build in his new location and I’ll bring it back to him. So I moved the model to my shop, where I took these snapshots. I hope you enjoy!
Mike, the double tracked bridge is especially useful for 1/35. I think the single track bridge it’s a bit narrow for most military vehicles although it should do really well for 1/48. Thanks for showing us these products.
Turn the single track HO thru plate girder bridge upside down and mount your 1/35th track there. Cut off the small rounded ends and you have a near perfect deck plate girder bridge for your 1/35th scale trackage. Easy-peasy!
Just like I did with this HO thru truss bridge. I turned it upside down and laied my 1/35th scale track on what was the underside of the smaller scale bridge. (I also added cross bracing for a more realistic looking affect.)
Thanks for your kind words Fred; that is actually, as of right now, a stand-alone scene. I built it 15 years ago for a friend; said friend has moved and so the bridge scene is temporarily homeless, residing in my garage shop. I am sorely tempted to build a loop around the perimeter to run trains over this bridge. Stay tuned!
Mike’s input here is spot on - there are so many ways to utilize these Atlas (and other mfrs) bridges, just by thinking “out of the box” as it were. The Atlas bridges are actually really nicely detailed, at least on the outsides, with much riveting etc. As Mike says the undersides might want a little ‘gizmology’ to dress up the detail a bit. I’ll try and dig up some photos of a client layout that I used Atlas ‘O’ bridges and laser-cut trestle bents in combination. A really neat trestle build, that…
The track looks hand laid, note the extra long bridge ties here.
Myself, I refuse to hand lay track, though I very much admire those who do.
But for a bridge I will do it. I want that look of correct long bridge ties and spiked rail plus guard rails as seen in my photo below:
Don’t know who makes these “bridge” moldings but they are an “all scales” starting point for all sorts of thru and deck plate girder bridges. All i know is I keep finding them in the LHS junk bin.
Chelatchie Prairie Railroad, East Fork Lewis River Bridge, Yacolt, Washington by Kevin Madore. Photo used here for design and engineering discussion purposes ONLY.
Note the somewhat unusual design of this Warren Truss Bridge.
I suspect this bridge would be 10% to 30% cheaper to build than the more traditional Warren Thru Truss bridge that has all its’ structure above track level. The much shorter stone foundation supports would be way less expensive with this design. The more traditional Bridge Pier/Footer would have had to be as tall as the wooden trestle next to the main bridge.
It struck me that while Atlas offers their Warren Truss bridge in both a thru truss design and a deck design the very similar Tyco/Life-Like product does not.
Also I thought it would be interesting to also include the wooden walkways on this deck bridge however that would require hand railings to be added.
Those railings really set it off. I can’t say I’ve seen anybody had that detail to one of those types before. I’m sure they have it just don’t think it’s very prevalent.
