It's built up from odds and ends of balsa and HO scale dimensional lumber. The size of the components is all compromise as it needs to look reasonable in N, HO, and OO, and maybe even with some O rolling stock that's on the small side.
Naturally I used E. L. Moore's Timber trestles article that appears in Kalmbach's Bridges & Buildings for Model Railroads as a construction guide, but my weird framing is my own fault. For the small fry rolling stock that it'll support, it's not too unreasonable. Although, the refuge looks a little rickety and, given the choice, I might jump in the water instead of standing on it as a loco trundles by :-)
I thought I was the only one to use that ELM article anymore. It's not exactly prototype and doesn't even use bridge shoes. But there's an ease to it and it ends up looking correct despite itself. That fits my requirements!
ReplyDeleteI think the ELM article does a good job of explaining the basics so that one can build a credible trestle without going overboard on detail.
DeleteThe water is nice but those rocks look too loose. Maybe fill in the cracks with a light sprinkling of smaller finer rocks? (Then a layer of liquid glue). I'm sure you'll fill in around the bents with more gloss medium. Perhaps darken the lower edges of the bents to show "wetness" and "higher tide" (if that even applies)?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it still needs some finer rocks in many locations. The story with all these rocks is that after blasting out the roadbed, the debris was simply pushed out of the way and dumped along the shoreline. This means they haven't been there for thousands of years as if they were left behind by glaciers and have been 'weathering' all that time. These rocks have only been 'placed' and exposed to weather for only a few years, so they still have sharp edges and a loose demeanour.
DeleteThank you for the pointer to the Kalmbach book. mine arrived this morning - 7th Printing 1979 of the 1965 1st print!
ReplyDeleteThe small bridges article nicely follows the B.T.S. Structures Cheat Run Trestle kit #27142, that I am basing a low trestle on and the article adds those fine details to look for when building one. Not all trestles need to be vertigo inducing monsters!
It all reminds one that railway engineering was(is) not just large structures, tunnels etc. It is the overlooked small trestles, culverts, pipes etc. that are more numerous.
Mine is the 4th printing from 1973. It seems like this book has been around forever.
DeleteSpeaking of wayside stuff. There's an interesting book called 'The Model Railroad Right of Way' by Oliver Whitwell Wilson, published by The Modelmaker Corporation in 1935. Although rather old today it's full of excellent drawings and photos.