GSS's bridge

[peterbunce]

Hi,

When Frank (Coyote97) joined he mentioned that he was going to make & sell Aluminum bridges.

I was interested in one of these and I had not seen one with the details I required, and Frank's seemed to fit the bill, more messages back & forth and finally it was decided that would be 1200mm long, and be one of two that I am going to need for the new extension (trackbed - out of Clecon blocks, is laid, needs covering with cement but the weather doesn't agree at the moment, and I am staying inside out of the cold/frost etc!).

What about the other? I will build that BUT it will be made from wood in the design, though the material will be mainly PVC solid foam - wood has nasty tendencies to rot here in the UK and that is not allowed! The full size ones did the same, if the rivers they crossed did not assist in wrecking them before.

Yesterday a big box arrived, as Germany is in the EU nothing to pay, however German VAT is 19% but it did not get into the hands of the customs crew! The bridge is 1200mm long and all except for nuts and bolts is all Aluminum - here are a couple of photos of all the bits taken inside (and difficult to get all the pieces on) so apologies for the poor photos - taken on top of my wifes sewing cabinet!

You receive a couple of base units with the assembled portal units fixed to them- fixed with one bolt to allow the portals to fold down flat, more bolts are needed to finish off the fixings - they are supplied., a top unit again needing minor final tightening up of the nuts on the end of the 'X' members, and several pieces of aluminum strip, a bag of 2mm bolts and nuts, a couple of small ID plates for the bridge (you decide what is powder coated(?) onto them), plus a PDF (in english) via your computer for assembly details. You provide the time to assemble it!

The base is in two halves with extra side stiffening pieces and needs fixings for your track - mine will be some pieces of PVC solid foam, to sit inside the vertical members and those held up with some pieces again inside the vertical parts. To those the track is screwed make a very strong unit.

I can understand the assembly quite easily and will be putting it together from today.

There is a lot of repetitive work (brackets etc) involved in it (by Frank) and it is going to look very good when put together. Payment I think will be by Paypal as (3% of bill) that seems to be the cheapest method. This is my Christmas present, and is I am certain going to be a good one.

Thanks Frank!

Yours Peter.

 

[coyote97]

nice to see that all arrived in a good condition.

My heart bleeded when i took the bridge to pieces, but shipping gets very expensive when the length is more than 1200mm.

So while we need to have some packing-material, just 1000mm bridges would be able to send complete.


As far as i can see, its not just that all parts are ok, it also seems ALL is at yours.

Be carefull with the nameplates, they are just painted black by now. i am looking for some material of alu-eloxal surface in a dark grey or nearly black. Comes out very fine with lasering, but i need to find the raw material.

Thanks for the information, Peter!

Many fun with the thing!


regards

Frank

 

[yb281]

Wow! That's one impressive looking kit of parts. Can't wait to see the finished bridge in situ.

 

[peterbunce]

Hi Mel & Gordon,

Thanks for the comments - not certain when it will be in position (weather etc) but I will add some more photos.

The outer framework is all together, and you need both some curved point tweezers, and one of those little nut driver sets from the pound shops!  

The nut driver is indispensable for the 3 different sizes of bolts + some washers + the 4mm (across faces) nuts. All have been separated into their respective 'tic tac' boxes and labelled  accordingly.

The base was fixed together after adding the infill bits for fixing the track to in due course. I will add a photo of those tomorrow, basically they infill the space from the top pf the cross pieces to the upper face of the end to end pieces, and will be painted silver to match the bridge so they disappear.

Back to fiddlin' with tiny nuts bolts and washers! As the assembly proceeds you get some idea of just how much work is involved in making it!


Yours Peter 
 

 

[peterbunce]

Hi,

Most of the morning was spent reducing a small pile of bolts, nuts, and washers to the minimum possible which also reduced all the 4 sizes of aluminum angle as well.

The result is most impressive, and here are a couple of photos of the almost complete bridge, and one of my addition for fixing track to it.

 

This is an easier view to read of the sides, which are a 'lattice truss' design, that means the pieces cross over each other, when (& it is) the other side is added is becomes very complicated to look at with the sides almost interacting due to the multiplicity of angles.

A view of the top in position, adding a lot of strength to it, the main strength is in the side pieces  as the previous photo - these stiffen it up very fast.

Finally a bit by me, (other than assembling it)  - these infill parts have been added to each cross member to fill the top of them to be level with the sides; the track can be fixed to these (all seven of them) and will be secure: they are still to be painted silver to match the bridge. .

Not quite finished, other than to say that there is a lot of accurate work involved in making this bridge, and 'FULL MARKS' are due to Frank, for the work he has done.

Now I want the weather to start to behave in a reasonable fashion so I can get the fixings done for it.  


Yours Peter 

 

[coyote97]

wow....nice done.

It works!

Congrats! I THINK that the strings are the other way round like i had them fixed. But as i told in the instruction:
it doesnt affect the construction and is some kind of "how do u want it to have".

Your work looks quite well and as i see the roof is jointed in....perfect, all fits.

I like your idea to fix the tracks VERY much. Perhaps everyone will do it on own ideas, but this seems to be longlasting and stable enough.


Greetings

Frank (who has now to take care of his 1:1 cograil-club-kindergarden..even though they are all adults...not every work is fun)

 

[Bram]

That looks a fine piece of kit Peter and as Mel says, I can't wait to see the finished item

I have just pressed refresh and hey the said finished item

It does look good and has some presence

 

[peterbunce]

Hi

The bridge is now virtually finished, and has been ‘tried out’ in its location. The abutments were ‘lashed up’ with bits of block & brick, to arrive at a level, and some photos taken of it.

Afterwards it was brought back inside for some of my own additions to it, but first all the bolts were checked and tightened up, not too tight as there is no need as the cross bracing on the sides adds greatly to the strength and stiffness of the bridge.

I looked at the top of the ends of the bridge – the portal frames. These are a single piece of aluminum, but look ‘cut off’ as all the other cross pieces on the bridge have a width – these do not.

I cannot see how Frank could have added them as the ends are somewhat complicated with pieces joining everywhere and as a result there a .lot of bolts fitting through aluminum sections. So it was out with the 2mm plasticard and a top portion was added at each end to the width of the other cross pieces; these had three gluing blocks added to them and were then were glued in position, when dry I then covered them with aluminum foil, (from food trays) well glued on with the edges wrapped over the plasticard for weather protection. Here is a photo of that area of the bridge.

The lower ends of the portal frames have a small gap as the portal frames slope inwards when all has been fitted together; I added on this gap 8 small t(pre painted silver) triangles here to fill the gaps, and finish of the bottom of the frames: here is a photo of the triangles in location. Again as the portal frames need to move this area cannot be done by Frank.

I also wanted a walkway for the bridge gang to walk along, instead of leaping along the track – more sleepers will be added I think between the Peco ones to give a closer space between them: bridges always seem to have a closer spacing than normal track.. The twin plank walkway is made from black .060 plasticard and it needed some cross pieces to stop any chance of becoming ‘wavy’ so I made six 5mm square plastic cross pieces were added on each side. One side is for the planks to sit on (and are glued to them after painting them silver), the other balanced them as it now looks correct.

Metal bridges are not fitted straight onto the abutments; as they expand and contract, and thus the length changes, so one end is fixed (full size ones have long bolts fitted into pre-drilled holes, and secured with molten lead), and the other slid on moveable plates. Later, as bridges became heavier & longer these plates were replaced by a series of rollers with plenty of grease.

Mine has the plates, the fixed end has 3 pieces if 5mm (PVC solid foam) plastic glued together, painted and weathered; the sliding ones have the centre section made a bit shorter and 3 saw cuts made around the centre section to give an impression of the plates – more muck is added to the edges of them. Both sets have a large bottom plate with some mock square nuts and bits of .060 rod for the bolts – one of them has ended up bent a bit! . Mine will have some bridge clamps at each end holding it in position, those clamps being on the (fixed in position) rails Here are some photos, taken with the bridge upside down, of them.

Now the weather needs to be warmer and I will make the abutments and fit the bridge – I am very pleased with it, there is a lot of work involved in it, and that means that it is not cheap – every bridge is made to order, ensure that the size has been measured correctly if it is to fit into a pre-made location (millimeters or inches) I may well have messed things up here (I call that a ‘senior moment’ or my version of rule 8!), but I am in the middle of building a large extension to the railroad so it is easily accommodated. I now have to build another bridge of the same length, but it will be mainly built from PVC solid foam replicating wood, and will look very different.

I think the bridge is excellent value for money and it looks most impressive in location – so here are the last photos with a Bachmann Mogul, and a small train in position to give an indication of the size of it and clearance for our models. The large vertical clearance, is both correct and I believe is to allow for dispersal of the (corrosive) smoke from the trains passing through, it also adds to the good looks in my opinion! This bridge is a Christmas present, and the ‘givers’ of it are also pleased with the results.

Frank had a Bachmann Consolidation that fits just nicely through it – have a look at his videos where it can be seen inside his bridge. The exterior width of it is 9”, the internal width is 7.25”, and the external height is 15”.

Yours Peter.

 

[coyote97]

Hi Peter,

VERY NICE SHOTS!
Thank you very much!

i will make a mind about the one or other modification you´ve done!

I like the gliding plates, have no solution for those parts till now...need to have!!!

The walkway is funny: nothing for the folks with acrophobia.....


Greetings

Frank

 

[Rod Fearnley]

Great work Peter. I particularly like the last shot of the the Steam Donkey on the flat car, haven't I seen that before somewhere ................. in pieces?
Rod

 

[peterbunce]

Great work Peter. I particularly like the last shot of the the Steam Donkey on the flat car, haven't I seen that before somewhere ................. in pieces?
Rod

Hi Rod,  Yes quite right - that is the one you brought back, thank you for your efforts on collecting it all that time ago.

Frank's bridge is quite superb, and though complicated is easy to put together, it is one of the two bridges, and a small trestle that  I need. 

Shortly there may be more (smaller) boiler versions built - I have some bits already and I am afraid that the old bogey,  of time, is what is wanted - amongst all the other demands fro the 'to do' list.  

At the moment though a boiler carrier is being constructed, (a flat car!) then there is a loco to build on a LGB chassis and another bridge as well, and with much warmer weather I will lay some track, which naturally needs the new bridge! 

How is the baby High Cube coming one?

Yours Peter.

 

[Rod Fearnley]

The baby Hc is already for painting Peter, I just need a dry day or two as I don't have an indoor space for spray painting.
Snowed again here today, yuk. Roll on Global warming..........................
Rod