Prototypical bridge bent??

[basementcalling]

MBK lists this new item from British company Ratio. Any thoughts on the prototypical of it for US railroad bridges?

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Ratio-N-242-2-Steel-Trestle-Kits-p/rat-242.htm

To me it looks a bit like something one might find in a mixed media combo bridge and trestle set up. Could also have industrial applications as conveyor support I guess.

[Philip H]

It's definitely more British in appearance then American. Looks too light weight for its height. Marry two of them into one and you might have something.

[Missaberoad]

Depends how prototypical you want to be. The specific arrangement of supports looks kind of wonky, but there are lots of examples of similar structures.

Soo line had many bridges with single steel trestle "bents"

https://bridgehunter.com/photos/23/94/239449-L.jpg
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/495857/

[nkalanaga]

It also depends on the nature of the railroad.  If you don't need heavy axle loads, you don't need as much support.  Many Midwest and Northwest grain and logging branches were limited to 50 or 70 ton cars into the 80s, and those would probably be fine for one of those.  Or an interurban/light rail line, some industrial operations, etc.

When the GN/BN Mansfield branch was abandoned in the 1980s, they found rail there relaid from the original GN main line, rolled in the 1890s.  That was one of the last strongholds of 40 ft boxcars in the Northwest, and in  the late 70s and early 80s, Appleyard was filled with ex-GN, NP, CB&Q, and a few BN and SP&S cars.  Most were retired when the branch was abandoned, never having been repainted for the BN.

[u18b]

And part of it depends on --

size
what does bridge go over?
background of your railroad.

For example, in the deep south USA, the preference is for steel if going over people/highways/in town,etc.

But out in the countryside in the middle of nowhere, the preference seems to be for creasoted wood boards and pilings.
And there's lots of pine trees in the south.  So there is a big supply.

There are even pretty sizeable trestles over water on old Southern and L&N lines where there is very little steel- except for maybe the middle span over the center of the river.

[pdx1955]

Bents about half that high would be pretty close to number of the wooden trestle replacements that have been built around here in Oregon in the last ten years or so. I've seen a number of higher wooden trestles that have steel bents supporting a deck girder over a river or some long wooden trestles that have steel bents spaced at regular intervals of a few hundred feet or so. I think you could add them in as an occasional use item for interest.

[nkalanaga]

Ron:  Wood would have been much more common in the Northwest as well, including on that Mansfield branch, which, as far as I know, didn't have a single tree that wasn't planted by a human.

These bents could also be used in an industrial setting for pipe or conveyor supports, and would probably look more natural there, at least for North America.