The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[Point353]

Does the alignment of the ends of the rails at the joint on the outside of the curve need a bit of attention?

[wazzou]

@davefoxx The only recommendation I would make, not that you want one of course, but I do provide a lot of timber for both Railroads and Contractors doing trestle repair and/or construction and as a result of this, I see lots of plans.
Typicallgy, the ties crossing the span are deeper or thicker than normal cross ties.
I think that will go a long way toward making it look like a prototype Trestle.
Want pics? I've got tons.

[davefoxx]

Does the alignment of the ends of the rails at the joint on the outside of the curve need a bit of attention?

I think the joint, while not perfect, is okay.  The picture in your quote has the rail joint foreshortened and the two loose ties under the joint had been knocked out of place while vacuuming up foam bits after carving the hillsides.  Here’s a better pic after I reset the ties:



Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

@davefoxx The only recommendation I would make, not that you want one of course, but I do provide a lot of timber for both Railroads and Contractors doing trestle repair and/or construction and as a result of this, I see lots of plans.
Typicallgy, the ties crossing the span are deeper or thicker than normal cross ties.
I think that will go a long way toward making it look like a prototype Trestle.
Want pics? I've got tons.

Bryan,

I appreciate constructive criticism and thank you for responding.  Your post explains why the wood ties that came with the trestle kit are so huge.  But, at this point, I will stick with the ME bridge track, right or wrong.  That’s because (1) I’m lazy , (2) I slathered a lot of CA on those I-beams and wood girders and doubt that I could remove the track without destroying the bridge, and (3) using ME track and a Tracksetta made it super easy to ensure that the radius of the bridge stayed at the same 18” radius throughout the length of the bridge.

Thanks,
DFF

[CRL]

I think the joint, while not perfect, is okay.  The picture in your quote has the rail joint foreshortened and the two loose ties under the joint had been knocked out of place while vacuuming up foam bits after carving the hillsides.  Here’s a better pic after I reset the ties:



Thanks,
DFF

That’s probably fine for HO, but it sure isn’t up to N-scale standards.   

Just a little inter-scale humor.   

[wm3798]

Don't be silly.  I don't "run" the Bachmann White Box stuff...  That's for scenery only!

You RUN the Trix and Rivarossi!  The noise does keep the cat away from the layout, but other than that?  Lots of fun!

Lee

[CRL]

Noise? I’ve got a sweet running Atlas/Riverossi 0-4-0 that is really quiet.

[davefoxx]

A crappy day at work meets a good day on the Seaboard.  The rough framing of the curved, skewed trestle is finished.  We might just see a train on this thing this weekend!  (Although it's got nowhere to go yet.)





DFF

[davefoxx]

Goal met.  The track has been connected (but not glued down, so the bridge is still removable for finishing), and trains can now reach the far side of the cut over the SBD line.  Here, A&R No. 400 received the honor of testing the structure.  Considering none of the bents are resting on anything and all of the weight is on the abutments, I'd say the bridge meets the stress test!



This is a huge hurdle for me, so I can build a small three-track staging yard just beyond the bridge.  It won't be large, but it will add significantly to ops by adding another destination and some freight car capacity to the layout:



Oh, and a trip to the LHS occurred this afternoon for some scenery materials and, well . . . I loves me some North Carolina short lines, so this happened: "'Duke Blue Crane' (A&R No. 400) meet 'Bull Durham 3' (D&S No. 2002)."  This might bring back some fond memories of living in Apex, North Carolina for @Dave V:



DFF

[milw12]

Gorgeous bridge Dave, it'll be good to see it painted and weathered. I remember liking the N scale version too.

Would diagonal bracing between the bents be out of line, kind of like the x bracing here?

Lucas

[davefoxx]

Gorgeous bridge Dave, it'll be good to see it painted and weathered. I remember liking the N scale version too.

Would diagonal bracing between the bents be out of line, kind of like the x bracing here?

Lucas

@milw12,

Thanks, Lucas!  I had intended to install diagonal bracing when I started the project, like I did on the N scale bridge.  But, the bents are so skewed to each other, that there's no legitimate way of installing it that it wouldn't look hokey.  Since the bridge is so small and short, I'm sure that it doesn't need that type of bracing, especially since I installed the horizontal pieces between the bents for stability.

DFF

[davefoxx]

With the connection of the trestle's track to the layout, I'm taking a small break from that project.  I tore down my new Durham & Southern GP38-2 No. 2002 and ESUed it with a V5.0 Loksound decoder.  I also pulled out the lousy Athearn incandescent bulbs and replaced them with new warm-white LEDs.  Sergent Engineering couplers were built and installed, and then I reprogrammed this Geep to run with the ProtoThrottle. 





DFF

[davefoxx]

The approach tracks to the bridge have been soldered to the bridge track.  This makes for an unwieldy piece of trackwork that is about six feet long with a bridge glued to it, but it was necessary to be able to get kink-free rail joints at the ends of the bridge.  Because of the distance from the edge of the layout, the rail joints had to be soldered at the bench.  The track is only being held in place with T-pins, because I still need to be able to remove the bridge from the layout for detailing and finishing:



The first train has officially reached the far side of the cut over the SBD line:



At the end (for now) is a Code 100 Peco three-way turnout.  I chose a Code 100 (despite all of the track on the layout being Code 83), because this is the most compact three-way turnout.  Space is at a premium for the planned staging yard.  So, I had to do the trick of squashing one-half of a rail joiner to join the Code 83 flextrack to the Code 100 turnout.  I'm also temporarily using my world famous T-pin end-of-track bumpers 



DFF

[Chris333]

Needs moar backdrop 

[glakedylan]

Dave
your railroad continues, as always,
to come together really nice
i enjoy following this thread
thanks for posting


sincerely
Gary