Free-mo-N. BC Rail Rutherford Creek crossing.

[craigolio1]

As I mentioned before, @BCR 570 sent me couple of photos of the bridge in my exact modelling period which revealed a couple details that I consider to be critical.

Here’s an example:



The abutment you see on the far side of the river is the original 1930 abutment that managed to never wash out. I’ve seen this before in other photos like this:



If you look under the bridge to the right of the abutment in Tim’s photo, there was a retaining wall that was added. I’ve seen it on other newer photos but I thought it was part of an upgrade that was done when a siding was lengthened and a second bridge was installed. (Shortly after it was installed both of these bridges were washed out and newer, even longer, steel span was installed - but only one track) You can see a bit of that wall here:



....and also that the edge of the original wing wall is deteriorated which may explain why it was added in the first place.

Unfortunately I can’t find pictures of exactly what it looks like so I used what I could from Tim’s photo and guessed at the rest using what I figured would be plausible. Here’s what I came up with:



I can see that it has a footing which tapers in width from wider at the abutment to narrow at the end, and I feel like I can see just the edge of the end of that footings corner.  I guessed that with the land sloping to the river, the wall
Would have a downward slope as well.

One thing I see is that the slope of the land is much steeper than I thought. Almost looking like an undercut to the left of the bridge. And also on the right side the old washed out span is sitting on the ground quite high up, so my guess is that land doesn’t slope down and toward the river as much as I thought. I made the retaining wall with this in mind and will adjust my landform to reflect that as well.

Here is my form:





I’ll pour it tomorrow if I have time.

Now, going back to that old span sitting on the ground. I had no idea that it was left there for a couple of years. So yeah, I’m going to have to model that!!!

Thanks Tim!

Craig.

[Cajonpassfan]

Gluelam railroad bridges. Who knew. Wow. Only in Canada.
Very nice modeling Craig!
Otto K.

[CRL]

Just a modern version of the old logging railroads using a huge log with a flattened side as a bridge.

[Missaberoad]

So much inspiration here... I love it...

[BCR 570]

Gluelam railroad bridges. Who knew. Wow. Only in Canada.

Glulam bridges were a particular favourite of Chief Engineer J.S.C. (Cal) Frost who was in charge of the British Columbia Railway's bridges at the time.  New steel spans would have to be sourced from eastern Canada and shipped west; as an engineered wood product glulam spans were manufactured locally and were readily available.

In 1987 there were approximately forty glulam spans on the railway, including three glulam trestles.  The majority of these were on the Stuart and Takla Subdivisions built in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Several glulam crossings incorporated multiple spans including the Pine River #1 crossing on the Chetwynd Subdivision, which has been modelled by RW members Doug Davies and Chris Dittmar.

The 1931 deck plate girder span across Rutherford Creek was washed out in December 1980 and replaced in January 1981 with this 101-foot glulam span which sat 26 feet above the creek.  Design load was E60.  The old deck plate girder span sat on the bank for many years and will make an interesting addition to Craig's diorama.


Tim

[craigolio1]

Tim thanks to your photo I think I pretty much have the final layout locked in. Today I cast that extra retaining wall and found a Micro Engineering plate girder span which will be perfect. I’m very happy with this so far.



Here’s a comparison with the prototype taken from the same location:




Next up is to add a bit of foam in a few spots and plumb/shim the abutments with the track level.

[craigolio1]

@BCR 570 Tim, you wouldn’t happen to have a photo of the original bridge prior to the wash out, would you? Do you know if it was just black?

Craig

[BCR 570]

Craig:

I didn't own a camera in 1980, and was attending university in the United States at that time, so no photos of this location prior to 1980 in my collection.  My recollection is that most DPG spans on the railway were painted black at that time.  In my photo it appears to be faded black with some rust and GRAD85 painted on it.

Tim

[craigolio1]

Craig:

I didn't own a camera in 1980, and was attending university in the United States at that time, so no photos of this location prior to 1980 in my collection.  My recollection is that most DPG spans on the railway were painted black at that time.  In my photo it appears to be faded black with some rust and GRAD85 painted on it.

Tim

Haha ok Tim I hear what you’re saying. I saw that Grad 85 part.  I love it. It will be on there.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Sofa king cool.

I love this!

[craigolio1]

Sofa king cool.

I love this!

Thank you. What is Sofa King? Is that a good thing? Haha.

Final shaping of the foam today and shimmed up the abutments so they are the proper height to the rails. Or close to anyway. My C55 bridge flex is on back order and it has been confirmed that there is a difference in the tie height between the bridge flex and the regular flex. So I’ll wait until I get it for final installation of the abutments.

So next up will be painting and weathering the abutments, and sculptamold.

Craig.

[Missaberoad]

What is Sofa King? Is that a good thing? Haha.

Say it out loud 10 times fast 

[Mike C]

 

[Angus Shops]

Craig, I've waited forever for my code 55 bridge flex. I gave up and built up my own with rail, copper clad ties and stripwwod ties. You might want to start considering this as an alternative to the ME product to,avoid the frustration...
Geoff

[davefoxx]

Yes as you can see i misjudged the river bed location when I framed. It will all be filled in and sealed.

Psst.  Here's the secret.  Lightweight spackling. 

DFF