Colorado Midland in N scale 2.0

[MK]

Whoa!  Is he a train guy or a bridge guy???   

[davefoxx]

Okay, I am going to be the Debbie Downer on that thing.  First, that guy is building a monster layout, and I am impressed with his work ethic and quality of construction.  I could never do what he is accomplishing.

That said, I have a problem with that trestle.  Yes, it's beautifully constructed, but it's a double-track 180-degree trestle, which, despite Ed's Law, screams "model railroady."  What situation does a prototype meet to build what would be a very expensive double-track return trestle?  I recall corresponding with Tony Koester about fifteen years ago, and, if I remember correctly, he referred to this situation as the "gratuitous trestle on a turn back curve" or something to that effect.

Ducking for cover,
DFF

[amato1969]

"Gratuitous trestle", love it !!!

  Frank

[Dave V]

I don’t recall ever seeing a double track trestle in real life.

[wazzou]

Not only that, but as a result, the bents don't have enough angle to them to be realistic from an engineering standpoint.

[Dave V]

Not only that, but as a result, the bents don't have enough angle to them to be realistic from an engineering standpoint.

I ended up significantly reducing the angle of mine.  It fit the space better that way.  I know on curves especially the angle should be wider than what I used.  But I'm still going for a semi-realistic caricature. 

[Chris333]

The trestle also has no deck. Just stringers and bridge flex. In real life there would be a whole deck with rails spiked to it.

[Dave V]

I may be getting ahead of myself a bit but I wanted to see what this Peco code 55 track looks like when ballasted and weathered per late 19th-century practice.  The practice piece I did earlier had been promising but this is where the rubber meets the road.  I'm pretty happy with it.



In that wedge-shaped area between the enginehouse track and the Glenwood Springs main I plan to build a coaling dock.  It's just an elevated platform with three low sides where coal is manually shoveled...similar to the one recently restored at Osier, CO on the Cumbres & Toltec.

Also, Hagerman Trestle is "unwarping" in the back.  I had built it flat on the stringers at first but as I added the girts I had to move it around by hand.  A slight twist to the deck developed.  While I could probably have taken the twist out simply using shims when I installed it, I didn't want any torque on the Micro Engineering bridge track that would go on top.  So I soaked the stringers with isopropyl alcohol and pinned the trestle flat.  The first 24 hours took probably 80% of the twist out, so another round should do it.

This is it in terms of progress for a while.  I'm having shoulder surgery on Monday.  It's my right shoulder and I'm right-handed <insert_masturbatory_humor>.

The trestle also has no deck. Just stringers and bridge flex. In real life there would be a whole deck with rails spiked to it.

Actually I don't see how that's a problem.  That's how all of the old Colorado trestles are built (standard and narrow gauge).  The only thing I guess that would make it a deck would be the addition of guard "rail" boards along the outside to keep the ties aligned.

FWIW, the Rio Grande Southern didn't actually ever attach the bridge ties to the stringers.  They simply stayed put due to their weight and the weight of the rail (which in many cases was only 40-57 lb rail!).  That there were no major derailments on trestles after about 1920 on the RGS is a genuine miracle.

[Chris333]

I guess the problem is double track trestles are rare, I couldn't even find one to compare. I just imagine the deck looking something like this:
https://www.vclco.com/x/cdn/?https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-33549806/images/5c4bc9f86e431jmvwoqA/Beam-End-pipe_d400.png

[pdx1955]

Interestingly enough this was asked on the MR board back in 2006 and the answer was that they are extremely rare. Apparently there was a 1000' one crossing the Yolo River in the Sacramento area and a couple more on the BNSF transcon route in Kansas. So use of double track trestles are a model railroady thing especially if you're trying to model the typical condition. If you're gonna do a gratuitous double track turn back trestle you might well do it as part of a herniated helix loop!

[Chris333]

Interestingly enough this was asked on the MR board back in 2006 and the answer was that they are extremely rare. Apparently there was a 1000' one crossing the Yolo River in the Sacramento area and a couple more on the BNSF transcon route in Kansas. So use of double track trestles are a model railroady thing especially if you're trying to model the typical condition. If you're gonna do a gratuitous double track turn back trestle you might well do it as part of a herniated helix loop!

And it looks like both listed had full ballasted decks 

[wazzou]

And it looks like both listed had full ballasted decks 

Yeah, I can 100% confirm that the Yolo Causeway was a ballasted deck. 
It paralleled the Freeway and I passed it many, many times.

[Missaberoad]

@Dave V
Track looks amazing, you've definitely honed some mad skills playing in HOn3!

[CRL]

Per @Dave V — “ I may be getting ahead of myself a bit but I wanted to see what this Peco code 55 track looks like when ballasted and weathered per late 19th-century practice.”

I wasn’t aware they weathered track back in the day. 

Actually, it looks really good. 👍

[Dave V]

Mocking up the structure positions...  The town (Aspen) and mines in the center—along with the track bits—will be raised by 3” and several more trestles will be added to the second level.  The lower level with the yard represents Basalt.





And, I finally ordered some 3-D printed Colorado Midland-style “Bombay” cupolas for the cabooses through Panamint Models on Shapeways.