Cisco Bridges: a new layout concept

[rsn48]

Scott, I re-read parts of your thread and I noticed you said you would have the bridge scene set in the spring.  I tell many who plan to go railfanning at Cisco (in fact a father and young son, only yesterday at Central) the best time is late spring early summer as the water is thundering its way through the canyon with all the snow run off.  But to really have the scene prototypical, you need about four first nations, balanced precariously near the water with their fishing net out.

[Scottl]

I'm still leaning towards a spring depiction, I agree it is an amazing thing to see all that water pass through the canyon at that time. 

It sounds like I will be out in BC a few times in January- hoping I can find a way up to the bridges for some research.  Might need to organize an  field trip! 

[GaryHinshaw]

Keep us posted.  Love the etches!

-gfh

[Smike]

Awesome to see such attention to detail to recreating such a dramatic RR location. Keep it coming.

[Scottl]

The holiday has provided time to really advance the bridge project.  I now have two sheets of etches to send for production that include CN-type handrails, walkways and many details for the entire bridge.  Those will probably take a few weeks to get here, so I also built the approach bridge beams and top decks today.  I am modelling the post-2011 fire version of the bridge, so the approach bridges are simple steel beams in five sections, held up with two piers framed with CN's unique type of beams/lacing.  The bridges are ballasted and the track has wooden ties, as far as I can see in the few pictures available. 

I finished the decks and mocked everything up, holding the pieces together with masking tape and test fitting some code 55 flex track.  I made prints of the piers to give an idea of how it will all look for fun.  The approach bridges are about a 22" radius overall, and the full bridge is about 40" long.



This is a classic view, looking down the length of the bridge to the NW.  Phone camera shots, so the focus is not great and the depth of field here is almost 4 feet,



This view shows where the CPR crossing occurs, under the longest deck where the glue bottle is.  I think this also gives a good sense of the topography that will be needed to support everything.



So, lots of progress, and I see it coming together now.  While I wait for the etches, I think the next step is to cut the footings from wood and to begin to prepare a base to assemble it all on.  I'll use a 2'X4' plywood base to support everything and then incorporate the plywood into my benchwork when I get to that stage.

Thanks for following along.

[James Costello]

Looking great Scott, inspiring work!

[peteski]

Very impressive work Scott!

[GaryHinshaw]

Love it!  Now I'm tryng to picture the size of the canyon it will take to properly frame this beautiful piece of work.   

[Scottl]

Thanks everyone, it was fun to see this in an "approaching" finished form.  I'm hoping I have enough space dedicated in the new layout to make this work.   The long view down the length of the river will be just over 7', and the canyon will be over 3' wide.  What adds even more to the scale is that the river level will be about 12-14" below the bridge deck, so there will be a lot of relief.  I'm looking forward to roughing it in!

[davefoxx]

Scott,

The bridge looks fantastic!  One recommendation that I will offer is to consider keeping the paper mill trackage (or the majority of it) for improved operations.  I don't think that a second bridge scene justifies its loss.  You should be able to squeeze around behind most of the paper mill with minimal adjustment to the mill to make the extended mainline fit.

Keep up the good work,
DFF

[rsn48]

When will you be out in January?

[Scottl]

It is looking like the end of January now.  Hoping I have time to visit Cisco and maybe some  !

Dave, thanks for the comment.  I have been thinking about that too.  I will keep it for now until the rest of the layout is done and see how it feels.   After this bridge is done, I still have the CPR bridges to do, and I'll have to do them in brass now that I know how!

[packers#1]

Scott, you may want to check out the latest issue of The Railroad Press, as they have a shot at Cisco of the CP bridge looking towards the CN bridge; I'm sure you have plenty of reference photos but it may be useful

[Scottl]

Thanks for the heads up.  I'll see if I can track a copy down as I am now planning the scenery for the canyon and starting to think about the CP bridge.

[Baronjutter]

Here's a cross section of a ballasted bridge.

http://www.arema.org/publications/pgre/Practical_Guide/PGChapter8.pdf

Here's a good PDF explaining the how's and why's of open deck vs ballasted.