I have a nice big trestle kit, but I am not sure if it fits modern era modelling.
It looks something like what is in these pictures, but it is a plastic kit:
Courtesy of google for the second image.
So, is this kit a save or sell? Can I realistically place and run trains on a bridge like that in modern era modelling?
I did an image search for “BNSF wood trestle” and found a couple of low ones. “NS wood trestle” turned up a couple. “CSX wood trestle” got a couple of taller ones, but still nothing like what you show.
I DID turn up this one:
It’s the Holcomb Creek trestle on the old Oregon Electric, a subsidiary of the SP&S. And later BN.
It apparently didn’t get transferred to BNSF, as those look like PW locos.
Note that this is definitely NOT a mainline track. As in intermodal, grain, and the like. BUT. It’s (apparently) still there and in use.
If you want to keep it lookin’ real, I’d recommend building it straight, rather than curved. Curved wood trestles are less durable. And, since you want one set in current times, and since the last large wood trestle was built a long time ago, that leaves straight trestles.
Ed
PS: Naturally, I kept reading about this interesting structure. Apparently, it DID make it to BNSF, but was transferred to PW in about 1997.
Since it was once a part of my favorite railroad (SP&S), I guess I should visit it someday.
You could have a wood trestle abandoned and aside a modern built replacement. It could suggest a bit of history for the railroad.
That’s a very neat idea!!!
Ed
Xbox’s idea does sound cool. I did some looking around and came up with what Ed did.
The only ones still sorta “in service” seem to be the “rails to trails” variety.
Mike.
PS Is that your Scale Trains gevo?
There are quite a number scattered around western Canada on secondary mainlines. The bigger they are, the more costly to replace with steel and concrete, and so they survive. The one linked below is over water, so not as visibly high, but something like 3,000 feet long. It is still there, and a long hike is needed to get this angle.
That one is lower than the sample trestles at the beginning. The taller ones he’s looking for are a good bit rarer.
Ed
7j43k: The kit happens to be a straight bridge, so I guess I am all set
xboxtravis7992: I entertained that idea for a split second, but I realized for me it wouldn’t really be worth building the kit if nothing ran on it. Thats why I said in my origional post, “Can I realistically place and run trains on a bridge like that in modern era modelling?”
Mike: Yes, that is my scaletrains gevo. I have since weathered it…
cx500: I actually have a water scene in the works, so I could chop the kit supports and model that.
Thanks for the info, guys! I guess the kit is a keep. I’ll see if I can find a good place and enough space to put it…
There’s talk of opening up the Goat Canyon Trestle. I have no idea of the actual feasibility of that, not to mention environmental impact statements etc. However if realistic was a criteria, there are a lot of railroads that would never have been built.
Knew that, but it was one that was quickly available. This short u-tube drone video of another bridge in northern Alberta shows a better example. Interestingly, it appears one end has a ballasted deck instead of the usual open deck.
That’s pretty cool, cx500, comments on the video says it burned down in 2015?
Anyway, it says it was used ocassionaly by the CN. The rails were shiny.
Mike.