Hi,
I’m ready to install a through truss bridge on my layout. I have a section of MicroEngineering bridge track to lay through the bridge, including the extra rails to lay as guard rails. I know that the guard rails should be installed a little before the bridge on both ends, but are the closely spaced bridge ties used only on the bridge structure itself or do they extend to the point where the guard rails begin?
PDickens
Bridge ties would only be on the bridge itself (regular ties would be used for a bridge with a ballasted deck). Guard rails extended well beyond the bridge. The extension varied, and the rails frequently came together in a point. Extensions of 40 to 60 feet or more were common. Some bridges had no guard rails, particularly if they were short and they had no raised structure.
When laying the ME bridge flextrack, I find that using Pliobond works well for securing to the bridge structure. The Pliobond (rubber cement) will stay flexable and dries amber. If possible allow the rails to extend past the abutments and on to your roadbed. The rails can be glued and/ or spiked. This allows some better anchoring for the entire bridge structure as well as allowing feeders to be soldered behind the abutments. Treat the guard rails the same, running them further on to the ties of the standard flextrack. Don’t allow the ends of the guard rails to touch, you could possibly get a short. If you do want the point glue styrene between the rails.
If you want to get really picky, while as others have stated bridge ties were only used on the bridge spans themselves, sometimes the first tie on the abutment was what I heard called a “dump tie”. It was larger in cross-section than standard track ties, and often longer. The need for one may have depended on the specific design of the abutment. They weren’t used on any new construction I encountered.
John
Here’s my example:
Wolfgang
Thank you everyone for the responses! I appreciate it.
What a great photo Wolfgang. I really admire your modeling.
PDickens