I just picked up one of these little beauties and am seeking advice. First I need some feet for it. Are bridge feet RR specific? Can someone steer me in the right direction ( brands and/or style ) regarding feet? Second, what kind of glue should I use to attach the rails to it? It comes without rails so I guess I will just use some scrap from a piece of flextrack. And finally it has a CN logo on it that I wish to remove as I model C.P. Has anyone removed the logo from one of these with success and how did you do it. As always, thank you for all your suggestions and expertise.[bow]
Actually some of the shorter bridges of this type did not have “feet” in the sense I believe that you are thinking. Some of them just had the ends of the girders sitting on flat steel plate. And the girder would slide on the plate to accommodate expansion and contraction.
I’ve used Pliobond (contact cement) to secure the rails on both a curved wooden trestle and on a Central Valley bridge. I have had no issues with track popping up or going out of gauge.
Take a look at how the little spikes are molded into the bridge structure. I built one of those Central Valley through truss bridges and if I remember correctly the “spikes” were actually made so that you could lay the rail in place and press over the spikes to secure them.
You can press them in but if you slide them in it would hold up better. If the rail is falling out try a different brand. You could experiment by taking a section of rail out of a piece of flex track to check for size.
The bridge I have I used the rail from flex track, slid in the track under the ties and once you concect it up with other track leading to the bridge you will be fine, no point in glueing them down
From the pics, It doesn’t look like this has those peen over spikes like the Central Valley. The tie plate/ web slot should position the rail only. It will need to be secured w/ CA or my preference Pliobond. Dry fit rail first and check the gauge. You may need to set/ glue one rail, then when dry, set opposite rail and keep in gauge. Weight donw the rails if nec. while drying.
Well, you could always repaint to remove the signage. I’ve often stated on this forum that I’ve used Pliobond to attach the rails where spiking isn’t practical. Apply a continuous bead of Pliobond on the bottom of the rail and let it set with the bottom not touching anything. Once it has set, install the rail by applying a soldering iron on the top of the rail. pressing onto the ties. Go along about a couple of inches at a time. This will melt the adhesive but it will quickly reset when the heat source is moved. I very temporarily hold the rail down after every couple of inches with a piece of metal. Then move on for the next few inches. Of course, use a three-point rail gauge or two when you install the second rail.
Depending on your railroad’s SOP, I’d recommend installing guard rails with a smaller size rail extending about a short car length beyond the bridge ends and perhaps coming to a point.
Of course, this particular railroad didn’t use guard rails on all its bridges.
Thanks for the help everyone. A wealth of information as always.
Mark, I like the nice tidy point on that guard rail. I have explored a lot of the C.P.R. mainline through the Rockies and I can tell you, in many cases the two guard rails do not come to a nice neat point like that. In fact, often times one rail is several feet longer than the other. It is as if they were just to lazy to cut it. I guess it boils down to how fussy the crew supervisor is. I know if I was the boss and they didn’t do a nice neat job I’d be all over them like a cheap suit. I have thought I would make some of my guard rails a little uneven in length, to be like those C.P.R. ones I saw, but I didn’t want to be accused of sloppy modeling.[(-D]
Brent, maybe you should follow a practice I’ve seen some layout owners use. Place a photo of the prototype near the modeled site in question. That will quiet many questions/remarks.
When using guard rails and wanting them to come together to a point as shown, Make sure that they either don’t touch or have an insulator between them. Wheelsets/ flanges could possibly cause a short to to opposite rail.
