| Trying to find out how the Keddie Wye is painted, 70 80 era, Do they hang a scaffold over the side, hang in a bucket, or some type of boasins (sp) chair. I have scrach built the bridge in HO and would enjoy having this scenero on the Hi Line side. Thanks in advance…John |
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I’m not sure about bridges, but I’ve watched a lot of painters on TV towers; they rig a cable from the ground up to the top, over a pulley block and down to the painter. He wears a harness that attaches to the cable. The paint is in a large bucket that hangs from his harness, and he paints with a big mitten. He can kick his way around the tower, getting all sides; then the winch man, on the ground, lowers him down a couple feet and he repeats the process.
/Bill
Don’t know about Keddie Wye, but have heard of highway bridges being painted by guys hanging from the structure using mountain climbing gear (harnesses, etc). Would have been an interesting thing to see.
Don’t they paint them before they’re assembled?
Weather 'em, too…
I made my self look like an idiot, huh? [#oops]
Well, once they’re assembled, I’d guess they just use scaffolding along side the bridge.
Once they’re built, a lot of railroad bridges NEVER see any more paint, do they?
If memory serves, there’s been a television program (History Channel or somewhere) on bridge painters, working on sites like the Golden Gate bridge in California. Now there’s a tough one! As I recall, there is a permanent crew with the full-time job of painting that thing. With the damp salty environment, it would turn into a rust bucket if not continuously getting fresh paint.
The Golden Gate takes so long to paint, that once the painters have finished painting it once, it’s time to start all over again back on the other side.
I have no idea how you’d paint a railroad bridge, although it would be interesting to know how the design changes when you’re making something thats designed to be out in the elements, withouth paint, vs. a bridge that was designed to be almost constantly painted and covered.
…I believe it is a fact bridges like the Golden Gate are being painted continously. I’ve wondered how much weight that adds…?? Applying paint on a daily basis has to contribute to a weight factor.
One reason they take so long to do the whole thing is they are constantly removing the old paint also, preparing the surface, and repainting. They have “needle guns” for paint chipping, and also “area sandblasters”, that is a sand blasting gun with an attached vacuum to suck us as much of the sand and paint chips as possible…the long and short of it is that the bridge doesnt keep getting heavier, it stays pretty much the same weight…
I have seen some pedestrian bridges that are not painted, they use a steel that is supposed to weather to a rust color and thus form a protective layer to prevent the rust from going further…does anyone know if they are using this technology on larger structures, to prevent having to paint over and over? Is the epoxy they now use for coating the new style suspension bridges supposed to be maintenance free?
…I have seen all kinds of transportation structures in the east {my home area}, years ago that was constructed of the steel that covers itself in that rust colored protective coating as it ages.