Nice work! I picked one up at a swap meet a few years back to use on my circa 1910 anthracite road. For now, its still “sticks-in-the-box” waiting for layout construction to catch up.
But I do have one question… prototypically speaking - would such a small bridge be able to handle 30-40 ton hopper-gons and medium sized consolidations? If not, I’ll build it for horse and buggy traffic.
For loads as you describe I would change the bottom chord. For higher loads I would avoid the many splices in the tensile member and use longer timbers with fewer splices like in a Howe truss bridge.
The arched top chord needs these splices for the shape anyway. Pressure joints are easier as one can make them form-fitting the contact load transfer.
Regards, Volker
Really nice bridge Graf, but I think you have one thing wrong:
That is not therapy! After doing that is when you need therapy! Start with a shoulder massage, and then maybe move on to an Opthamologist to get your eyes straight again! [swg][(-D][(-D][(-D]