I model the midwest, (C&NW) so there isn’t much need for a trestle unless I need to cross a river. In other words, I have little need for a trestle but I have a craving to builed one!
What are some of the better kits available today? I prefer to work in wood but if there is something better out there, let me know.
Bruce,
Wood trestle kits are just a bunch of stick, plus a plan. If you have a plan or can fake one up to suit your needs, then it’s often cheaper to buy the sticks than the kit. Throw in some NBWs for detail and maybe some sort of thin “metal” capping material and you’re good.
My Animas River bridge was scratched up to suit the location, rather than from a plan.Like most of my bridges, I used ME bridge track sections soldered together. This makes for a strong bridge. Use a glue that remains flexible when gluing the plastic ME track to the wood components.Otherwise, you get this.
If you handlay, the same thing applies, but use nice soft wood to allow all those spikes to stick and not splinter the wood. I use standard hobby shop lumber, instead of special RR sized stuff for many things, with bridges being a good example of where you need a lot of cheap lumber.
Much smaller bridges, same techniques.
Blind Bruce,
If your not into scratch building,Cambell Scale Models, makes quite a few Trestles and Bridges,all wood construction,with full size plans and scale wood in the kit,you supply the glue and cutting tools…and your skills…They have been out for years…
Cheers,
Frank
Blind Bruce,
Another choice for bridge/trestle kits is Scale Structures Limited. I built one of their “Dinky Creek” bridges, and it was very satisfiying.
Also consider scratch building, as has been mentioned - the design is only limited by your imagination.
Wilton.
Bruce,
As mentioned above by other posters, do consider scratch building your bridgework to suit your tastes and vision. This is one of my earlier efforts. They can be a lot of fun.
Wilton.
Bruce
Not sure what kind of bridge you are looking to build, but Black Bear has some great wooden bridges of all types and styles, and details from basic to truss rods. I built the simple Silver Creek bridge, but it lacks detail, now I wish I had went with a more complicated model, since the design and instructions were excellent.
I’m not familiar with the whole range of available kits, but I’ve been impressed by Hunterline’s offerings, having seen them in assembled form at various shows. You might want to check www.hunterline.com.
Michael Moore
A year or so ago here on the Model Railroader Forum, I did a build thread on building a trestle for a deep gulch I needed to cross on my layout. The thread is entiled “Building a trestle for Deep Gultch” and if you go to the Search Community option here on the forum it will come up for you.
I have built the Straight Trestle offered as a kit from Campbells and it builds into a very nice trestel. However, I agree with Mike Lehman that designing and building one from scratch is very easy and should be considered.
Good luck!
NP2626’s build article is a great reference. Here’s a hot link:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/202778.aspx
To add to the reasons for considering something other than a kit…
Most bridges fit a particular space in real life and it’s often the same on your layout. A kit bridge is designed to be a certain length. Now on the model, we do have the luxury of building the bridge first, then building the space it fits in afterwards. If you do go the kit route, decide whether to build per the instructions or modify it to fit a defined span you have to cross, Either can be done, but sometimes one if easier than the other – or you already have a set space to cross and that decides the issue for you.
Having said that, building a bridge is way more than just building the bridge structure. Just like in real life, how well it works depends on having square, leveled abutments. Yes, you can have a grade or a curve, but you have to plan that. If there will be a crossing of a water feature, that’s another project. For the best results, all these have to be taken into account and executed well. A bridge is no place for rough or uneven track. When you’re done, it should be the smoothest part of your track – or you risk a big disaster!
Just my [2c].
First, prototype. Even flatlands aren.t flat. Rivers have to be crossed, and their flood plains are usually depressed below the general ground level. Also, before the days of 100 ton double-bottom dirt haulers, railroads would put up a trestle with every intention of converting it into a high fill before the untreated wood had a chance to rot, just to get the track past the obstacle. OTOH, there are flood plains that still have long, fairly low trestles crossing them - a fill would become an impromptu dam, then wash away, (Bummer!)
Now, model. If you plan to build a kit and then adapt terrain to fit, fine. If you want to model terrain, then install a realistic trestle, a handful of hobby stickwood is a LOT cheaper than a kit which would have to be heavily modified to make it fit. Just rig a simple jig for bents so they come out uniform.
Do I practice what I preach. Not exactly. Since timber trestles were not, and are not, part of normal Japanese railroad construction all of my bridges (with one exception) are steel. All of the steel bridges were in place before the color standard changed from oxide red to baby blue (Thank God!) The exception is a concrete spandrel arch across the fast water at the bottom of a deep gorge. However, if I ever build any of the logging area served by my narrow-gauge logger I will have some trestlework. My prototype laid branches to logging sides on low trestles built of slash with the bark still on. (No earthworks allowed in the forest preserve.)
Needless to say, nobody anywhere makes kits for that sort of thing!
Chuck (Bridge afiicionado modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Nobody here has mentioned the JV Models trestle kits. You get a box with a bunch of wood sticks, a basic template for the bents, some vague instructions, and a few plastic pieces to detail it with. Then build it however you want. I just finished this one which is on a curve with a varying grade. For a trestIe I like the look of glued/spiked rails on wood ties a lot better than using pre-made bridge track. If you have the necessary skills its just one step beyond scratch-building and very satisfying to build.
I bought the Kalmbach book on bridges. It gave detailed instruction for building jigs for bents and everything else. I then got a bunch of scale wood. I cut my own out of Walnut, but I don’t recommend that. After I made a template for the curve of the track, I wanted a curved trestle and the depth of the canyon, I built a bunch of bents and glued them together. It took a while, but was pretty easy.
A couple of pics
I also built most of the kits mentioned and they all work and look nice.