Well, it's only taken three years but the Hunter River Bridge has now been incorporated into the layout albeit with 'bumper rails' just in case something failed.
It was an easy process to remove temporary structure which has bridged the gap for the past 12 months but I had erred slightly with horizontal alignment, failing to allow for the offset of the track on the bridge. Rectifying that mistake was easy, relocating the bridge about 10mm laterally. The 3mm ply strip which serves as the bridge foundation was screwed to the base board frame.
Since the photos were taken, the base board frame has been covered by 3mm ply which, in due course, will become the Hunter River. Gaps have been filled with tape and jointing compound and the 'bumper rails' have gone.
The bridge will be the major scenic feature on the lower level of the layout but as I mentioned in my previous post, scenery will wait until other areas have completed. I'll then face the challenge of creating a wide expanse of water, something I haven't tried before. So there's still a lot of work to do before I can recreate to the image that started it all ('Northern Exposures' (p 128, photographer Greg Triplett))
Well done Phil. Certainly a scenic highlight
ReplyDeleteThanks Rob. Still a fair bit more work before it becomes a real scenic highlight.
DeleteCongratulations Phil, looks the part. We must have commenced our bridges around the same time.
ReplyDeleteregards
Bob
Bob, thanks. Moving house, while it facilitated the construction of the bridge, certainly impacted on the speed of construction.
DeleteIt's looking fantastic Phil. It's such an unusual bridge, and a real credit to you for choosing to model it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil. I suggest it's unusual nature is confined to Version 2 which I have modelled and is caused by the asymmetrical offset of the bridge superstructure. I believe this was done to facilitate construction of V2 in the early 1900s by using the existing bridge as a work platform. They did the same thing but in reverse when V3 was built in the mid 1970s. I also wanted to test what I had been taught about the strength of a truss in my university days. So far so good.
DeleteHey Phil, just saw your blog and posts about the bridge at Singleton. I am also building a model of this bridge for my singleton layout. Did you scratchbuild the spans or are they the walthers kits. Thanks
ReplyDeleteSorry, only just found your comment. They were scratch built using styrene u beam and channel strip's.
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