Trestle Part 7: Complete and open for business

The trestle work is complete! The new bridge is installed, track has been put back in place and trains are running again on the PE&A.

Last weekend I finished staining the trestle. I used a very dark stain that is nearly black, as the wood used in trestles when it is treated is typically very dark as you can see in the photos below. Staining was a mess. I thought I might save time by using a sprayer instead of a brush, but in the end I think I could have done a better job with a brush, and it would have taken just as long. Glad it's done.

Then, early in the week, my long awaited bridge arrived. It arrived a couple weeks later than I originally hoped it would, but as I was a couple weeks behind with construction, the bridge was actually right on time. This weekend I installed the bridge, replaced the track, put down new ballast on the the approaches, and made some other minor adjustments so trains were ready to roll.

I've never received a trapezoidal box before. There is only one thing that could be in this box.

My new Warren truss bridge from Eaglewings Iron Craft. It is welded steel, weighs about 30 pounds, and has a powder coat that should last many years. Most importantly, it's absolutely beautiful and puts my other bridges to shame.

I did not think about this photo until just today, but this is essentially the prototype I had in mind. This is the Pratt truss bridge that crosses the Palouse River in Elberton. Note that it is resting on a concrete pier and beyond that is a wood trestle. See this blog post for more about Elberton.

This photo shows the remains of the trestle approaching the bridge. Just the bents remain, and all the stringers and ties are gone so you can't walk along it. Note the very dark color of the wood.

This is an overview photo of the complete trestle with both bridges in place.

When I first put the new bridge in place, it was about one inch shorter than I expected, about the width of one trestle bent. I measured the bridge and it was exactly the length I had ordered. So I made an error at some point and the length of the upper trestle ended up one inch shorter than it should have. I determined the easiest solution was simply to shift the stone on the other side one inch out. Unlike the real world, in model railroading if a mountain isn't where you need it, you move the mountain. 

This is the switch at the yard entrance. I had pulled out the track here due to construction and also due to a mole, which has since been dispatched. Once track was back in place I put down new ballast and worked it in between the ties.

Next I put all the track back in place on top of the trestle. I will secure the track using screws to attach some of the ties to the middle bent, but first needed to run some test trains to make sure the track was aligned. Most brands of track have small pre-drilled holes in some ties for this purpose.

Here's a picture of the complete trestle with track in place, prior to the first train run.

The first train across the new bridge.

Another train I was running today. It's been two months without service, so there's a backlog of freight to haul.

The new bridge provides enough clearance for overheight cars, taller than anything I likely will be hauling on my railroad.

One more photo of the train making its way up the grade.

Another new dahlia this year, definitely a keeper. Although I'm not a fan of the lacinated petals, I really like dahlias with an ombre effect like this. 

It must be midsummer, as the gladioli are opening

Trestle Part 6: Second section complete

The larger, upper section of the trestle was completed last weekend and this weekend I finished up the lower section. I also applied sealant to the upper section today but will need to wait until the glue completely sets on the lower section before sealing it. And that should be tomorrow, given the hot, dry weather we're expecting the next few days.

I was very excited to learn this week that my new bridge is now on its way, so by the time it arrives I should have the trestle complete. Next weekend's blog post should show trains running again!

A view of the completed upper section.

A close up view showing how the track is resting on the three stringers. After I'm done with staining, I'll secure the track in place by attaching some of the ties to the middle stringer.

The lower trestle site, with track elevated in place to serve as a guide. As before, the first step is to arrange and sink bricks into the ground to serve as bent foundations. This section will only have six bents.

Here are the bents in place with bricks serving as temporary braces, and I've just glued down the stringer sections on top.

And here is the finished lower trestle. I removed the bridge and disassembled the track in preparation for staining.

The dahlias are all in full bloom now. This one is my current favorite.

And this is another favorite right now.

The dahlia's blooms stand over all the others at seven feet high. I had to hold the camera over my head to get this picture.

I don't recall seeing this before so this must be one of the new tubers I put in this year. It starts off bright lemon yellow and then fades to peach. I'm not a big fan of laciniated petals but I'll keep it as I like the color combo.

Trestle Part 5: First section complete

Trestle work continues on the PE&A. There were some weather delays due to an unusually wet June, especially as the rain seemed to coincide with the weekends. But summer is now in full swing with no rain in sight so work can move forward. The main section of the trestle, running between the two bridges, is now in place and about 90% complete.

I have to remind the reader that this is quite unusual to build a trestle with the track floating in place. But as I already had the track aligned exactly where I wanted it, both horizontally and vertically, it made sense for me to use that as a guide, and essentially build the trestle from the track down to the ground, rather than from the ground up.

I removed most of the PVC supports, leaving just a couple behind to hold up the track. I created a couple long temporary the same thickness as the stringers will be in order to hold the track just above the supports. I then spaced out bricks where each bent would go and partially buried each one so it was about ground level. This was tedious work to get them all level but it will provide a good foundation for the trestle. I did all this prep work last weekend.

This weekend I put the trestle together. I would first measure the distance from the track down to the foundation brick to the nearest 1/8" inch, then cut a bent to that height minus 3/4" for the stringers that will go on top of the bent and support the track. As I completed each bent, I would place it on the foundation and use two additional bricks as temporary braces to keep it in place and upright.

Once I was happy with the spacing and alignment, I started attaching the stringers on the top of the bents and supports on the sides, both front and back.

Something I learned from my earlier attempt is that I needed to treat each section of three stringers as a group rather than as three separate pieces. So I temporarily bound each section together with a bungee and used temporary spacers in between the stringers to keep them evenly spaced. The spacers will be knocked out once the glue on the stringers sets.

Yesterday I completed the first five sections.

The glue set over night and the first five sections were firmly bound together. This morning I removed the bricks and the bungees.

I then set up the bents for the next ten sections using the same process, proceeding one bent at a time from right to left. As I had a good process by now, work sped up and I was able to complete twice as much today as yesterday.

Here's another view of the work area in progress from a different angle.

And this final picture shows the work at the end of the day. I still need to add most of the cross bracing on the back side and finish up cross bracing on the lower tier on the front once the bricks are out of the way. After work tomorrow or the next day I'll remove the bricks and bungees, knock at the temporary stringer spacers, and continue work on the supports. 

Trestle Part 4: Starting to build it in place

It was a very busy weekend between some home repair projects, general yard work, and a trip to IKEA. But I was able to find some time to do a little work on the PE&A. In addition to finishing the retaining wall extension, I did some repair work on the box girder bridges and started building the trestle.

This the the yard junction, site of the retaining wall extension to replace the bricks.

After removing the track and scraping the clean gravel out of the way, I dug out enough soil to slide the first of the two new wall sections into place. Each one is offset just a few degrees.

Here is a reverse angle view showing both of the new sections in place with a brick at the end as an anchor which will be hidden from view.

This shows the finished wall, after back filling, covering with gravel and placing the track back in place. A viewer standing ten feet away now sees a gently curving wall following the curve of the track.  

A new fire lookout tower popped up on the PE&A.

Here's a picture of the lookout tower in progress. This was built from a kit and I finished it a couple weeks ago, but it hadn't made it outside until this weekend.

Another project was to pull out my box girder bridges for cleaning, repair and repainting. A few ribs had come off which needed replaced, and fortunately I still have plenty of styrene on hand. After repairs, I did some touch up painting on both box girders as will as my side girder bridge.

I've been experimenting with what lettering on the box girder bridges might look like. This is just a mock-up using paper letters; once I decide on a size and font I like I'll order some vinyl letters for a permanent solution.

I needed to build one more bridge pier 11 3/4" tall.

Here is the newest bridge pier in place with a board standing in for the missing bridge. You can see underneath the track I've placed markers about 8 1/2 inches apart where each bent will go.

Next I started building the trestle starting from the bridge over the stream bed. You can see here that I've partially buried a brick to support each bent. And I'm using the weight of bricks on top to help hold pieces in place while the glue sets.

Here is a close-up showing placement of the strings on top of the bents. The stringers are all 3/4" high, but the width varies as I'm using leftover wood scraps from another project.

I then added braces on both sides. At this point I began to think I've placed the bents too far apart. I'm also now questioning my plan of staggering the braces instead of lining them up. So I'm going to consider this a first draft; between now and next weekend I will think about what edits I want to make and I will likely rebuild this.

Trestle Part 3: Bridge piers

Progress continues on building the new trestle for the PE&A.I measured the length of the trestle and estimated I would need around 24 bents. So I made nine additional bents this weekend to add to the 15 I put together last weekend. I also spent some time ripping a whole bunch of 1/4" boards that I'll need to assemble the trestle. It is my least favorite task not only because it is so tedious, but because it requires a face mask, eye protection and ear protection. It's noisy and hot and stuffy, so I only want to do it on cool, rainy days. Fortunately that describes what Saturday was like.

I also put together two more panels for the retaining wall which leads up to the low point of the trestle. Depending on how the weather, next weekend I expect to install the retaining walls and the build the south trestle between the retaining wall and the bridge.

Nine new bents.

A big pile of 1/4" boards and a huge cloud of dust.

I'll be extending the stone retaining wall by two feet in order to replace these bricks.

I made the two one-foot wood frames for the retaining wall to accommodate the curve of the track here. Rather than using vertical supports like I did last time, I decided it would be easier if I used horizontal supports made from treated 2x2 pieces I had leftover from another project. The offset of the far left support will make sense during installation.

As I did before, I applied tile to the tops and entire sides of the wood frames. I will treat them this week so they'll be ready to install by the weekend.

And the final thing I did this weekend on the PE&A was build the bridge piers. When a wooden trestle includes a steel girder bridge span, there are typically two or more bents at each end, supporting both the bridge and the stringers that connect it to the next bent. Here are couple of photos of prototypes I found on the internet (example one, example two) that I used to help model my piers. I decided to use three bents for each pier, two of which will support the bridge, and third will be part of the trestle.

First I determined the height for each pier, 9 1/2" for the south pier and 12" for the north pier.

I also had to determine if I needed to offset the tops of the bents. My bridge is 3/4" thick, which by coincidence is exactly the same size as the wood I'm going to use for my stringers. Therefore all three bents would be exactly the same height. 

I marked the height on three bents and then cut off the extra length. I decided to switch to hand tools for this rather than using a table saw.

I then added bottom sills (also known as mud sills) and two more cross beams. These are for the 12" north pier.

Next I bundled them together using small bungee cords, then attached sills and cross boards on the sides.

Here in the north pier in place. You can't tell from this photo but the pier is resting on a brick as a foundation. I plan on placing each bent on a brick foundation rather than letting it rest directly on the soil.

And here is a photo showing the bridge with both piers in place at the end of the day.