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.