Wood Trestle Bridge

Edavillenut

Member
i want to make a WOOD TRESTLE BRIDGE for my HO scale layout but i don know ho to do what i want or if it would of been done that way. i have a straight track in the back and another track in front that both ends are curves how would i go about making the bents for there. look at the crude drawing the area in the red box is where the TRESTLE is going to go
 

Attachments

  • untitled.jpg
    untitled.jpg
    11 KB · Views: 344
Shawn, how far apart are the two tracks? If they are double mainline width and I was the engineer in charge of building I'd probably treat it as one trestle, using one deck.
At each end though I would build them as seperate trestle's untill the two tracks straighten out. It looks like you'll have to stagger the bents in this area. On the curved track my bents would follow the radius untill a convenient spot where the two trestles could turn into one.
If this was done in the real world it might require "beafier" bents or more of them or both.
But it maybe just as well I'm not a civil engineer. :p

t.
 

Edavillenut

Member
they are 2" on center. the way you said to do it is how i thought i would have to do it. but wanted to see how someone else would do it.

thanks
 

NYCentral

Member
I am a Civil Engineer and that is exactly how I would do it if the ends are at least 1" farther apart (50%) of the normal track seperation. It will also make for an interesting looking structure.
 

Edavillenut

Member
in a book i have it says the virtical timbers were 12"x12" for a singal track. but what about a double track would the be 24"x24":confused:
 

billk

Active Member
I'd make them about the same (12X12) or maybe a little larger (16X16), but I wouldn't double them.
 

Edavillenut

Member
ok i staretd to build the trestel tonight. i built a jig and actully was able to build two bents. photos will becoming tommarow:D . but anyways i did not prepaint/stain the wood because last time i tried to build a wood bridge i prestaind it using a MINWAX jacobean stain and the glue dident hold. i am using elemers wood glue is the what i hould be using. and how should i paint it what colors.
 

Mike R

Member
As far as staining before gluing, it can be successful if you stain the original pieces of wood strips BEFORE cutting them to finish lengths..then you have clean wood where the glue is needed.
This works fine with transparent stains like Minwax. I generally put the stain in a wine bottle, dip in the wood and wipe it down the length with a cloth, then turn around and do the other end.
For solid stains, like Olympic deck stain, you can brush or wipe it on without getting stain on the ends if careful.
I use carpenter's yellow glue for indoor trestles, and LePage's Weathergrip for outdoor.
Good luck / Mike
 

Edavillenut

Member
my bridge has a name now. the bridge is now in MEMORIAm of Ward Kimball. who died at the age of 88 on July 8, 2002. for thoses of you that dont know who Ward Kimabll was you have all seen some of his work he worked for Disney he was in animation he created the character Jiminy Cricket . and was a big toy train enthusiast. He will be missed:(
 

spitfire

Active Member
I've used the alcohol/india ink method for staining wood. I usually apply this before gluing, mainly because anywhere there's glue, the stain will not "take". I've never had any trouble with adhesion using white glue, carpenter's glue or CA.


cheers
Val
 
Shawn hope it goes well, It's going to be an interesting looking trestle for sure. Wish I was build something like it. BuTTT am commited to another bridge project at the moment which has about a dozen plaster casts to be made. (boring)

The stain I use most of the time is the gunk that has settled to the bottom of my thinner jar. Then after everything is glued in place I'll had pastel chalk to change the color a bit.

t.
 

Edavillenut

Member
i am putting on the braces and i wont some kind of glue that will dry fast i have been using yellow glue and it take sto long would hot glue work?
 
Shawn,
If I were doing it my choice would be gap filling "thick" CA glue. Just a tiny drop on the parts to be joined and almost instant adhesion.

t.
 

jimnrose

Member
Val/Mike & CO.
I'm also starting to put together tressle bridges and would like help on selectiing the stain. I was going to use a walnut wood stain but what is the advantage of the alcohol/ink mix? Also what is the mix ratio? Thanks, Jim
 
Originally posted by jimnrose
Val/Mike & CO.
I'm also starting to put together tressle bridges and would like help on selectiing the stain. I was going to use a walnut wood stain but what is the advantage of the alcohol/ink mix? Also what is the mix ratio? Thanks, Jim

I generally use 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons of India ink per bottle of rubbing alcohol. The advantage is that the resulting stain on stripwood and dowels closely resembles naturally weathered wood. It's an important part of my overall weathering techniques. I'll post a photo below that shows how it looks on a trestle. (My apologies to those of you who have already seen this photo elsewhere.)

The use of alcohol/ink has been around for many years. The first time I ran across it was in a Jack Work article in MR back in the early '70's (?) I don't know who actually "invented" the technique, though.

I also use stains made from acrylic craft paints, India ink, and water to stain stripwood for structures. I'll post the "formula" here if anyone is interested.
 

Attachments

  • shay20-4x6.jpg
    shay20-4x6.jpg
    72.7 KB · Views: 192
Originally posted by Edavillenut
i am putting on the braces and i wont some kind of glue that will dry fast i have been using yellow glue and it take sto long would hot glue work?

Shawn, I wouldn't try to build a trestle with hot glue. You're just asking for a lot of burned fingers and frustration.

If you are looking for a fast-setting wood glue, try Elmer's Exterior ("waterproof") glue. It's brown colored and sets up much faster than their white or yellow glues.
 
Forgot I had this one...

Here's another example of a trestle stained with the ink/alcohol mix. This pic was scanned from an old photo of a trestle I built years ago, so the details aren't real clear. But it should give you a fairly good idea of the weathered appearance that you can achieve.
 

Attachments

  • thimblewood copy.jpg
    thimblewood copy.jpg
    92.5 KB · Views: 188

Mike R

Member
If you have glued the wood together in it's 'raw' state, you may find that any transparent or semi-transparent wood stain will not 'take' to any areas where any glue residue has seeped out.
This is also true of the alcohol/ink mix also, or any other mineral-based coating.
There are a couple of alternatives:
If you stain with a walnut mineral stain, you can touch up any glue residue spots with an acrylic Gel 'craft stain', in walnut. available from art stores or department stores.Deco Art makes it, maybe Plaid does too.It comes in 2 oz. plastic bottles, and can be thinned with water.
Another alternative is to use a "solid stain", like Olympic or Sears deck stain.This covers well, but you lose the grain...thing is, the grain isn't scale anyway.You thin the solid stain with water to make it easier to apply. If you want weathering, you can highlight the wood with any mineral OR water based paint after it's dry.
I recommend Floquil mineral paint or Polly S water paint for this weathering..you can get greys, browns,etc., and mix to suit.
You can also weather over the solid stain, or the transparent stain with the alcohol/ink mix.
Good luck and regards / Mike
 

Edavillenut

Member
what i did is i started to build the trestel without staining the wood. i tried staining the wood and i had problems with the glue not holding. so what i am trying and i think it looks good what i did was i bought a bottel of polly scale railroad tie brown and diluted with water 50/50 and after it is built i am spraying it on with an air brush. but the paint is $4.00 for 1 oz so i sprayed full strenght paint on a peice of styrene and am going to bring it to the paint hardware store and have a quart of paint made to macthe the sample. i will try to post a picture of what i have done tonight
 
Top