Bridges to nowhere

As I moved through track alignment, and important consideration is the bridges that break up the scene visually.  Peter Denny and Iain Rice are both believers in “framing” a scene, and to that end there are two bridges at Port Dinllaen that cut the whole length up into roughly thirds. Without anything else to hand, some plywood cutoffs are roughly the right height…

One bridge is at the throat, dividing off the local goods yard and the MPD(s).  It has two oversized abutment “models” here and will be 6″ wide (for a 30′ roadway). The props will be replaced by steel bridge supports which will allow such a long bridge to be built of out plate girders. The total length of the bridge is 17″ or 108ft in OO. I will either build it out of willis vari-girder kits with micro-engineering support kits. IMG_0326

The other is at the apex of the passenger station, cutting it and the import/export goods warehouses off form the complex of intersecting tracks that allow access to the platforms and good tracks from the three lines (double mainline to Pont Llyfni and single line to Tan-Y-Graig) and the LMR/NER MPD. It is formed with three sections the spane on the left will be braced with a central support almost exactly at halfway point. The two spans on the left are not quite in line and so form a squewed pair. In the central position there is a ramp down simulated to the forecourt of the station/hotel complex at the head of the dock. (Yes there is an annoying kink in the foreground track to platform 4 that will need attention… ). These will all be plate girder bridges. The one on the left will need some extra strengthening, no doubt when compared to the ones on the left due to the different span lengths.

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Details of the span lengths for the second bridge. One is 8″, one is 4″, and one is 11″ – propped at the 6″ mark. (48, 24, 66 scale feet).
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