It isn't too late, E-paw.

More work on 4 and 5 - there are 20 of the horizontal braces for each bent. I'm using a round file to make the ends of the horizontal pieces fit snugly against the vertical pipes. It's quite tedious and time consuming and I'll be glad to have this part done.

Geez, I have been working on the bents almost the entire weekend and still am not done with them!

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Just about calling it quits for the night.

In total, there are 9 bents. Bents 1, 2, 3, and 6 are complete. Bents 7, 8, and 9 just need weathering. And ents 4 and 5 are still under construction but getting there as shown:

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This bridge is absolutely B-BAD TO THE BONE! I just picked up the Aug issue of Railroad Model Craftsman and there is an article on building a bridge with bents like yours. I thought you might get a few pointers on how to make them, but I think they could use a few pointers from you! I will be stealing, er using your methods for rusting up my oil tank on my Summer Challenge Woodshack project.

Thanks for the heads-up Richard. I'll have to pick up a copy of that magazine. Also, I appreciate your kind comments.

Just to give some background on the Houston area bayous and the issues we have been dealing with for decades, I found a bit of info on the flood control project that caused the railroad bridge's original concrete footers to be up in the air. Hope someone finds this at least a little interesting!

The Sims Bayou flood control project actually started back in the 1990s. Houston does have a bad flooding history, a decent rain will put many streets under water, and a real good rain has been known to actually put floodwaters up into houses in the low-lying areas. As such, flood control projects are pretty routine.

These flood control projects have typically consisted of digging miles of wide, straight channel and paving it over with impermeable concrete so that rainwater ran out to sea quickly. Problem is, this has the effect of "sterilizing" the bayou and leaves them pretty unattractive:

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A Houston area architect, Kevin Shanley, had a different idea of what could be done. He designed a plan to improve stormwater drainage along Sims Bayou that would change the way these projects were looked at. He envisioned a more natural waterway which would be an aesthetic asset instead of an eyesore. Instead of the solid concrete basin, he proposed using a concrete lattice that would still allow vegetation to grow on the bayou slopes.

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He also thought that the bayou should meander like a river and occasionally widen into large detention areas, where water could be held safely and allowed to drain more slowly.

Water detention areas under construction:

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The Flood Control engineers were intrigued by the new plan, and when they ran sophisticated flood-control models, they found that Shanley's plan worked better to control flooding than their original proposal. The result was a more natural, pleasant watercourse. (Impermeable concrete is still used under the bridges for erosion control as seen in the photos of the bridge I am building.)

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And here’s a photo of the bayou after Hurricane Ike. The bayou is full, but the homes along the drainage were safe from flooding.

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So ... this Houston area architect, Kevin Shanley ... he is lauded as some kind of genius saviour? Or thanked and forgotten.

The man was really thinking! The "meandering" and "retention" areas make incredible sense! A straight line would "encourage the water" (yeah, I actually said that) to move more and more quickly the farther it went, causing more and more destruction towards the end of its mad dash to the Gulf!

Way to go, Kevin Shanley, AIA ... that's usin' the ol' noggin for more that a hat rack!

biL, the shame is that Shanley came along too late for some of the bayous that cut through Houston - miles and miles of sterile waterways hardly fit for bird nor beast. We could have had some beautiful waterways extending through the housing and business areas, but no, nothing but concrete channels. Luckily, some of the bayous are still in a more natural state, and hopefully when the time comes to redo these, saner heads will prevail.

Here's a pic of Brays Bayou, a major waterway which goes through some of our more affluent residential and business areas, including the medical center and Rice University.

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And here is a photo of some flooding which occurred in 2001 in a tropical storm:

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Now back to the model... construction on the bents is complete, some of them still need weathering, photos to come...

Alright, BACK TO THE BRIDGE!!!!

Will began the final weathering right NOW!!!

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P5se Camelback Wrote:Way to go, Kevin Shanley, AIA ... that's usin' the ol' noggin for more that a hat rack!

Or probably just realized mother nature meanders streams for a reason . The US Army corps of engineers developed stream modeling software called HEC-RAS, and Mr. Shanley probably just played around with the software little bit and realized natural channels are usually pretty darned effective at moving water and sediment. Things like artificial levees and seawalls usually just make the problem worse downstream or more costly at a later date. My mostly uneducated guess is a large reason for the Houston flooding problems had to do with the development of impervious surfaces (parking lots and rooftops) that allow for rapid and total runoff that quickly overwhelmed the existing channel system. In other words, upstream development of roads and parking lots created flooding and erosion problems for those who lived downstream. The artificial meanders not only look more appealing, but they help to slow things down and allow for some infiltration, sparing the downstream folks from the effects of rapid runoff.

Kevin, although I knew about the issue of fast run-off, never looked at it this way until you mentioned it. As I talked about earlier, one of our problems is that many rain storms (hurricanes and tropical storms excepted) come in from the north heading south. All the waterways also flow south. So the rain storms start filling the headwaters, and as that water rushes south down the bayous, the rain storm follows it dumping more water onto the expanses of current parking lots, then into the rapidly rising streams, and before you know it, for example, the major hospitals in our world class medical center have their basements flooded! Now, that one kept our electricians busy for a couple years as all the major electrical gear and generators had been in the basements, and every hospital had everything moved up a couple floors just to be safe.

By having the retention areas and winding bayous, the rising waters don't get to Houston as quick as they used too, which allows the run-off from the rain to head on out to the Gulf before we get the extra whammy of the runoff from the north.

My point, exactly Kevin! Except, Isn't it the Army Corps of Engineers that always lays out straight, slope sided concrete "drain spouts" ... like in Los Angeles, and apparently in Houston? Thanks to the other guy with the same name, Mr. Shanley, a better solution was developed.

I must admit to being a bit biased, but I do believe that Architects and Designers often design things quite similar to what Engineers design, it's just that their designs are often more pleasing to the eye (and for that reason, sometimes cost more as they haven't included on their list of design criteria the word "Cheap.")

First, the real bents 4 and 5:

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And the model bents - base coat on the concrete and a general touch-up on the rust using the stippling technique with Apple Barrel golden brown craft paint. The pipes had originally been done using the hair spray - brush scraping technique we did earlier.

Next step on the concrete is to use some colored pencils to match the existing, then some washes, then powder. On the pipes, some gray paint will be used to blot out the rust that isn't on the prototype, then colored pencils will be used to darken the rust in the places as on the real thing.

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Didn't do much more, but here is a family pic, with members in various states of finish. G'night all!

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Wow, Gary! That's some nice work! This is going to be one remarkable bridge!

And a lovely Family Portrait!

What a good lookin' group!
Ralph