Greenwood Underpass

[mountaingoatgreg]

With all the great bridges that have been posted here I have decided to take a crack at scratchbuilding one too. The bridge is atually an underpass with 4 lanes of traffic under it and three tracks going across the top. From what I have been able to gather the bridge was built sometime between 1915 and 1925. The interesting thing about this structure is that it is three bridges side by side that are tied together to allow for an access road on top. This underpass is located in Bend Oregon along the SP&S Oregon Trunk. The structure had a long history well documented in the local papers about having many vehicles running into it. The lowest clearance was only 10'8" which many an out of town truck driver found the hard way. At one point there was talk of painting the bridge like the mouth of a tiger and hanging lights in front of it. They opted to just hang the lights until a project in early 1980's to lower the road to meet federal highway requirments. At one point in the 70's they equipped the approach with telltales, flashing lights, a photocell that would ring bells if it was tripped and large signs infomring drives to take the detour route.

Althoug the structure itself is not overlly complicated having to build three of the same bridges will warrant some jig work. I am looking forward to the challenge and have started by doing some pencil drawings which has allowed me to start picking up materials for the project. Unfortunatly the LHS has a very limited selection of scratchbuilding material, so I have to wait for my special order. I was able to grab a handful of the needed material but will wait until I get the majority of the goods to make sure I did my math right!!

[e-paw]

How about a pic or two Goat???

[mountaingoatgreg]

:needpics:


Ok here are some

[P5se Camelback]

AHHHhhhh!

The magic of Fomecor® mock ups!

I'm lovin' it already!!!!

[mountaingoatgreg]

Bil,

I need to take better pictures....the white things are .030 styrene laminated together to make up the retaining walls.
I guess I am going to have to hurry up and get these scribbbed and painted a concrete color to reduce confustion!!!

[P5se Camelback]

Damn! Wrong again!

That's three times already this year!

This is going to be a banner year!
... that's not good!

[Gary S]

Very cool Greg. Any pics of the real bridge?

I'll be following along closely - you'd never guess, but I like bridges.

[mountaingoatgreg]

Gary,

This is from ODOT website


This is a Bend Bulletin photo from an article talking about the flashing lights being added

[P5se Camelback]

Wow! That looks almost like one of Gary's Houston-area bridges!

I'm looking forward to this build ... I'm starting to like bridges myself!

I've subscribed and bookmarked this thread!

[mountaingoatgreg]

Thanks guys for the words of encouragement....

*WARNING***WARNING***WARNING***WARNING***WARNING***WARNING***WARNING***
This thread will not move ANYWEHRE as fast as Gary S. bridges....

Also, the LHS here has little to no scracthbuilding materiasl, as soon as I get my order of scale lumber I will be able to start the construction of the bridge deck. For now I will keep working on the subbridge (is that a word) and get the reataining walls and sidewalks worked in...

[ngaugingnut]

Yay, another bridge construction thread!

When I one day expand my layout I'll try to get in some more bridges. I have three currently on my small 5' x 2.5' layout! Will definitely refer back to all of the bridge threads when I'm ready to do so.

[mountaingoatgreg]

I got some of the parts necessary to build the deck and decided since I had to build three of the same types of decks to build a jig. This jig still has a ways to go but the wood fits so far. Next I will be adding pieces so the wood does not slide out, also braces to hold the stringers in places while the glue dries.

[mountaingoatgreg]

Back to the drawing board a little...

After doing some more research I found out that the standard bridge tie is 8" X 8" so I am building a new jig and preping new ties. I did make some progress on the bridge beams and was able to paint some and test fit them. I am pretty happy with the overall look of them and with weathering they will really look good, I hope...

[Gary S]

With the mountain backdrop and the scratchbuilt bridge, that is going to be a great scene on your layout. What did you make the beam out of?

[mountaingoatgreg]

Gary,

I am getting all the miles I can out of that backdrop...
This scene will be on the other side of the layout but it sure beats the unpainted unfinished corner it will be sitting....

The beam is from Evergreen, painted with my special blend...