Bridges

Hi Everybody,

As I said in the last posting that I have some photos to show you. They didn't scan as well as I had hoped but they are still good enough. These photos were taken in the late 80's. Sense then, the railroad has gone threw some changes. Sadly, the mill for which mine was modeled after is gone. The siding that went down to street level is still in place and the area that the mill sat on is now a transshipment lot. None of the changes included the bridges.

The first photo is at the south end of the three deck girder bridge north of Gilbertville. This is the bridge that mine was modeled from. Looking at the second photo shows the shoes on the mid-river pier under both girder ends. It was a long walk in from the grade crossing that the railroad crosses before diving into wooded country that follows the river to the river crossing.  I haven't decided yet on what kind of pier and abutment arrangement I'll use. I don't know when the concrete pier was put in but I would guess shortly after the 1937 flooding that nearly wiped the Ware River valley off the map. The B&M's Central Mass branch took heavy damage to the point were the trackage south of Ware To Wheelwright north of Gillbertville was abandoned and trackage rights were obtained from the Boston & Albany to run on the Ware River branch to Wheelwright.

The next bridge going north is the second crossing of the Ware River. It is identical to the one north of Gilbertville but is two decks instead of three. As you can see on the north abutment in the second photo that the concrete has had some weathering to its edges. You can see in the first photo that the bridge uses the same type of shoe on both bridges.

                                                             

There is one more bridge that I'd like to share with you. After the mill siding and the mill are in place, the next bit of trackage will be at the front of the layout. The road that runs out from between the two mill buildings come straight to the edge of the layout. This means another bridge is call for. And it just so happens that the road passes under the north switch of the run around at Barre. This bridge will be a thru-girder with a concrete bottom so the bridge will be a ballasted bridge which I think would be more appropriate under the switch that a open deck would be.

Back before WWII there were three set of tracks running along side of each other leading up to the bridge. On the opposite side of the branch was were the B&M trackage was. It too crossed the highway on their own bridge. The third railroad was the the trolley from Palmer. It was located on the nearside of the branch. Before getting here the trolley track left the railroad embankment and crossed under the railroads in the street and continued on to Ware.

I show you this bridge as it will be what I copy for the over pass. The abutments will be of cut stone. There are many examples of stone railroad bridge abutments all around Western Mass to choose from. I'm thinking of making them using plaster castings.

Hope you enjoyed some of the history of the area of country I live in.

See ya next time.

The first project is finished......Well..almost

Hi Everybody,

Yesterday, I sat down at the work bench and started spiking the rail down on the bridge deck. it was slow at first, figuring out the best way to place the tie plates and spike rail. I got about 3/4's of both rails spiked to tie plates when I quit for the night. This morning I picked up where I left off last night.

There is still some more work to do on it. Paint the rails and tie plates, add N-B-W's and some weathering using weathering powders. The straight pins you see are there holding the girders in place. Not sure if I'm going to use them. My freind Phil (you remember Phil) did this when he built the bridge. Good thing too because I had to make a new deck. for the P48.

I was thinking of replacing the shoes for something else, but the only ones I found are made by Keil-Line, but what he has are for the really big thru-truss bridge, not this little country line plate-girder bridge. So I got out my photos of the Ware River branch and checked to see what the Central had done on these bridges. When I go into work this week I will scan them and will share them with you in the next posting, which will be more likely to be on the bridge photos.

See ya next time.

Couldn't wait any longer

Hi Everybody,

That's right. Can't wait forever, so today I gave the old eyes another chance. It must have been eye strain the other day, because I was able to focus on the pliers and spike. So I got out the bridge deck and stated spiking down rail.

I've only gotten the rails roughed in. It's been a long time since I last spiked down rail. And it was much simpler too. On2 doesn't require tie plates, so the use of tie plates is a skill that has to be worked at. Won't take long either. I think it will be easier at the layout. With the track so high off the floor it will be closer to eye level and I won't have to bend down all that much. That's one reason I chose to build it high. And that boxcar rolls so smooth it's unbelievable. I don't know if it's that the wheels are turned rather than the way commerical wheel sets are made or if it's the prototype contour or both but it does roll smoothly.

Also during the week an order from Micro Mark which contained some casting resin and a pouring ladle for pouring low-temp metal for car weight arrived. There are some parts that I have made  patterns for and made the casting molds for. When I was modeling On2 I had to make parts like body bolsters. So I made them to the prototype and with the cars so low to the ground, nobody could see them. One pattern I made is for a replacement body bolster for the Lionel PS-1 boxcars. It's more than likely that it is totally incorrect for the car, but I'm not all that concerned about the under body of the cars. If I start detailing every car to the ninth degree, I'll never get anything done. Beside, I believe more people look at the exterior of the car than getting down low enough to see the underbody.

So the arrival of the casting resin means I'll be starting to build some rolling stock. When I do, I'll let you know there is something to look at. And with that I'll say,

See ya next time.

Boxcars and books

Hi Everybody,

The B&O wagon-top boxcar arrived Friday. Take a look.

Looks real nice. You can't tell very good but I've swapped out the Weaver trucks for a set of Rich Yoders P48 Bettendorf trucks. The couplers will be replaced soon with Protocrafts couplers.

In the November 1982 issue of Mainline Modeler (sad day when Bob ended publication) is an article on the M-53 along with a set of plans. As Gene Deimling has said that as good as this car is, there are still items that need corrections or addition to. One item is the lower door guide. It is not correct for the Youngstown door. Because of the factory paint I'm thinking of just leaving them as is. However, one item that is missing and creates a hole in the looks of the car just above the couplers. In the latest issue of O Scale Trains is a review of the car. One of the accompanying photos is of the Duryea center sill at the end of the car. Clearly in the photo are two guide plates that are riveted to the bottom of the end over the outside edges of the center sill where there are two rails that these guides have passing threw them. It's an easy add-on.

I hit the jackpot last night. Nooo, not that one. I won on eBay a pristine January 1959 Equipment Register. 59 is a hard year to find equipment registers for. Hope none of you folks were bidding on it. These books are really great for assembling your freight roster. If you have never seen one or doesn't think it'll help you. Well think again grasshopper. At the time of date the register lists every operating railroad in the country with every car in that railroads roster. It won't tell you weather a 40ft boxcar is an ACF or a Pullman-Standard but does give basic dimensions. The register also include interchange points on the railroad and with who the interchange is with. If for nothing else, you can look to see if that certain car was on the railroad at that time or not. And even though I'm modeling the fall, January is close enough.

Went and got the eyes checked yesterday. Now to find the glasses I want. I'm now getting antsy to get laying rail. Would also like to start building some rolling stock too.

See ya next time.