Road bridges and a culvert

More bridge work.

I have long been looking at ways to cover tunel portholes on the layout or places where trains enter and exit the main layout. I have been lucky enough to obtain a few road bridges from friends fallen flag layouts over the last few years and have been storing them up.

This weekend I spent a bit of time cutting and modifying them to fit places where I wanted to cover holes in backdrops etc.

First up a bridge on the south side of Cooperville. There is a corner location and I did not put in a curved backdrop. So a bridge at a 45 degree angle should do the trick over the TOFC interchange. I think this one came from John Fahey

Next up I wanted to cover the access to the north creek branch where there is a train usually staged.

Again, I cut a bridge given to me to fit the space. I think this one came from John Fahey

Next up a bridge over the middle of Port Henry. Not prototypical  for the location but wanted to break up the scene a bit. This one cant from Barry Davies. I have set this one back a little bit to stop it from being knocked by operators.

Then a bridge over the North bound main line as the train enters the 1 turn helix. I cut up 1 long bridge to make this one and the next one. This one is from John Fahey.

Then I used a small part of the previous bridge to make this short scenery block.

This is the 1 turn helix heading south to Port Henry.

Then lastly a small culvert is placed on the North End of Fairhaven.

Lots of bridge work both road and rail this weekend. I have found I need more cars.. So need to see what I can find.

More Bridges

Mainline between Cooperville and North Staging

Since the bridge install at Cooperville, I have been planning and kit bashing a few bridges to be installed on the main line between Cooperville and North staging.

The first bridge is an Atlas code 55 truss bridge with a ME 40ft girder extension. I think this bridge was given to me by Barry Davies and came off the now fallen flag Thompson River Canyon built by Rod and Vic.

The second bridge is a new Atlas code 55 truss bridge un modified.

The third bridge is a combination of a ME 80ft girder bridge span, a Kato truss bridge turned upside down and modified and then a ME  40ft girder bridge span.

All bridges have been air brushed with anthracite grey and then with a light dusting of burnt umber. The track and ties have been painted with my usual olive drab colour. With this track I used a micro brush.

The supports are kit bashed from an Atlas stone arch bridge.The supports are the same colour as the bridges (for now). More weathering to come on those. They are all easily removed at this point in time.

I think this makes a large difference to the look of the upper level. I have also reduced the height of the front fascia and the foam to give a better view of the trains.

I'm not 100% complete on the height of the foam base along the back of the track as I want it to look like the part of the line that runs along the edge of Lake Champlain in up state New York. So more thinking to be done there.

With the hot wire cutter in my hand, I decided that the large mountain on the single turn helix between Port Henry and Plattsburgh needed to be reduced in height and cut out the vertical groves. Here is the update to that scene.

 Stay tuned for the next update.

Cooperville Bridge install

 Time to make some cuts

I have been thinking about and planning to install some bridges along the top deck of the layout for some time. The old saying of measure twice cut once also blended into procrastination for some time.

Today I took the plunge and am happy with the result.

I used a 2 track Atlas code 55 girder bridge. As the track levels are slightly different in this area due to the main line being 2 mm higher than the loop track, I had to slightly modify the bridge to enable the difference in height. The mod was fairly simple and it all clicked back together.

I also cut some height off the front fascia and also pruned the foam that sits between the fascia and the track. I also was not that happy with the finish on the foam at the back of the main line. So cut that down also.

I need to get some 3mm MDF to place under the bridge to form the river bed. As we are in lockdown (end of week 7) in Melbourne, I will wait until I can go to Bunnings to get some. I could click and collect, but it s not that urgent.

Here are a few progress shots.

Now to get the brown paint out on the foam.

Now this is done, I will move further along the top deck towards North Staging that is effectively around lake Champlain to add some more bridges.

Stay tuned.

Tour of the layout from a cab level point of view

 Cab rides, well kind of..

I have been messing around with the idea of getting a small camera to put on a flat car.  found a cheap one on ebay and pulled the trigger. The results are not up to GoPro standards but still ok and gives the viewer a feel for the layout.

The signal aspects are a little hard to see from the camera. 

Here is a video from south staging to North staging.

Here is the view from North staging to South staging.

Now starting to plan where to place bridges on the upper level.