22 replies to this topic

[SavaTheAggie]

I put together a tablescrap bit of Train Testle Bridge today.  I thought I'd share.



Complete description on the Flickr Photo Page, as well as the gallery with three other angles.

--Tony

[Davey]

Nice work Tony!  It really looks great and conveys the wooden trestle vibe nicely.  I'm looking forward to seeing a larger version with one of your gorgeous trains traversing it.

-Dave

[SlyOwl]

Hey Tony, looks great! I'm a big fan of tilted brick building, and it's good to hear it's durable too.

Pity 1x10/12 tiles don't exist...

[Captain Genaro]

This looks very nice. Do you plan to do it in brown to make it look more wooden?

[Leergut]

Captain Genaro, on Nov 2 2009, 01:06 AM, said:

This looks very nice. Do you plan to do it in brown to make it look more wooden?

I remember the lyrics of a song ( Do I ? ):
"I see a wooden bridge and I want it painted black" - Rolling Stones

Stefan :)

[MetroiD]

Tilted pillars for the win! What a lovely job you've done there - well done Tony! I suppose it can hold the weight of a regular train without any problems, but I could still almost imagine turning down the speed once the train starts approaching the bridge.

Nice idea and brilliant execution!

[zouave]

I really like the tilted design. The tiles really improve it's appearance. Nice job.

[aawsum]

As said before, the tilted design looks really great. What I like about the design is that the train can run freely while it does not mather if is 6 wide or 10 wide

[Captain Zuloo]

Great work SavvaTheAggie! I love the way you just say it's a tablescrap - if I built something that cool, I'd claim it as a full MOC! Well done, how do you plan to elevate trains to cross this?

[crabboy329]

Thats not a table scrap thats fantastic. well done
i love the tiltedness of it but i am not used to this kind of railway bridge. i am used to massive stone bridges.

cb

Edited by crabboy329, 02 November 2009 - 06:31 PM.

[SavaTheAggie]

Cyclone Breezerider, on Nov 1 2009, 05:19 PM, said:

Nice work Tony!  It really looks great and conveys the wooden trestle vibe nicely.  I'm looking forward to seeing a larger version with one of your gorgeous trains traversing it.

-Dave

Thanks much!  TexLUG isn't well known for huge, complicated layouts, let alone layouts with variable terrain height, so as far as my bridge being part of a huge layout that may not happen for quite some time.  But, I do have a plan to build the bridge taller (maybe) and longer for the purposes of putting it in the Houston LEGO store's Window Into The Community display window.  As for the bridge as it is now, I can't say just yet... ;)

SlyOwl, on Nov 1 2009, 05:20 PM, said:

Hey Tony, looks great! I'm a big fan of tilted brick building, and it's good to hear it's durable too.

Pity 1x10/12 tiles don't exist...

Thanks much!  It doesn't really bother me that the 1x10 plates have studs - they're deep inside the superstructure and if the bridge was attached to something at either end you'd hardly notice, I think.

Captain Genaro, on Nov 1 2009, 06:06 PM, said:

This looks very nice. Do you plan to do it in brown to make it look more wooden?

Thanks much!  I have no plans to make it brown.  Real bridges use lumber treated with creosote, which makes them last longer.  A brand new bridge would certainly look just as black as my bridge.  Only older bridges, where the sun has bleached the treated lumber and it has not been re-treated would not be black, and would probably look more grey or dark brown than anything else.  Since black is cheaper than dark brown or even regular brown, my personal choice is black.

Leergut, on Nov 1 2009, 06:39 PM, said:

I remember the lyrics of a song ( Do I ? ):
"I see a wooden bridge and I want it painted black" - Rolling Stones

Stefan :)

Too late.  :)

TheOtters, on Nov 1 2009, 07:37 PM, said:

Tilted pillars for the win! What a lovely job you've done there - well done Tony! I suppose it can hold the weight of a regular train without any problems, but I could still almost imagine turning down the speed once the train starts approaching the bridge.

Nice idea and brilliant execution!

Thanks much!  To be honest, since this bridge would be a straight bridge, there wouldn't be any need to slow the train down.  There is very little wobble or sway in the bridge, and what is there is only because either end of the bridge isn't attached to anything.  Once it's installed on a layout I suspsect it'll act just as well as any other section of track.

A curved bridge, however... might pose some problems at high speed.

zouave, on Nov 1 2009, 07:44 PM, said:

I really like the tilted design. The tiles really improve it's appearance. Nice job.

Thanks much!  In practice I'd probably only tile the outermost plates, leaving any internal supports studded to just cut down on costs.  A full sized bridge would be so complex to look at you'd probably never notice otherwise unless you really studied it.

aawsum, on Nov 2 2009, 04:03 AM, said:

As said before, the tilted design looks really great. What I like about the design is that the train can run freely while it does not mather if is 6 wide or 10 wide

Thanks much!  Yup, that certainly is a big selling point for me on this design, though I wonder if a bridge such as this could support a steam engine as massive as an Allegheny.

Captain Zuloo, on Nov 2 2009, 08:08 AM, said:

Great work SavvaTheAggie! I love the way you just say it's a tablescrap - if I built something that cool, I'd claim it as a full MOC! Well done, how do you plan to elevate trains to cross this?

Thanks much!  Well... there's no detail to the bridge, really - no lead up, no ground detail underneath, plus I'm not even done working on it - it's hardly finished.  So, as a work in progress, I call it a tablescrap.  I don't have a layout of my own, so I have to take other steps to use bridges, and that's all I'm going to say on the subject... for now.  ;)

crabboy329, on Nov 2 2009, 12:29 PM, said:

Thats not a table scrap thats fantastic. well done
i love the tiltedness of it but i am not used to this kind of railway bridge. i am used to massive stone bridges.

cb

Thanks much!  Not a lot of monolithic stone bridges around here... heck, in East Texas there isn't a lot of stone to begin with.  People make due with what they have, and around here wood is cheap and plentiful.  

--Tony

[SavaTheAggie]

Just a little update.  I've begun working on a larger version of my trestle bridge.  While the resulting prototype was a success, it's proven too parts intensive to continue, so I will be going with a shorter design to save on parts.  It should end up being somewhere between the original design and this one.



--Tony

[lightningtiger]

Nice work, love to see it completed 'SavaTheAggie' !

[SavaTheAggie]

I built a segment of my third bridge design last night, and I'm very happy with it.  It's got a good height/part ratio and looks really slick.  It's taller than the original version, while containing the extra elements of the taller version without being too excessively part intensive.



And for those who are curious, I took a picture of a strength test I performed.  



I won't be able to start building the full, final version of the bridge until I get the terrain built, but I'll take pictures when I get it done.  

--Tony

[SavaTheAggie]

I've taken my trestle bridge design further, creating a taller, more realistic and fluid looking design.


Trestle Bridge A-Frames by SavaTheAggie, on Flickr

Of course at 22 1x1x5 bricks per A-frame, compared to 14 per A-Frame of the original, it can tear up your brick supply very quickly.


Tall Trestle Bridge Assembly by SavaTheAggie, on Flickr

It has proven to be just as strong (or stronger) as the original.


Tall Trestle Bridge Strength Test by SavaTheAggie, on Flickr

--Tony

[crabboy329]

Wow a brige that works . Yeah it does look a lot better now its taller. But how far are you going to push its strength ? Also how many of these modules do you have?

Thanks, CB

Edited by crabboy329, 07 November 2010 - 09:11 PM.

[The Yellow Brick]

Excellent bridge you've made SavatheAggie. The design and the strength of it is just Amazing

[peterab]

SavaTheAggie, on 07 November 2010 - 08:54 PM, said:

Tall Trestle Bridge Strength Test by SavaTheAggie, on Flickr

--Tony

That's a very brave strength test. I'd stick to milk jugs. I'd hate to see your cathedral needing a rebuild

Nice bridge by the way. I'd love to include a trestle in my layout but it just doesn't fit the time or location I've chosen  

[private_lego]

peterab, on 08 November 2010 - 01:18 PM, said:

That's a very brave strength test. I'd stick to milk jugs. I'd hate to see your cathedral needing a rebuild

Nice bridge by the way. I'd love to include a trestle in my layout but it just doesn't fit the time or location I've chosen  

True, this is more a balancing test.
I always used boxes of sugar or salt. Nice compact, easy to use and in different sizes (0.25 up to 1kg)

A bridge has past the test, for me, when it can hold 3 kg on its weakest point for one hour.
This is about double the weight of a loc and 2 large MOC cars.

My largest bridge so far was a 96 studs span, build out of only 1x4 plates.
http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?i=962208

[SavaTheAggie]

crabboy329, on 07 November 2010 - 09:10 PM, said:

Wow a brige that works . Yeah it does look a lot better now its taller. But how far are you going to push its strength ? Also how many of these modules do you have?

Thanks, CB

I'm running low on parts for a "tall" version, but I was able to build a version of the "medium trestle bridge" in three 32 stud long segments:


EastwoodRavine_00 by SavaTheAggie, on Flickr

peterab, on 08 November 2010 - 01:18 PM, said:

That's a very brave strength test. I'd stick to milk jugs. I'd hate to see your cathedral needing a rebuild

I didn't know we had a gallon of milk on hand, so I went ahead and photographed the test.


Tall Trestle Bridge Milk Jug Test by SavaTheAggie, on Flickr

private_lego, on 09 November 2010 - 06:49 AM, said:

True, this is more a balancing test.
I always used boxes of sugar or salt. Nice compact, easy to use and in different sizes (0.25 up to 1kg)

A bridge has past the test, for me, when it can hold 3 kg on its weakest point for one hour.
This is about double the weight of a loc and 2 large MOC cars.

My largest bridge so far was a 96 studs span, build out of only 1x4 plates.
http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?i=962208

Forgive me for being indignant, but this is not more of a "balancing test."  A US Gallon of milk weighs in excess of 3.9 kg.  That particular chunk of my cathedral easily weighs 2 to 3 times that much.  Much more than a "balancing test."  

--Tony

Edited by SavaTheAggie, 09 November 2010 - 08:05 AM.

[LegoSjaak]

How nice to see that design matches so well with a strong construction.. it triggers me to build such a bridge as well...but my budget for parts has exceeded the limit already for this year...  
Very nice work !!!

Greetz LegoSjaak

[buddy]

Excellent MOC, SavaTheAggie!  
I like the overall look of it, it is very realistic and accurate. I am surprised at how much weight it can hold.
Very well done.  

~buddy~

[erik530195]

This is cool, but I feel it is lacking in detail. Put a few lights and a hobo living under it, make a few more, add a train, and youll have a very nice MOC indeed