St. Louis' Eads bridge (modular double track three-arch train trestle) - real life MOC

[Murdoch17]

Here is my final design of the St. Louis bridge, commonly known as the Eads bridge because of it's designer, James B. Eads. It uses Indiana Jones roller-coaster ramps for the arches, which looks pretty cool. The bridge is nine tracks total in length and 19 bricks high from base to track. (This means about fourteen bricks of clearance between arch top and floor, so some small ships could pass through!)

First, a little background info from Wikipedia (which is also where this picture came from): 
"The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois.

The bridge is named for its designer and builder, James B. Eads. When completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6,442 feet (1,964 m). The ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material: it was the first such use of true steel in a major bridge project.

The Eads Bridge, which became an iconic image of the city of St. Louis, from the time of its erection until 1965 when the Gateway Arch was constructed, is still in use. The bridge crosses the St. Louis riverfront between Laclede's Landing, to the north, and the grounds of the Gateway Arch, to the south. Today the road deck has been restored, allowing vehicular and pedestrian traffic to cross the river. The St. Louis MetroLink light rail line has used the rail deck since 1993."

This is a rough representation, as it is missing a lot, (I.E. no car deck, missing tunnel under downtown, and lack of the East St Louis ramp approach.)

A close-up view of the arches of one of the three identical spans.

The bridge as separated out for transit.

Here we see the modular connections for transporting dissembling the bridge for taking to shows and such, along with the older deck (the dark bluish gray line) for when the bridge was single track.

The modular component of the bridge's design also makes it a LOT easier to carry as the whole bridge with the three sections weighs about 10 pounds total.

4/12/19 BIG UPDATE:

Real life pictures / text updated to reflect the newly remodeled bridge. (it now is double track!)

Comments, questions and complaints are always welcome!

Edited March 12, 2019 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

This is the final version of the Eads bridge LEGO project.

It should be built in real life by next week or the week after that. I am currently waiting on two more Brick-Link orders plus a LEGO shop-at-home (Bricks And Pieces) order to arrive in order to begin construction.

[Murdoch17]

As you can see in the main post, the bridge has been built and  is now added to my 8 1/2 by 6 foot layout.

This setup also features Barretts Station, the General Motors "Aerotrain" and a couple of 1920's-style "Adventurers" related builds, among a heck of a lot of other stuff.

[ColletArrow]

I like the lower table so the bridge has something to cross, that's something seen less often in LEGO layouts. Do you have any intention to smooth the join between the levels with 'scenery'? Even just a brick-built harbour wall or something would make the scene feel more complete in my opinion.  What's the girder bridge going to be used for? it looks pretty good.

[Murdoch17]

19 hours ago, ColletArrow said:

I like the lower table so the bridge has something to cross, that's something seen less often in LEGO layouts. Do you have any intention to smooth the join between the levels with 'scenery'? Even just a brick-built harbour wall or something would make the scene feel more complete in my opinion.  What's the girder bridge going to be used for? it looks pretty good.

The girder bridge was my first bridge attempt, and was used on this ramp below.

The ramp has video of it working here. (This ramp predates my finished Eads bridge and has since been removed.) I also have no intention of making a wall (sorry!), as the table setup is not permanent and can change easily at some point.

Edited April 2, 2017 by Murdoch17

[ColletArrow]

Fair enough! How about a white sheet or some paper then, even if it is only temporary it will still improve it visually I think. It's up to you ultimately, of course.

[Murdoch17]

BIG UPDATE:

Just ordered the final 420 parts  (with another 112 bricks for my ramps' extensions, or about 532 total pieces) to raise the bridge about 7 bricks in height.This will allow for boats and / or trains to pass underneath more easily, with about fourteen bricks of clearance between the middle of the arch and the base.

The mini-figure gives you a sense of scale to the size of one of the three sections.

Here we see a comparison between the original bridge (in front) and the taller one with added base parts. (in back)

I will post again when the bridge is completed, hopefully by the 9th of next month so I can show it off at the local LUG meeting along with this double deck bus I'm also building right now.

See you then! 

[knotian]

Please disregard

Edited September 1, 2017 by knotian
Comment referred to wrong picture

[Murdoch17]

9 hours ago, knotian said:

Could use some of those mountain bricks to hide the opening. Then maybe a tunnel opening.

i'm sorry, I don't know what opening you are referring to?

Edited September 1, 2017 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Real life pictures updated, and text changed to reflect new info.

Here we see my sig-fig next to tone of the updated bridge piers.

Comments, questions and complaints are always welcome!

[Murdoch17]

BUMP:

A long-held dream of mind has been completed: My LEGO Eads bridge MOC is now properly double tracked, just like the real deal. See the first post for more details!

[Roadmonkeytj]

I think the bridge turned out well! 

I have seen this bridge in person and I think it works well in Lego!  Do you have any plans to build any other St Louis sights into your layout? 

... The opening everyone is referring to it the gap created by the different height from the lower table to the uppers.

[Murdoch17]

12 hours ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

I think the bridge turned out well! 

I have seen this bridge in person and I think it works well in Lego!  Do you have any plans to build any other St Louis sights into your layout? 

... The opening everyone is referring to it the gap created by the different height from the lower table to the uppers.

Thank you @Roadmonkeytj! No other projects from St Louis are in mind right now except for maybe the big rotary snowplow from the Museum of Transport someday.

Here is how I attach the Eads bridge to the layout these days (via a old picture from early last year):

This is how the Eads bridge is placed on my usual layout setup, via a custom section of dropped-height table with 3D-printed ends to secure it to the regular-height tables*. With the layout ( and / or more specifically, this table section) currently in storage due to my relatively recent move, I was unable to recreate this photo with my recently revised - and widened to double track - Eads bridge. The new double track parts go over the black 3D-printed parts, and then the track will descend a small, lightly sloped (two brick tall) ramp to regular table height when installed.

(*The four 3D-printed parts came from a family member who made them for me along with the wooden underside of the drop-table.)

Any other questions?

[Roadmonkeytj]

10 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

Thank you @Roadmonkeytj! No other projects from St Louis are in mind right now except for maybe the big rotary snowplow from the Museum of Transport someday.

Here is how I attach the Eads bridge to the layout these days (via a old picture from early last year):

This is how the Eads bridge is placed on my usual layout setup, via a custom section of dropped-height table with 3D-printed ends to secure it to the regular-height tables*. With the layout ( and / or more specifically, this table section) currently in storage due to my relatively recent move, I was unable to recreate this photo with my recently revised - and widened to double track - Eads bridge. The new double track parts go over the black 3D-printed parts, and then the track will descend a small, lightly sloped (two brick tall) ramp to regular table height when installed.

(*The four 3D-printed parts came from a family member who made them for me along with the wooden underside of the drop-table.)

Any other questions?

I actually like the 3d method any chance for more pictures in the future of this setup...  My cup is looking at making bridges between layout tables and I rather like the hidden support idea. 

[Man with a hat]

Great. Nice to see it double tracked now. And nice way of covering the height difference in an efficient way.