25 ft Replica Truss Bridge

[Radar]

After the oldest bridge in my home city was closed indefinitely I took it upon myself to create a scale replica as a token of our past.

This is my replica of the Saskatoon Traffic Bridge. A 950 ft steel truss riveted together over a century ago. It was home to the only marine disaster in the prairies when a steam ship collided into it shortly after it opened. It also would test your driving skills to the limit when you would pass opposing cars literally inches from smashing each others mirrors.

City council was kind enough to provide me with original blueprints to which I then incorporated into a LDD model.

The original had the first truss taken down this fall. So there is no real answer anymore to save it. It is really a shame the city purposely neglected it so badly to be torn down.

It's 1:40 scale. So 950 studs long and a minifig is like 5'8 I believe?. Fully functional. It DOES contain slightly modded parts ( ashamed I know ) but it was all in spirit to contain the high degree of bend required to make the trusses connect and be historically accurate. The actual bridge did carry trolley cars and vehicles but was eventually used only for the latter.

It comes apart as 5 sections or 1 truss each. Piers are there for stability and accuracy.

It's not completely finished yet. There are still details like lattice work with cheese slopes in between every column. Lights still need hooked up. Top cross frames are almost done. etc etc.

So far I'm just over the 16,000 part amount and 2000$ paid on it. mostly 1x16 bricks, 1x8 and 1x10 plates.

During the first public display 2 fully loaded maersk train crossed paths in the center of the bridge. It was the first time it was load tested with 2 mobile trains rather than static. Needless to say after a few sickening cracks the weight of both trains was to much and the entire right side of the center truss collapsed and took the trains with it. After a rebuild I'm glad to say no incidents have occurred since.

I would be happy to show pictures as well of my building technique or answer any questions you might have.

Thanks for looking! Sorry if the pictures are too big. I can resize them if needed.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

That is aBIG bridge

[timmyc1983]

awesome bridge build! Looks great! I'm a bit worried about that dynamite on one of the girders.... Looks like it's wired to a timer or something... Maybe someone should alert the Lego City Undercover squad.....?

[lightningtiger]

Ouch, that's huge.....excellent brick engineering there 'Radar'......Brick On !

[Wedge09]

Huge bridge, really nice work :thumbup:

[eurotrash]

That's a massive structure you've built and it looks like the real thing. Did anyone get any pictures of the crash & collapse? Seriously though congratulations on finishing and displaying an epic build.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Aussie BJ]

What a beautiful Bridge just like the real thing, well done. You planning on blowing off one end to setup a MOC similar to your last 2 photo's?

Thanks for sharing.

Brendan

[Squ1DDoS]

Do you by chance have the finished bridge in LDD format?