Clearwater Valley Railway Co.

[Rick]

Ron great job of engineering; very neat and precise.

Exactly what I would of said.

[Philip]

  Nice work!

[elwoodblues]

Outstanding planning and modeling Ron. I might of missed it from earlier but what color stain was used?

Curt,

The stain used was Hunterline's Weathering Mix - Burnt Umber

[elwoodblues]

Thanks for the kind comments Kyle, Jerry, Curt, Larry, Rick and Philip.  Your encouragement helps keep me motivated. 

Some modeling was done last night, so it's time for another update.  This one is called. . . . . . . .

Phase 1 complete

The remaining NBW casting added to the cross bracing the holds the bents together.





Another view of the completed pile bent.





The pile and girder bridge in place.  Things are starting to take shape now.

Now that the bridge and pile is in place I can make the trestle required to bridge the rest of the gap.  Time to start phase 2.

Thanks for looking in.

[kyle creel]

That's one hell of a cool bridge Ron             I love it ...............

KYLE CREEL
G&D Ry Co.

[PRR Modeler]

Very nice modeling Ron.

[Rick]

Ron, not only is the construction excellent, the colors on the wood is excellent too.

[Jerry]

Ron that is really outstanding work.

Jerry

[Larry C]

Ron that looks amazing!!!!!!!!

[friscomike]

Howdy Ron,

Exceptional work on the pile bent.  It looks amazing.

Have fun,
mike

[elwoodblues]

Thanks for the comments Kyle, Curt, Rick, Jerry, Larry and Mike.

Was a busy day at the bench yesterday where I did a lot of jumping around due to waiting for stain and glue to dry. 

Update #1 for today. . . . . . . .

The Bridge Crew Starts on the Trestle

Now that I know the exact location of the pile bent and girder bridge I could start building the trestle that spans the remaining gap to the staging yard.



First item was to stain the ties, the stringers were already stained as they were leftover pieces that I stained for the pile bent.  The ties were stained "Special Walnut" by Minwax (#224) which is the stain I've used on every tie laid on the layout.





Years ago I made 2 templates for building trestle decks, one to place the trestle stringers and one for the tie spacing. After placing the ties in the tie template a strip of painters take was used to hold the ties in place.  The next step was to take the ties and glue them to the stringers.




Adding weights on the ties till the glue dries.

Thanks for looking in.

[elwoodblues]

While the glue was drying on the trestle I decided to shift focus.  This update is called. . . . . . . . . .

The Birth of a Mountain

Once the bridge components are completed a need a way to fix each end of the bridge.




Because the track through the wall would have a tunnel exit through a mountain as I want something dramatic and be a signature scene I started working on the mountain below the girder bridge.  I started out by cutting a piece of 1" thick foam and sloped it from 0" at the top to 1" at the bottom. Because this is a vertical rock face  I sliced out some vertical area to give the face some form. 

I then cut out the area under the bridge where I planed to add the stone abutment.  It had to be cut at the 1/2" thick line as I needed a 3/8" shelf for the bridge shoes.  I used a filler piece and placed the bridge to verify the height of the abutment.





Now that I knew whet the mountain meets the stream I marked the outline of the cliff where it met the bottom to determine the location of the stream.  I then marked and carved out the stream profile on the fascia and then used a hot wire cutter to carve out the stream in the foam.  I still need to cut out the framing at the back.





After the stream bed was carved out I went back to the cliff face and proceeded to build the abutment.  Going through my scenery supplies I found a piece of foam brick/block that would work.  It was molded on a piece of 1/4" thick foam.  I don't know who made it or where I got it from.  It was a case of acquiring it in case I found a use for it later.    When I acquired it it was already painted a dark brown colour.





Here is a preview with the bridge in place.

I also stained the wood required for the abutment on the other side of the valley but that is a story for another update.

Thanks for looking in everyone.

[Rick]

Ron, looks like you've got a good plan here.

[PRR Modeler]

You're making great looking progress Ron.

[elwoodblues]

Thanks for the comments Rick and Curt.

I'm very happy with the results so far.