Darn, I need a Dam

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What kind of dam, Larry? Earth, rock, concrete? Flood control and water storage or hydro? Straight or curved face? Inclined or vertical? How big an impoundment area? How tall of a dam? Integral or separate spillway? There are lot of different kinds of dam. :)

I don't think I've ever seen a dam kit because they are pretty easy to build. If you want to start with the big-time, there are original architectural and engineering plans for Hoover Dam at http://schools-wikipedia.org/wp/h/Hoover_Dam.htm. It's easy to get information on how to build small, earth filled dams with an impoundment area of six acres or less since those are typical farm dams. Since 9/11, it's a lot harder to find plans on-line for medium to large size dams because, you know, those terrorist might want to blow them up. :rolleyes: (Hint: about 40 pounds of C5 at each lower gate and BOOM! No dam in about 20 minutes and a heck of a flood downstream.) Give me an idea of what kind of dam you want and I'll see what I can dig up for you.
 
Dam Larry, I had a darn on the old layout and threw it out when I dismantled it. Then I went and deleted the pics for some reason! :rolleyes:
Anyway it was made from Styrene and had working gates made from a Walthers mining kit. The super structure above was evergreen channels and beams.
Here's a pic of it in the early construction phase. (well sort of)
 
I need a Dam that will cover an area, 54" wide & about 2&1/2 ft tall. A Hoover Dam would look just about right. I'm going to have 4 tracks running across the top. I have a bunch of green 2" foam & was thinking of using that. Do you think a flat concrete or a rounded concrete structure would look better? I have a scratcbuilt bridge there right now & I'm going to change that view. My vehicle bridge is over that opening too.
I've been looking on diff. web sites, but they don't give any dimensions & I wasn't thinking of Homeland Security.
 
OK, 1st, almost any dam is going to be custom, so a kit is right out....

Having 4 tracks run across a dam like Hoover dam is going to be a stretch of reality for a couple of reasons: the top of dams, even Hoover, isn't that wide. Second, the rumbling of a 4 track main on top of your dam is going to give your civil engineering staff many long and sleepless nights and the inspection crew job security. 3rd, large, tall dams like Hoover are convex shaped with a severe curvature that would wreak havoc on tracks.

but there are lots of photos and such on the web to do some basic research. I'm anxious to see the results. I vote for styrene to get the concrete surface look. From your description, a long, low dam like Bonneville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonneville_Dam) would seem more suitable. Keep the tracks off of it, tho.
 
Larry, I scratch build you a Hoover dam, as long as you pay me enough to replace the vacuum when done...

*ok, I admit, that was a BAD joke*
 


I agree with Ken on this one. A dam that large is always going to be convex in shape, much like Hoover, to withstand the forces of holding back what should be thousands of square miles of reservoir. At one time, Hoover had a single track railroad that ran in the center of the present roadway so the Government Railroad could deliver turbines, generators, and associated parts to the face of the dam. The dam didn't have all the power turbines installed when it was built. I think they installed ten of seventeen at construction, with the last seven installed over the years as demand for power increased. The last generating unit was installed in 1961. The train had a crane that would swing the parts over to one of two fixed crane platforms, one on the Nevada and one on the Arizona side. These large cranes would then lower the parts to the raceway platforms at the bottom of the dam, where they were loaded on a narrow gauge tramway and hauled into the power generation hall. As Ken said, this railroad was an engineering nightmare as the stresses on the top and face of the dam were really not planned for during construction. As soon as the last generator was installed, the tracks from Boulder City to the dam were torn up and the line abandoned, the last part of what used to be a government railroad with almost 75 miles of track during construction.

A four track railroad running over the top of the dam would require a dam that would be totally unrealistic in width. You say you already have a railroad bridge running over this space. Why not leave the bridge in place and build the dam either behind or in front of the bridge? That's still a gigantic dam for HO scale but I think keeping the tracks off the dam would make the dam look a lot more realistic in scale.
 
Josh, you and I were posting at the same time but the concept shown at the Redridge Dam is what I would propse, with the bridge close to but independent of the dam. That is one of the most unusual dams built in North America and one of only three steel dams ever built. I hope they can find a way to save it because it really is a civil engineering landmark, even though the concept was flawed from the beginning. It was one of those loony ideas that engineers sometimes come up with and the problems showed up when the third, and last, steel dam was constructed and collapsed within a year of completion.
 
UP2CSX said:
Josh, you and I were posting at the same time but the concept shown at the Redridge Dam is what I would propse, with the bridge close to but independent of the dam. That is one of the most unusual dams built in North America and one of only three steel dams ever built. I hope they can find a way to save it because it really is a civil engineering landmark, even though the concept was flawed from the beginning. It was one of those loony ideas that engineers sometimes come up with and the problems showed up when the third, and last, steel dam was constructed and collapsed within a year of completion.
Click to expand...

Sure enough. Knowing the region, there's going to be a tough fight. Being that its pretty much the only steel dam, it has a good chance of living, however, the region is known for getting rid of stuff only to realize the historical value later on.
 
I guess I'll hold off on putting the tracks on top of the Dam & change the bridge structure to reflect the construction of the Dam. The Bridge has giant concrete under structure now, but, to me it has always been out of scale & the structure is made out of Styrene sheets & it has started to come apart from the heat of the building. There's a giant plastic mirror behind the bridge to give the ground a sense of depth.
Maybe I'll just put a mountain structure there w/a giant waterfall which would look a lot better than a Giant Dam w/tracks on top. Some of you remember the size of the bridge I have now in that space, if not, I'll take another picture & post it here.
 
Just don't build one like the 1970 version of the Waco (TX) dam. A true engineering fiasco. Imagine a large lake that could drain to mud overnight, stranding everything in a sea of mud and taking weeks to refill enough to get to whatever had been stranded offshore.

Would be easier to model tho....
 
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