Steel Arch Bridge (Partially Completed)

[I_luv_bridges]

Hi all,

Here's a pic of a steel arch bridge I'm currently working on (HO scale). It's modelled from an 1899 photograph of a bridge on the CPR Mountain Sub. It was last used in 1929 when one of its approach spans collapsed. The Protoype main span was 290 feet, the model here is 200 feet and will be 330 feet when compined with the (yet to be built) approach spans.

View attachment 10427

From the black and white photograph it looks like the bridge was either white or silver, I kind of like Silver, whar do you think would be a good color?

Thanks,

Gord

 

[CP9302]

That looks fantastic! I'd go with silver my self. What are you building it from? Is it styrene?

 

[UP2CSX]

Very nice job indeed. I'm a big bridge fan too and yours is a really accurate reproduction. Did you scratchbuild all the components? Very impressive.

I've never seen a steel bridge painted white so I'd vote for silver as the most likely color also.

 

[I_luv_bridges]

That looks fantastic! I'd go with silver my self. What are you building it from? Is it styrene?

Very nice job indeed. I'm a big bridge fan too and yours is a really accurate reproduction. Did you scratchbuild all the components? Very impressive.

I've never seen a steel bridge painted white so I'd vote for silver as the most likely color also.

Thanks for the compliments

The Top and Bottom Chords are Central Valley Girders as are the Posts, the Diagonals are Cast-Resin with styrene and the bottom laterals are Cast-Resin lattice with 1/64 x 1/16 Brass strips top and bottom.

The floor beams are cut down Micro-engineering 30 foot plate girders, plate girders will also go on top of the floor beams and I will use more Micro-engineering girders for those.

The grey angles are Plasticstruct ABS, and everything else is styrene (sheet, angles and I-beam).

Here is a link to a photo of the prototype:

http://www.cprheritage.com/photo_graphics/buildbridge/pages/Ns2742.htm

Thanks,

Gord

 

[Ronzzr11]

The bridge could be a pale grey, rather than silver.
Ronzzr11

 

[jbaakko]

Wow, that is nice. Myself, I've only seen silver & black bridges.

 

[Mac Loco Works]

Very nice work.
Is that the only pic you have to work from?
If so great job getting the detail out of the pic.

 

[kjd]

I remember reading about that, it collapsed under the weight of two helpers returning to base. It was in one of the magazines a few years ago.

 

[NYSW F45]

Wow, that is nice. Myself, I've only seen silver & black bridges.

picture sucks but how about a blue bridge?
Upper Hack Lift bridge

 

[MilesWestern]

IMPORTANT NOTE!!

Silver as a paint wasn't perfected until 1930. Silver wasn't used at all before then because the paint companies hadn't mixed the correct ingredients yet or developed the special process to create metallic paint.

 

[UP2CSX]

Miles, I don't know where you got your information, but aluminum paint (commonly called silver) was developed much earlier than 1930. The famous Silver Bridge across the Ohio River that collapsed in 1967 was called the Silver Bridge because it was painted with aluminum paint in 1928. The US Navy was using aluminum paint for hull and superstructure surfaces before World War One. I don't know when aluminum paint was first used but it was certainly before 1930.

 

[jbaakko]

picture sucks but how about a blue bridge?
Upper Hack Lift bridge

Yup:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PortageLakeLiftBridge.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage_Lake_Lift_Bridge

I still don't like the fact that its referred to at the Portage LAKE Lift Bridge, as its about 5 miles before you actually reach Portage Lake, technically its on Portage CANAL (I grew up there, I should know...), but that is the official name.

Its blue & white now, when I was little the blue was actually an light green, and a the white was a darker egg shell/cream color.

In any case, silver or blacks seem to be the most common for RAILROAD steel arch bridges. However it is not hard at all to find other colors, such as blues, whites, reds & greens.

 

[MilesWestern]

Miles, I don't know where you got your information, but aluminum paint (commonly called silver) was developed much earlier than 1930. The famous Silver Bridge across the Ohio River that collapsed in 1967 was called the Silver Bridge because it was painted with aluminum paint in 1928. The US Navy was using aluminum paint for hull and superstructure surfaces before World War One. I don't know when aluminum paint was first used but it was certainly before 1930.

Thanks for the Correction! I was hesitant to use this paint on pre-1930 vechicles and buildings. You must admit that silver/aluminium paint probably wasn't common before 1930.

 

[UP2CSX]

Miles, I could find no solid information on when aluminum paint was first used but I found a patent by Dow Chemical for the process of using ground aluminum in paint from 1909 so it wouldn't have been in use before that. I suspect that aluminum paint came into more common use after World War One, when the price of aluminum fell from $2.00 a pound to 20 cents a pound. The bridge picture is interesting in that is shows the structure in such a light color but the date is "ca 1900", when the bridge could not have been done in aluminum paint. I'm thinking that maybe it was in gray primer before the black finish coat was applied.