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A friend of mine is building a viaduct and wanted to see some close-up shots of a real one, so I shot these views of the B&O's [now CSX] Thomas Viaduct near Relay, MD., over the Patapsco River valley.
Figured I'd post the pics here since the best technology is available for doing so...
I'll have to spread these out over several 'replies' since only four uploads are allowed per post. Here are the first four, on the "north" (Relay) side:
I made a 3 opening viaduct bridge once out of 2&1/2" foam insulation(green) & painted it w/about 5 coats of off white latex paint. Then I weathered it w/some grimey black & grey paint. It was about 10" high from base to track. Everyone that saw it thought I had made it out of concrete. I wish I had a place to use that kind of bridge on my layout now. You need the heighth to make a bridge like that show up. Just a comment about how I made mine. I had cut it out on my bandsaw to get the curves exact.
Thanx Larry for sharing that, there isn't anyplace on my own layout that could accommodate a viaduct right now, and even if there was, I don't think I'm ready to build one!
My Canadian friend is doing his viaduct in N scale:
These are longer shots, showing the surrounding benchwork / electrical stuff for the doorway module.
That's fine, I think prototype photos are an important part of the forum. Members are encouraged to post photos of interesting structures and rolling stock etc. Also, don't overlook the huge variety of photos over at RailroadForums.com
No, if you have shots that you think will be of specific interest to modelers, by all means post them here. For that matter, shots that interest modelers, such as the underside of the arch in this case, are often shots that would not interest the typical railfan. Other examples would be typical lineside building and structures. From a railfan point of view, an artistic shot may be better. For a modeler, a square on view can be more useful.
So it's perfectly fine to post prototype photos here.
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