Build Log - Howe Truss Transfer Bridge
Nov 12, 2024 15:48:32 GMT -8
kentuckysouthernrwy, cf7, and 13 more like this
Post by 12bridge on Nov 12, 2024 15:48:32 GMT -8
Building on my post on SPF this weekend, I took Steve's advice to start a build log thread.
First - a bit of history. Moving railcars off of carfloats requires..well..a bridge! NY Harbor had two main types of transfer bridge - Pontoon, in which the bridge was supported by a pontoon on the outer end, or overhead suspension, which as implies, is suspended overhead. Now, both style can be further broken down, but for that I defect to this website that I helped write on the history of the transfer bridge in NY - members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/developmenttransferbridge.html
Harlem Transfer's Howe Truss Bridge - DL&W photo from Steamtown's archive.
This specific bridge I am building is a Howe Truss - very common throughout NY Harbor (as well as Philly), as the design allowed the bridge to absorb more flexible movements. Most of the railroads in NY Harbor used Howe bridges (even on the overhead styles early on) at some point or another, right up until the end of mainline floating in NY in the late 70's.
The B&O bridge at West 26th Street (http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/bo26.html) survives restored today, after sitting sunk for the better part of 20+ years. While no longer floating (its sitting on piles on both ends), it gives a prospective to how big these really are!
The downside - this bridge is a slightly lighter duty design, as well as shorter. Another note is that while "restored", they did omit a ton of items when they repaired the bridge including several timbers, as well as just putting straight rails down on the deck. I am not complaining though! I need to make another trip to her to measure all of the NBW's to print.
B&O had a second bridge at their Staten Island terminal, which was bought second hand from the CNJ. It was super common for bridges to move around the harbor, right into the 1980's, B&O modeler Tom Griffiths put together an excellent set of 25 drawings of the Staten Island bridge for his own modeling. Tom did an article in Railroad Model Craftsman (I need to go find my issue, I will update this with the info tonight) in 2011 on his building his own bridge based on a Campbell kit. Tom used to sell the drawing sets along with a photo CD of detail photos of the bridge in Staten Island. I do not know if he still does - reaching out to him is on my list. Needless to say, this would not happen without these! There are a few holes in the research and on the sheets (not a criticism by any means, I know all too well how field research goes). My bridge will not be 100% exact to these plans, but the major pieces will be.
An ebay shot - I do not like to post these, but I know for a fact this is a Port Authority of NY Press Photo - an archive lost in its entirety when he WTC collapsed. The CNJ bridges in Communipaw were more heavy duty construction, due to the fact that they saw way more usage then the offline terminal bridges. Bridge #1 became the B&O Staten Island bridge when it was replaced with a steel one, thus Tom's drawings are very close to this one, with only minor detail differences. These were built around 1928 if I recall right.
First step was to sit down with the drawings and make out a list of what sizes, and how much of each I needed. There is 12 main sizes of lumber used. I got all my wood from Mt.Albert.
I draw up all of the "castings" that secure the various uprights to the main chords. There are 4 main types of castings, as well as 3 morestyles of top pieces which are the nuts/washers for the tie rods. I drew up a few versions of these to show various nut and washer combinations seen on prototype photos (replacements over the years).
I picked up a nice piece of oak to use as the base for a few cutting jigs, since there will be quite a bit of repetition with these.
For the shorter pieces, the UMM miter box has a built in stop, which works great.
I got a bunch of stuff cut out and started to stain tonight. I am using Hunterlines Russet stain as a base coat. When it is further along I will brush on some more colors/weathering to blend it.
I am by -no- means an expert when it comes to working with scale lumber, other then the pier I built a few years ago, but it was actually a very enjoyable project.
Pier with the steel bridge I was originally building. I always wanted to build a Howe and said screw it and dove right in. I am using different colors on the stain so it does not match my pier to depict as "second hand" bridge that my freelance purchased.
More to come!
First - a bit of history. Moving railcars off of carfloats requires..well..a bridge! NY Harbor had two main types of transfer bridge - Pontoon, in which the bridge was supported by a pontoon on the outer end, or overhead suspension, which as implies, is suspended overhead. Now, both style can be further broken down, but for that I defect to this website that I helped write on the history of the transfer bridge in NY - members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/developmenttransferbridge.html
Harlem Transfer's Howe Truss Bridge - DL&W photo from Steamtown's archive.
This specific bridge I am building is a Howe Truss - very common throughout NY Harbor (as well as Philly), as the design allowed the bridge to absorb more flexible movements. Most of the railroads in NY Harbor used Howe bridges (even on the overhead styles early on) at some point or another, right up until the end of mainline floating in NY in the late 70's.
The B&O bridge at West 26th Street (http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/bo26.html) survives restored today, after sitting sunk for the better part of 20+ years. While no longer floating (its sitting on piles on both ends), it gives a prospective to how big these really are!
The downside - this bridge is a slightly lighter duty design, as well as shorter. Another note is that while "restored", they did omit a ton of items when they repaired the bridge including several timbers, as well as just putting straight rails down on the deck. I am not complaining though! I need to make another trip to her to measure all of the NBW's to print.
B&O had a second bridge at their Staten Island terminal, which was bought second hand from the CNJ. It was super common for bridges to move around the harbor, right into the 1980's, B&O modeler Tom Griffiths put together an excellent set of 25 drawings of the Staten Island bridge for his own modeling. Tom did an article in Railroad Model Craftsman (I need to go find my issue, I will update this with the info tonight) in 2011 on his building his own bridge based on a Campbell kit. Tom used to sell the drawing sets along with a photo CD of detail photos of the bridge in Staten Island. I do not know if he still does - reaching out to him is on my list. Needless to say, this would not happen without these! There are a few holes in the research and on the sheets (not a criticism by any means, I know all too well how field research goes). My bridge will not be 100% exact to these plans, but the major pieces will be.
An ebay shot - I do not like to post these, but I know for a fact this is a Port Authority of NY Press Photo - an archive lost in its entirety when he WTC collapsed. The CNJ bridges in Communipaw were more heavy duty construction, due to the fact that they saw way more usage then the offline terminal bridges. Bridge #1 became the B&O Staten Island bridge when it was replaced with a steel one, thus Tom's drawings are very close to this one, with only minor detail differences. These were built around 1928 if I recall right.
First step was to sit down with the drawings and make out a list of what sizes, and how much of each I needed. There is 12 main sizes of lumber used. I got all my wood from Mt.Albert.
I draw up all of the "castings" that secure the various uprights to the main chords. There are 4 main types of castings, as well as 3 morestyles of top pieces which are the nuts/washers for the tie rods. I drew up a few versions of these to show various nut and washer combinations seen on prototype photos (replacements over the years).
I picked up a nice piece of oak to use as the base for a few cutting jigs, since there will be quite a bit of repetition with these.
For the shorter pieces, the UMM miter box has a built in stop, which works great.
I got a bunch of stuff cut out and started to stain tonight. I am using Hunterlines Russet stain as a base coat. When it is further along I will brush on some more colors/weathering to blend it.
I am by -no- means an expert when it comes to working with scale lumber, other then the pier I built a few years ago, but it was actually a very enjoyable project.
Pier with the steel bridge I was originally building. I always wanted to build a Howe and said screw it and dove right in. I am using different colors on the stain so it does not match my pier to depict as "second hand" bridge that my freelance purchased.
More to come!
nice.
