I've been working on this for a couple weeks now, and finally finished it tonight, sans painting and weathering. It's a scale 600 feet long. It's quite shorter than the prototype in Tacoma, but conveys how huge this bridge is.
Milwaukee Trestle in Tacoma Bill, superb representation, here is a pic of the bridge from the Washington State History Museum layout, as built by the guys at PSMRE. Nice work. Michael
Bill- Wow!!! Can you describe your representation of the trolley poles? Maybe post a closer view? :thumbs_up: Boxcab E50
Thanks guys, I've been wanting to build this trestle for quite some time. Ken I have all of Warren Wing's Pacific Northwest Pictorials. I think it's in the first volume, there is a picture of the Olympian Hiawatha arriving at the old station, behind a bipolar. The closeup shows the trolley poles, which are pretty much what I copied. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to hang wires under them though. I finally got to see that HO layout at the Washington State Histroy Museum last month. It was fantastic, I spent about an hour taking pictures and seeing how they did things. It was nice, because I was the only one there, so I got to take it all in without being interupted. It is truly awesome!
Hi Bill- I, too, have Warren's books. Was just curious how you'd constructed your model poles? Boxcab E50
Fantastic build, how much time do you have in that? I just got went to Trainfest in Milwaukee this weekend and I've got the bug to getting going on my layout again. See is your build just reaffirms my desire.
Awsome job Bill, just awesome. Maybe one day my modelling skills will be that good. look forward to the painted and weathered pics. Thanks for posting. Alan.
Hi Ken: I think the poles are .080 rod, with crossbars being .030 X .030 strips. They looked about like what was in the picture. Hope this helps. Northern Pacific, I think I have about a couple of weeks into it off and on. Cheers: Bill
Hello Bill, looks like we have about the same area on our layouts ) I am also using the picture of the Bi-Polar crossing the bridge as inspiration for a model, though mine is grossly shortened to fit the available space. I love the slogan "The Olympian - Air Conditioned" and the double CMST&P logo, so I created some decals top replicate them. Still work in progress... I like the way you have build the vridge on the workbench: It appears that is far easier and also easier to paint than building it on the layout. Do you have a trackplan that you could share? Cheers Dirk
Hi Caddy, good to hear from you. I don't like to pre-paint assemblies and then have to scape off paint to glue them together. I actually built the trestle upside down on my work table so it would be completely flat. It worked out well. It is actually two pieces, so it will be more manageable to hold on to while I paint and weather it. I'm looking to add the same decals to the bridge that you refer to also. All I have to do now is start on the layout so I have a place to put it. I just need to convert my CAD drawing to a JPG, and I'll post my new track plan. Cheers: Bill
