# Nothing like a open home to get a bridge built



## Hamers (May 11, 2009)

I thought I would share a project I have just completed for an Open Home. We had a "all scales" national model railway convention here in Christchurch this past weekend. I had been asked to show the railway late last year by the organisers. So I set too and worked to almost complete my bridge. Here are a few photo's of it. 

Construction is 12.5mm SHS and 6mm round bar. I used a mig welder I bought last year, with CO2 bottle to sheild the wire. The brigde is Freelance, I looked through the internet for the basic shape and then made a template on a sheet of plyood. I then fabricated each side of the bridge and then joined them together with the intermediate steel work, added cross braces, cleaned and painted it. I hope you enjoy.









This was the first completed section of the bridge with a span of 1.5m, two were fabricated to give a bridge length of 3m.









Side veiw








Low night shot, Finished second section late one night, had to see both units end to end.








Almost finished bridge, painted and in place. I used a Zinc rich steel paint. The plan is next summer to get the water under the bridge.









Photo of Hudson taking a "convention special" across the bridge. The next work on the bridge is to deck with timber sleepers and add a walkway. The bridge in the forground will become a plate grider type bridge.


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## smcgill (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice work...Your'e giving Marty a run for his money!!


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Great Looking Bridge. I would like to see more details on the plate girder bridge if you have any pictures.


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Looks really good Andy. Love the clothes line background. 

Now that I now someone with a mig welder...  

Cheers 
Neil


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## RimfireJim (Mar 25, 2009)

Great looking bridge! Good job. 
One thing you might want to change as you progress with the project is, for engineering correctness, to move the end piers to the very end of the bridge spans, similar to your mid-span pier and your second photo temporary setup.


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## Hamers (May 11, 2009)

Thanks for the comments guys,

John J, Sorry I have no close ups of the grider bridge at the moment. Its still in its temporary form. Which is a 38mm SHS which I cut slots in top, front and bottom sides leaving the back uncut. This allowed me to bend the bridge around the curve, I have tacked the front to hold is shape. I am not sure yet as to whether I will replace the whole thing or dress it up to make it look like a girder bridge.

Jim, I plan to move the piers to there correct positions when the pond is constructed. 

Cheers,

Andrew,


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## Matt Vogt (Jan 2, 2008)

Nicely done, Andrew! That's a great looking bridge.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Came out really nice!

As you note, nothing like an open house to get us off our butts and into the railroad mentality.


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## mgilger (Feb 22, 2008)

Very nice job/ 


It occurred to me that others might be interested in what I use for my metal bridge projects. Since I don't have any welding materials, I'm using brass, ordered from MicroMark.com. ACE hardware also sells it, although at a higher price. The advantage for me, is I can use a soldering gun instead of a welder. The disadvantage, I'm sure the Brass is more expensive than the metal used here, but at least it enables me to build bridges out of metal instead of the wood I've previously been using. 

Here are the two I recently built. Not fancy, but functional and very sturdy. 




















Mark
Regards,


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