# G scale Questions



## Sonny (Aug 6, 2010)

Hi Guys,


I'm new to model trains and have accumulated a fare amount of track, railbed and trestle bents. I tried looking over many of the garden train magazines and just got more confused and kept changing the set up I was trying for. I finally decided to take all the track I had and just lay it out in the space I had (formerly a dog run with gravel over dirt). I put a trestle bridge where I think I am going to put a river connected to a waterfall. I have 2 problems to deal with: (1) I think I have to bend the curves to match up exactly with the track coming out of the turn to the straight tracks, I will need to buy a track bender; (2) I am not sure how to attach the trestle bents to themselves, to the gravel and to the track. I was thinking of using trek( vinyl 2x6" to attach to the trestle bents in the gravel and then screwing the tracks to the upper section of the trestle bents.


If anyone has some suggestions I would appreciate hearing them.


Thanks.
Sonny


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Sonny, 
What are the dimensions of the space you have for the railroad? 
specifically, how wide of an area for the "turn around" circles? 

If you plan to bend curved track that is already 4-foot diameter and make it even narrower, thats not a great idea..the curves will be far too tight, 
unless you plan to run ONLY very tiny locomotives and rolling stock!  

Let us know the dimensions of your curved pieces of track, and the dimensions of the space you have for the railroad, 
and we can go further from there.. 
(any chance you can post some photos? or a track plan?) 

Scot


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## Madstang (Jan 4, 2008)

My suggestion is to spend the EXTRA money on the Train Li bender, I am glad I did.

As for the bents I have never made mine but it seens that they are attached with wood, for lack of a better word stringers, on the top of the bents...my question is how do they "bend" the stringers for the curves?
Then they attach them on the sides with pieces of wood for stability, attaching the sections the same way.

Maybe a good place to start is try Bridge Masters to get a look at the way they make them, it is a little differently as their tressels are made so that the track fits inside the wood on the top rather then just sitting on the top of the wood. 

Here is the link to Bridgemasters; http://www.bridge-masters.com/

Hope this helped.

Bubba


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

Hello Sonny 
Maybe you will have to pick up additional curved track pieces in the proper radius to meet your needs or alter your approach a bit to match up. Scot is right don't go too tight on your curves or they will really limit the type of train you can run on them. 
I have made my own trestle bents and on straight runs I place 2 strips of wood on top of the bents that run the entire length of the trestle. I then secure the track to that with a few screws or if I am worried about expansion a wire or zip tie. 
On curves I have cut pieces of wood to size for each bent and with a spot of glue and a small nail they get held in place. 
There are also wood pieces used either at angles or straight to hold the middle and bottom pieces inline. 
There are many books on bridges available and if you look around here on the forum you will find lots of different photos of how guys have made their trestles. 
Good luck


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Sonny, 
Welcome to MLS. 

One suggestion not yet clarified is to only attach your bridge bents at one end, to allow for movement. You'd be surprised how much real earth can pucsh and pull at your railroad. Often the real world solutions work just as well - such as embedding the base in gravel with good drainage.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

For your trestle bents, I would also suggest that you take a look at what was done in the real 1:1 world of railroading.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Would these help?


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Sonny:

welcome to the forum. In the real world the bents are made up of piles which where driven into the ground. In our case you could just place them on the ground and level them or place them on concrete prier's to level. Lots of choices. Later RJD


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Welcome aboard. 

Connecting bents laid on a curve were straight stringers across the tops, from bent to bent. The track curved over them. 

Ahem in the real world there ar e two styles of bents round timbers are piles driven into the ground. Square cut timbers are bents built upon wooden sills. several stories of siills/bents were sometimes stacked for height. 
I hope this link works.... 

http://books.google.com/books?print...97&pg=PR1&id=ENAhAAAAMAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false 

John


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## Biblegrove RR (Jan 4, 2008)

Welcome aboard! Glad to have ya.... this is the best place to get answers fo sure! I picked up a dual rail bender (only kind to have) from Robbie at RLD = money well spent! I set my bents in concrete and they have survived their 1st winter in Southern Illinois.


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Sonny
Welcome to the best GRR forum. I hope John in the above picture has good luck setting his bents in cement, I have experience of cementing treated post in concrete, when wood sets in concrete
it creates a ROT pocket, if wood goes through the concrete, it allows the moisture to leave the wood. People that build buildings using square post will never allow the bottom of the post to be in
the concrete. They set the post in the hole place 2-4 inches of dirt in the bottom, then place sackrete. Good luck John, I hope your trestle will last as long as you desire it to. 
I set a 32ft trestle, with the cement brought right to the bottom of the bents, with angle iron in the concrete with a hose clamp securing it to the bent. I placed this method on every 5-6th
bent. After 4 years it is still very solid and it is from 18-42 inches tall.
I drew up a simple solution that you might be interested in, leaving the gravel base, dig out a small hole about 6 inches deep and place the cement in the hole then place the angle next to the bent
and clamp together. This will allow the cement to dry around the angle securing the bents. Thus allowing the bents to stay out of any standing water.
I hope this will help you, It has worked well for me. 
Happy Modeling Dennis


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Dennis, excellent solution. Crusher fines vice gravel would also hold it in nicely. If gravel, use jaggedy type, not river round 

What exactly is G scale anyway? I keep hearing that term. I do know what G gauge or gauge 1 is. 

Dave V


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By SE18 on 23 Mar 2011 04:50 AM 
Dennis, excellent solution. Crusher fines vice gravel would also hold it in nicely. If gravel, use jaggedy type, not river round 

What exactly is G scale anyway? I keep hearing that term. I do know what G gauge or gauge 1 is. 

Dave V 

Technically there is only one "G scale"..it means 1/22.5 scale, Meter gauge on 45mm track, and nothing else.
But the terms "G scale" and "G gauge" are very often used in the generic sense to mean "any model trains, regardless of scale, that run on 45mm track"
technically that usage is incorrect..but its been done that way for ages, and its not likely to go away anytime soon.
When speaking of "any trains, regardless of scale, that run on 45mm track" in the generic sense, it is better to use the term "Large Scale" instead of "G scale".


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## Sonny (Aug 6, 2010)

I have trestle bents made out of plastic from the company that makes the rail joiners, SPLIT JAW.They are just like the wooden bents except white plastic. I was going to try to connect the base of the bents to 1" x 6" trecs, and set the plastic 1x6's into gravel which is already in the dog run being converted to the train area. I already placed the black material under the gravel to prevent weeds from growing and it also allows for water to drain out. I just didn't want any problem with the tracks and the trestles moving. 

It's snowing now so I will have to wait until next week if it ever warms up and stops snowing. I also would like to send some pictures of the area and what we have done to this point. I willhave to check the archives to see how to send photos. 

Also can I reply to the emails from my inbox, or do I have to get to the forum to reply? 

Sonny


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## Sonny (Aug 6, 2010)

How in the world did you post these pictures? I have been trying to post pictures and am getting nowhere.

Sonny


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## livesteam53 (Jan 4, 2008)

As a 1st Class Member, you have the full toolbar in the "Add Reply" editor. 
There are two ways to post images. 

On the *Add Reply* editor's toolbar, there are two icons for handling images... *Image Gallery* and *Insert Image*.*










Image Gallery* if for posting a photo already uploaded to your 1st Class space. Clicking it brings up a dialog box showing all the files and folders in your 1st Class space. 










Down the left side is a list of all the folders and files in your root folder. Folders are shown first followed by the files, all in alphabetical order. I have a number of folders in my root folder, part of which are shown at left. Scrolling down will show additional folders, and then the list of files.

The right side shows thumbnails of the first six image files in my root folder, also in alphabetical order. Below the thumbnails it's shown that I have 148 image files total in my root folder, and a list of page numbers. Each page is an additional group of six thumbnails.

Clicking on any folder will show thumbnails of all image files in that folder, again in groups of six. Clicking on any thumbnail will insert that photo. So by navigating to the correct folder via the left-hand list, and the correct file via the thumbnails on the right, I can insert any image into a post that already has been uploaded to my 1st Class Space.


*Insert Image* brings up a general purpose dialog box. From it, I can insert an image from my 1st Class space, an image on a different web host (providing I know the URL), or upload and insert an image from my local hard drive.










Again, the left pane shows a list of the folders and files already in my 1st Class space. Clicking on any folder shows the contents of that folder, and clicking on any file selects that file. This works just like the *Image Gallery* except there are no thumbnails, so you are required to know the filename of the image you want. Another difference here is the *Preview Pane* which, once an image is selected, displays a preview of it. Click the *Insert* button at bottom to add the image to your post.

To insert an image hosted on another web site (say PhotoBucket or your own domain), paste the URL of that image in the *URL Box* just below the *Preview Pane*. The image will be fetched and displayed in the *Preview Pane*. Again, click the *Insert* button at bottom to add the image to your post.

Immediately below the *URL Box* is the *Upload* button for uploading and posting an image from your local drive. Clicking it will bring up a standard files dialog box of the files on your computer. Navigate to the image you wish on your local drive and double-click it (or click the dialog's *Open *button). The image will be uploaded to your 1st Class space in whichever folder is currently displaying (see the folders and files list above). A confirmation message will display informing you that the file has been successfully uploaded, or if a problem occurred, the nature of the trouble. Click *OK* to clear the message. If the upload was successful, again the image will display in the *Preview Pane*, and again, click the *Insert* button at bottom will add the image to your post.

Note the restrictions on file uploads just to the right of the *Upload* button.

Nuthin' to it.








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## jjwtrainman (Mar 11, 2011)

Sonny, if you are using flex track, connect all the pieces together and try bending them that way, this is a trick I learned from indoor railroading and since all flex track bends in the same way, this method should work outdoors too. if you have sectional track, dig around for any spare pieces you have of a smaller diameter, or go out and get flex track because I don't like the idea of bending fixed track. 
As for the trestle, As long as you don't hve to worry about frost heave or erosion, the trestle would do just fine being supported by a rock wall on either end and secure the bents from the ground by piling rock or mulch under the trestle


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