# Go big or go home



## benny2.0 (Jan 12, 2010)

Well this summer I think ill be braking ground on my layout. I will be building a brig to connect two towns on opposite ends of my yard. Before I do so I would like to know what is the longest single span bridge you have seen in g scale? After I get some input ill tell you’ll how long I will be making mine. LOL
Thanks
Benjamen


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Might want to look through this very forum before getting into the longest, as you might want to add Tallest to your project as well... lol 
See IronDan threads.... and others... 

Welcome to MLS, lots of fine builders here. 
You'll be 'required' to submit photos of your creation! It's in the fine print lol 

What bridge are you thinking of modeling? 

John


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## benny2.0 (Jan 12, 2010)

well I don’t rely have a design yet. The bridge will only be about 2 to 3 feet off the ground. 
Oh ya, It will be made from steal.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Funny... I know it's a typo... but Does ya get that at Midnight Steal supplies....? Some guys I knew got stereos at Midnight Auto... lol 

I wasn't talking about how high off the ground, rather the actual height of the bridge itself... did you look at IronDan's bridge? You should, it's a beautiful Monster! 

I hope you have better luck than I, when actually completing talked about future projects.... I usually morph into another project... 

Look at the pictures in all the forum threads, you'll see all kinds of bridges. They will help you get an idea of where you might go. 

For many, details, count for more than size.... Take a look and have fun! 

Good Building, 
John


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

MY bridges are two Ten foot long sections of Through Truss.

There are some Gurder bridges for the approach.

It is a double main line.











I taught meslefl to weld and this is the first bridge I built. You can see my yucky welds. but they are bout 8 years old and still holding 










After not running for a long time a "Tree" grew up through the tracks.


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## benny2.0 (Jan 12, 2010)

John 
Yes I’ve seen IronDan stuff, It looks grate. 

John J 
I love your pillars. Are they floating on the ground or do they go under ground?


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## hawkeye2 (Jan 6, 2008)

John that bridge looks great for a first time welder. Where did you get the concrete "Ts"? Are they avaliable in different heights?


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

The Concrete "T"s are sittingon the ground. The base is about 3 inches thick with rebar. They are about 18 inches by 12 inches. That was the first pour. I build forms and screwd them together to make the T section. They are custome made by me to fit where they stand. Which is where my septic tank is.










Here is a simple girder bridge. You may want to concider this if you want to lay track fast and have a running layout to play with. You can add detail later or even replace with something more elaborate.


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## benny2.0 (Jan 12, 2010)

So here it is. I mesherd the gap where I think I'm going to put the bridge and it looks like it will be about 50ft. 
The steel come's in 20ft sticks so it might be 40ft.


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## SteveF (Jan 2, 2008)

You will have to go 'way big, to beat these from Jens Bang's Snake River RR


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Check out the behemoth in this thread:  Big Bridge


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## coyote97 (Apr 5, 2009)

o.k. so, 

just let me suggest to use our trestle-bridge.....let me calculate.....50 ft........76 bents of 3 ft. height.........3800 bolts......7600 washers....7600 squarenuts...... 

or a nice string of 8 of my latice-truss bridges........***think****brainstorm****dream***oncemorecalculate*** 

....if u change your plans, i will give a percent.....or two...... 


LOL...just a joke...i´m curious how it will look like, dont forget to post pictures! 


Frank


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks good good for for bridges but I guess you should now work on the track work.







Later RJD


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## Biblegrove RR (Jan 4, 2008)

thanks for posting Jens pics, where can I see more please?


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Guess our twin 6 foot spans are pretty short by "big" standards. But then again we were going for the D&RGW narrow gauge look. So short works better for our situation. Plus I take these in every winter, so ease of movement and weight were big factors.


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

Posted By Biblegrove RR on 03 Mar 2010 06:49 PM 
thanks for posting Jens pics, where can I see more please? 

Dude, me too, I've always tried to find more info about this railroad with very little success. A little searching over at LSC netted this beauty though, check it out. *http://www.trains.com/grw/objects/pdf/snake_river_rr.pdf*


Apparently Steve F has had the pleasure of visiting this layout in person. Any more photos or info to share, Steve?


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Benjamen

The following PDF file (i.e. 18.4MB) contains a collection of topics from the MLS archives that relate to bridge building. For each topic there is one or more links back to the original topic(s), and a few pictures from the topic. Hopefully you can get some idea from them.

MLS Member - Archived Bridge Building Topics[/b]


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## coyote97 (Apr 5, 2009)

Hey Matt,

great bridges! I must say!

Formerly i was thinking that having a bridge is just "to have one", so shape and elegance were not the point.
But after some years. i found out that a bridge from a special shape needs its place.

When we have to span 12 inches on our GRR, we dont need double-bow-suspension-constructions! Therefor we take a flat girder and ready it is.
The more impressive a bridge shall come, the mor impressive and "prototypical" the place should be.

Those two truss-bridges are looking great(even though i am not a fried of welding...ist just easy to build...im too far down at the roots depending this.....).

And i like the size u´ve chosen, too:
3 or 4 smaler sections wouldnt fit as bad as 1 big bridge would do (overdone for the narrow-gauge-circus). The 2 sections is exactly the right thing! Congratulations!


Frank


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

This is a bridge I built for our clubs portable layout, since we work from the inside us old timers can't climb under, so a lift up bridge was vital for us. The way I done the alignment, the tracks are always in alignment when the bridge comes down.
When the word bridges comes up, my ears goes up like a dogs ears, I love bridges.






































Texans say Cowboy up, I say lets bridgeup








Dennis


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Dennis, 
Yore up! 
I'd love to see closer up photos of your curved arch bridges in the last photo. The curved box truss is neat looking too. 

John


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Here is a couple shots I had in the file, hope this helps
Dennis


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Frank,

Thanks for the kind words on our bridges. Glad you like them. Eaglewings Iron Craft built them for us.

If anyone is interested, here are large photos of the bridges. 


Large Bridge Photo Link 1

Large Bridge Photo Link 2 





And to all who have posted bridge photos. Thanks for sharing. Very impressive and beautiful bridges.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

I remember this in GR,


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