# Trestle construction



## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

Well after a ton of reading and research on what kind of trestle to make I made my mind up. I am using 5/8 Western Red Cedar fence boards at 5 feet long. I ripped 7 boards down to 5/8 square and made a jig that seems to speed things up. Things are going wonderful. I know that 1/2 square is the right scale but after making a few prototypes I like the 5/8 square and it makes my life easier on the table saw. 

I will have pictures posted later this afternoon but there is one question I have. I am trying to find out what the spacing should be between the trestles? I was thinking it should be 12 inch apart but it looks too far apart. With all the information I did get I never did find out haw far to space them....LOL.. Keep in mind that my entire layout will be on the Trestle 16 inch high and shaped as a triangle.


Pictures can be seen at my web site. http://users.eastlink.ca/~brownscountry/Gscale.htm


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## tom h (Jan 2, 2008)

I had asked that a while ago and got the answer of 6 in apart

tom h


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

After much research and trying to decide what kind of Trestle to make and what to make it out of I finally came to a decision and began production. I began with a 5/8 Western Red Cedar fence board 5 feet long which will make 3 trestles. I then made one free hand at 16 inch high then made a template or Jig to speed up production as recommended by reading MLS forums.










I am in the process of making 20 of them to start with and then plan to join them together in modules for ease of assembly out doors. Once I get it all figured out I will then purchase more wood to continue.


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## Chrisp (Jan 3, 2008)

If you are modeliing 1:20, I find that around 7-8 inches apart for the bents looks about right.


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## tj-lee (Jan 2, 2008)

I've used 6 inch spacing as a general guideline usually modified to distribute the bents evenly across the span I'm bridging.

This trestle is about 7.5 inch spacing between bents (center to center):










This one is closer to 6 inch spacing:










On the first I used X bracing but here I did not just to change the look. Hope this is helpful.

Best,
TJ


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

Here is 1 foot space


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

When I started building bents for trestles, I stayed with 6-7 inch spacing for everything. That spaciing seems fo the best for looks for me...


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## ohioriverrailway (Jan 2, 2008)

Like he said, 6 to 7 seems to "look" the best. If it was taller then 3 bays, then maybe go to 7 to 8 or so . . .


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

Constructing the stringers and ties are posing more of a challenge then the Trestles themselves. Trying to bend 5/8 inch square to a form a 10 foot diameter track is not working out well for me. Next I will have to try and soak the stringers then try bending them.


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## tom h (Jan 2, 2008)

Navy Tech, when I did mine, and the trestles were 6 in apart, on corners I cut the stringers on angles to fit around with the track, dont have pics of it, the farther apart its harder to make the angle fit with the track, but when they are close you can follow it better. I hope I explained it good enough to understand it without pics. 

tom h


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## tj-lee (Jan 2, 2008)

This shows an 8 foot diameter Aristo curve section stringer assemble in the jig. I've a similar jig for 10 foot curve pieces but don't have a picture handy. That's why the first trestle picture I posted had ~7.5 inches on center, it was made up of 10 foot curves.










Using the track as a guide I glue and brad the wooden ties. Note that there are three pieces of stringer for each rail for each piece of track. No bending required. Pop (carefully) the section out of the jig and it's ready to go on the bents.










I space the wood ties so the Aristo plastic ties mesh and are held fairly securely. Later I add side trim and then stain and oil everything.










Hope this is helpful.

Best,
TJ


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## Dave Ottney (Jan 2, 2008)

Now that's impressive. Can't wait to see more progress. 
Dave


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

If you click of my signature link below, you will see mine are 8 inch story height and 8 inch bent spacing. I am pleased with this dimension, as it represents 16 feet or less at 1:20.3


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Do you have a band saw or a scroll saw? What about notching them. Maybe cut them 3/4 of the way through then bending them. maybe the kerf of the saw blade will be knough Also try putting glue in the notches to hold the curve and seal the wood.


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

I do not have a band saw but am capable of notching. I am not totally sure what you mean but very interested as to your thoughts on this. Do you mean adding a series of relief cuts in the stringer to allow it to bend easier?


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

Tj-lee I like what you have done it looks nice.

I have 2 issues with how you join the stringers together.
First is that is a lot of lumber to jusr rest the track on. 
The second is That I am not sure that I want to add ties between the actual rail ties. It does look beefy but I would like to have the freedom of moving the track around on top of the stringers.

I would like to have the stringers long and thin as the rail ties and attach directly to the trestle so that I just have to place the track on top and add a couple of nails here and there to hold it down.


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## chrisb (Jan 3, 2008)

If the bent spacing is 7 inches, I might try to do 14 inch stringers with mitered ends then I would stagger the joints in the stringers, in other words inside and outside
stringers joints are not on the same bents. On the trestle that I did I used my brad nailer quite a bit. But I think I started drilling pilot holes and using some stainless
steel square drive molding screws thru the bent cap into some of the piles.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John J on 12/18/2008 4:57 AM


Do you have a band saw or a scroll saw? What about notching them. Maybe cut them 3/4 of the way through then bending them. maybe the kerf of the saw blade will be knough Also try putting glue in the notches to hold the curve and seal the wood. 

What John J is referring to is explained in the following...

[url]http://www.woodworkingspecialops.com/page2.htm[/b][/url]

The following is a reference on how the 1:1's did it, and modeling the same.

Trestles - RGS Style / Part 1[/b]

Trestles - RGS Style / Part 2[/b]


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

Here is a picture of the jig to make the trestles. As you can see it does not take much to make and can be made out of any old scraps at you may have.


Below is a picture of two sections of threstles. Each section is for one curved piece of track


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

I agree that at 7 inch apart it looks much better. I am still working out the stringer problem as I do not wish to add ties to the top of my stringers when the track has ties already there. I may just attach the stringer to the trestle and that's it.


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

Try cutting some wood 1/4" by 3/4". Make a jig and bend the wood around the jig, glue and clamp the wood till dry.


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## Bob Rich (Jan 4, 2008)

Navytech,

There are a couple of solutions for the stringers on top of the trestles. 


 Cut thin strips of the cedar (~1/8” - 3/32"X5/8") and soak in water bend them to a form. Lay three to five strips together to form one stringer the length of your curve. You will probably want to make at least three stringers this way, one under each rail and one in the center. Glue and clamp then nail them together with a pin nailer. When the glue is dry insert spacer blocks with glue and nails at least every other trestle position to help hold the curves to the right radius.
 
 The other solution is to use straight pieces of 5/8” timber cut to short lengths and laid at an angle across the tops of the trestle bents. The 1:1 practice was to span over at least three bents before cutting the timber to an angle.
 I hope this CRUDE drawing shows what I mean well enough. 

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/bobrich/Trestle%20Stringers.bmp


Sorry with the new repy format I haven't figured out how to make the image appear.

HAH I figured it out after all. 












Regards,


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

Now that I have a good start I would like to grade my trestles. At the moment my trestles are 16inch high and I would like to drop down to 8 inch trestles. I have read that I should not go more than 3% grade. So my big question is how long of a distance do I need to go to drop 8 inch? Each bent is 7 inch apart so I also need to know how much to shorten each Bent as I go. For some reason I am having trouble wrapping my head around this.

Maybe I should be looking at how many feet do I need to go to drop one inch I want it to be a nice smooth run so should I go with a 2% grade to be safe?


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## Marauderer (Jan 5, 2008)

3" drop in 100" is a 3% grade. 100" =~ 8 ft. So ~ 8 ft X 3 = 24 ft to drop 9" at a 3% grade. This is just rough math and is pretty close. I am sure some one will be along with exact figures.


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## Marauderer (Jan 5, 2008)

I looked up the location Sackville and see that I was by there in September of 2006. Very nice area.


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

Here is what I am looking at. with a 13" drop from one end of the track to the other I need to adjust the height of all the bents going down the slope.










I laid the track on the ground to get a better idea of size and shape before the blizzard tonight.


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

I have made a couple of bridges and I am looking for ways to connect them to my trestles to make it strong yet allow for easy removal. Any ideas?

How do you all connect your stuff together?


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## Idraw4u (Aug 19, 2008)

NavyTech - 
Great job thus far. Fantastic work... for someone that considers himself new to the hobby your off to a heck of a start. 

I noted your name and location but am unclear if your in the U.S. Navy (I would hate to presume that). If however you are - 
See if you can lay your hands on some of the SeaBee BU rate manuals. 
Back when I was in we had to learn all of this type of stuff during the heavy timber phase of training. There is a LOT of GREAT INFORMATION in thoes manuals if you can get them and all of it can be "scaled" down. 

Thought maybe that might help. 

Todd


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

To answer what Navy I am in I am in the Canadian Navy. I do not think I will be able to get those manuals.

I dry fitted my bridge and it looks great. Once I figure out how to connect and stabilize it I will be happy.


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## Marauderer (Jan 5, 2008)

It really looks great but the bridge looks like it is sagging in the center. Not good. You might consider some reinforcement.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Pretty long span. May to insert a middle pier for some support if running haeavy trains. Later RJD


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## GG (Jan 1, 2009)

From a structural perspective and somewhat attached to that business, a bit of sag looks good. ( I'm an older guy and am biased.) . Weather the face a bit and you could have an art deco structure in the 21'st century. Suggest maybe a multiple hour run dry testing with the heaviest 3 cars/locos with a 1.5 weight factor applied (extra weights on each car) . Railing and rigging provides the support and adds to asthetics. Secret I presume is that you have truly reinforced the joinery and environmental protection is at its best yes??? Should last for years and your family will enjoy sitting by the structure admiring the limited sway & shake of the tressel as the train passes by... 

Very classy and well designed. 

gg


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

My main question is how to attach the bridge to the trestle on either end? Right now only one inch of the two stringers are resting on the trestle. I could just pre-drill and screw it down but it does not seem to be enough. 


I have been looking at other peoples layouts but can not see how they connect by looking at the photo's.


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

I have another question about grade. everyone say's 3% is the max grade but what does that work out to? How many inches per foot can I go up?

My yard drops 13 inches over a 17 foot span in one direction and back up 13 inches after a 90 degree turn. I was just going to adjust the trestle lengths to keep it level but would rather keep all trestles the same.


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

*Here's how I attached a deck girder bridge to trestlework. I also ran stringers beneath the trestle bents that were buried beneath rock cover to help keep everything plumb and even.*


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

Well I now have the trestle all laid down out doors and it is a start. I still have stability issues but I will resolve them over the summer once I decided how to do it.










The train runs well I just need to line things up better once I get a more solid footing under the truss system. I may lay roof shingles under to flatten things out and prevent from sinking.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Prototypically straight sections of timber connected the bents. 
For strength, I built mine with glue lam bent stringers. I chose to use boards rather than beams. Instead of thinking thick, I ripped 6' lengths of varing thicknesses of cedar. On a 2 x 6 with nails I curved each section to my desired radius, thinner ones snapped and thicker ones wouldn't bend. I settled on apox; 3/16ths x 1/2 in. I use 3 stringers, each 2 boards thick. 
On a board large enough to lay out the centerline of the curve, I started with the center spline, one board inside the line and the other outside, placing brads where needed to hold the curve, the I glued another board to the first with more brads to hold it close. Next came spacers so that the outer spline would be under the rails of the trackThe blocks were glued and Pinned (23 ga. pins) aprox 6" apart (I didn't try curving the edges to match the profile, too many to make) so I allowed for glue to fill the gaps and narrowed them slightly and cut them short. They are spacers not structural, so glue and a couple of pins shot at angles allowed me to move on to the next. 
There are a couple of advantages to the curved spline stringer as a starting point in assembly. I make things in sub-assemblies, all the bents are made first. Any bridge sections are also ready. 
1. After my glue and pinning was done, I ran my belt sander along the bottom to true it up (I'm ripping all of my cedar from a salvaged house roof, the boards are 2 1/2 thick and 16' long and taper slightly around 16" wide... oh yeah it's pecky cedar so I'm dodging the pecks). 
2. The bents are attached upside down with glue and more pins making a very strong structure. Lateral bracing and angled boards are easily attached. 
3. turned over; the belt sander again and the middle of my trestle is a 90 degree curve, so I sanded in a little super-elevation leveling out for the straight aways. A pleasure to watch my trains 'lean into' the curve... 

I put the trestle in place and then bring the ground up to meet it. Gravel under the bents for drainage and then sand over that, rain brought in the dirt. Seems I'm not alone in doing this! 

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss218/Totalwrecker/how2hidebaseoftrestle01.jpg 

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss218/Totalwrecker/VailandTotalWreckRR01.jpg 

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss218/Totalwrecker/RR007.jpg 

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss218/Totalwrecker/RR006.jpg 

John 

As you can see the pins do cause rapid coloring to the wood, but I kind of like it. Also under Jupiter you can see some pecks in the wood, but it doesn't affect the overall strength.


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## njp (Dec 6, 2008)

A couple of points to consider for any trestle....
Trees only get so high, and the section usable in a trestle is shorter than that. The max recommended (std.gauge) bent length is about 25 feet. Higher then that will require added storys.
If it is a driven pile trestle, the bents are round. A framed bent uses square bents and will have a sill and sit on a foundation.
Remember to batter the bent but straighten the stringers


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

This is how I did the trestle I built for a friend. Sorry I dont have any photos anymore until Dave takes some. I also handlaid the rail on the deck.


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## David Rose (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is a photo of Jasons trestle easily supporting a live steam K-27. AS a matter of fact we are bulding another *wood* trestle soon...


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

This is the same construction I used only I did not make wood rail ties. Instead I just laid the track on top of the stringers. The trestle itself is very strong, but the 1 inch pea stone that it rests on is not stable therefore I need to get some stronger footing under the trestle.


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## rhyman (Apr 19, 2009)

I'm a new member and happened to be scrolling through the various forums when I saw this thread. I was happy to see the message from Steve C. that referenced my on-line RGS Trestle Clinic from one of the National Narrow Gauge Conventions a few years back. As part of that clinic I actually built a few sample 1:20.3 trestle sections from various bridges on the RGS high line near Ophir, Colorado. I gave all of those away at the convention. Now that I'm getting into outdoor railroading, I plan on building several of those trestles again. As for the bent spacing question, the prototypes used 16 feet center-to-center as a quasi-standard. In 1:20.3 scale, that works out to about 9.45 inches. 

Bob Hyman 
http://members.cox.net/sn3nut/ 




The following is a reference on how the 1:1's did it, and modeling the same. 

Trestles - RGS Style / Part 1 

Trestles - RGS Style / Part 2


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## LOST AND CONFUSED (Mar 7, 2008)

I would suggest that you put up 6 INCH side walls on the most curved parts I cut down 1 by 6 pressure treated wood to 1/4 inch so it is flexable to bend around the curve ,I have over 200 feet of raised track in my 550 foot layout. I got tiired of cleaning and repairing my engines when they wood fly off a small twig will cause big problems I really like your trestle nice work .I found its best to dig a trench and add gravel then sand on top before putting trestle outside so wood will not rot out and have to be replaced .I learned this by doing just that replacing pieces. Two years in the wood seems to be holding up. Remenmber to run your trains during construction if you can running is half the fun .


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