# Building a Trestle



## rsmproductions (Jan 5, 2008)

Greetings Everyone,

It's been a long time away from this website as well as garden railroading. My 4 1/2 year old is getting me back in the game of running the trains and now we have summer project of creating a trestle on our Redwood Creek and Tallulah Ridge RR. 

Can anyone point me in a good direction for ideas, plans and tips, as well as good materials for building a trestle? I sure would appreciate it. Along with this project, we have some refurbishing of existing buildings that are looking a bit haggard.

I appreciate any advice you can give. We live in Central California so we have pretty mild weather year round..gets really hot for about a month in the summer and down to freezing for a bit in winter...otherwise pretty easy going.

Thanks,
Richard


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Try here. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.co.uk/trestle.html 

regards 

ralph


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Richard

The Following three links point to copies of the respective publication on building trestles in the real world, but you should be able to get all the information you need depending on just how accurate to the prototypes you wish to be. The book is available in PDF format that can be downloaded for free, you can also read them on-line too (see the "View the book" box on the left side of the page).

A Treatise on Wooden Trestle Bridges According to the Present Practice on American railroads (c. 1891)[/b]

A Treatise on Wooden Trestle Bridges According to the Present Practice on American railroads (c. 1897)[/b]

A Treatise on Wooden Trestle Bridges According to the Present Practice on American railroads (c. 1900)[/b]


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## rhyman (Apr 19, 2009)

Here is the link to the on-line version of a clinic I presented at the 20th National Narrow Gauge Convention back in 2000. It specifically deals with building realistic scale models of the trestles found on the Rio Grande Southern 3-foot narrow gauge line in Colorado. There are photos of sample trestle components from different RGS trestles, all built in 1:20.3 scale.

Trestles - RGS Style


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## Mike O (Jan 2, 2008)

Steve, Bob, 

Both of these sites are are excellent. Thanks for the links. 

Mike


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## rsmproductions (Jan 5, 2008)

Thank you for the links. I'm looking forward to a longer weekend to be able to do some research beginning with your suggested links. I'll keep you posted as progress goes on the construction.

Richard


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## jebouck (Jan 2, 2008)

Plans, wood and parts:

http://web.mac.com/gardentexture/Site/Home.html


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Some basic info would help... What kind of tools do you have? 
See, I've got a couple of table saws and a band saw, so I make my own scale lumber. 
I have to use cedar because termites have developed a taste for redwood out here. 
I have a source for my wood and Home Despot sells dog-eared cedar fencing which can be ripped for lumber. 
Either cedar or rewood will do fine in your environment. 
Otherwise, I'd get scale basswood from a hobby shop, but that gets expensive rather quickly, plus it should be bug proofed for out doors 

For construction I use Tite-bond III and a 23 ga. pin nailer. I got a cheapo Harbor Freight (discount tool supplier) pinner about 4 years ago and it still works fine. Pinning each glue joint as you go really speeds up construction as you can rely on the physical bond before the glue sets to move assemblies out of the way. 
Warning... the grain of the wood can do funny things to these pins, there's a black dot on my left forefinger where a pin came out the side as I held 2 half inch sq timbers together! I knew better, but was in a hurry! It's safer to shoot across the grain than to try to go with, but as things get complicated you learn to adjust... like using a simple clamp. 

Russ Miller recently did a thread here about making a trestle from plastic parts, no suprise as his TAP Plastics is a sponsor here. A drill and hand saw should suffice for tools. 

One variation I make is I use 3 stringers on top of my trestles as my track floats on top and when it expands in the heat it moves to the outside of my curves, not so much to chase the rails as to keep the ties flat. My summer heat gets over 110F way too often! 

I hope this helps and welcome back. 

Happy Rails, 
John


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Richard, 
It sounds like you have your heart set on a trestle bridge, and I totally dig that and there are lots of good plans posted above for building those but I just wanted to mention that the latest issue of Garden Railways has a nice article on building a truss bridge out of cedar, etc. If you need another bridge elsewhere on your layout it looks like it could be another project that would be fun to do and you could possibly involve your child/children in building it with you. If not with power tools then with the staining, assembly etc. 

Here's another site on garden train trestle plans:
http://personalweb.donet.com/~paulrace/trains/primer/bridges/trestle/trestle.htm 


Enjoy! 
S


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

Hello You have already received lots of good info. Here is my experience. I have power tools ie. table saw, pin nailer and these certainly make the job easier but you could do it with hand tools. I have used mahogany on my trestles, it is real hardwood that really resists rot and dulls down from red to a rich brown with age just watch out for splinters they are tiny and sharp. Plus when ripped on atable saw their is alot of fine dust created so cut it outside and wear a mask. 
A straight trestle is easier to build then a curved so plan where your bridges will go. Get a plan or build a jig so you can mass produce the bents. Most of my trestles I have built indoors as a solid unit then I moved them outside to install. I'm facing building one now that will have to built in place on a 2% grade under 8' diameter curved track. A real challenge for my skills. 
Trestles are really good at catching and keeping leaves and other debri so keep that in mind. My bents are usually placed about 6" apart and I have a minimum of cross bracing to keep out the debri but they still manage to catch alot. 
Good luck and have fun a trestle can add alot of drama to any RR. 
Todd


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## rsmproductions (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks again everyone for the great information...I have been enjoying a long Saturday delving into the various links you have provided. My son is rather anxious to get started and I'm dealing with just getting the trains running again after a long haitus.

As I figure out what my next move will be I will keep you posted with the progress.

Thanks,
Richard


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