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Plate Girder Bridges


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I'm building a bridge to cover my station throat at an angle . As a result it's about 3 ft long. I've got some Plastruct I girders which I'm using for base and they will be supported by surplus Hornby inclined piers . I would quite like to finish it off with a plate girder but the only ones I've seen are Peco LK10 ones , which are not ideal, being relatively short and not enough of a span for the throat. Does anyone have any ideas as to where to get plate girders to suit?

 

Thanks in advance for any help

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I have constructed a number of purpose made girders using black card, occasionally with balsa wood for the web. You need to think 4mm to the foot.  Steel plate perhaps 2 inches maybe 3 inches thick.  Therefore you need card in the order of 1mm thick.  Use multi layers if you need a greater thickness.  

 

Maybe some food for thought.

 

Ray

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There's also the Dapol turntable kit which can supply plate girder sides 25cm long.

 

I'm not clear on what spans you are trying to create to complete your 3ft total.  If the only intermediate supports are the Hornby piers it sounds very long for plate girders.  There are a few people on here who know the engineering side much better than me so perhaps they'll comment.

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Thanks all. Yes I know Teaky, engineering wise it might not be superb but I like the look of the Hornby high level piers and I've got a fair few of them I'm trying to find a use for. My original idea was to get the Plastruct I Girders running on top of the high level piers, surface of foam board and the fencing from the inclined piers to top it off. Brick work at both ends to finish off. Since then I thought plate girder better, the piers need to be at the end of the spans and the problem is the span of the LK10 is not enough. Will look at the Wills Varigirder. Looks like that's a possibility.

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What sort of era is this bridge from. I've built some plate girders in brass on my 7mm layout. I've got the original plans so know how they were put together before long strips were available. They were all made from 6' high lengths of 1/2" steel that were usually 9' or 12' long with the upper and lower flanges made from multiple layers of 1/2" plate. These were all held together by a variety of riveted T and L girders. In 4mm they could all be done in plasticard. The bridge in question was built in 1911 but the construction methods were pretty standard until welding became more readily avavailable.

 

Here's one of the bridge in question

post-6824-0-63760400-1454191447_thumb.jpg

This is one of the girders under construction#

post-6824-0-77035000-1454191475_thumb.jpg

And another.

post-6824-0-00043700-1454191499_thumb.jpg

The T and L girders were all made from 1/2" steel stock and were at regular 2' and 3' intervals.

 

Jamie

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Well worth considering a copy of this book.

 

http://www.gettextbooks.com/isbn/9780860932260/

A book every modeller should have. It has been a reference point for all the layouts I have built or been involved in. It even has information on Jamie's long curved bridge.

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At that price I'd expect the author to come to my house and design and build it for me. Bit cheaper from certain online booksellers and real bookshops in the UK.

Funny! It was intended as a link for the book, NOT a recommendation to buy it via Oz! I really wasn't going to waste my time looking for a local source near you.

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At that price I'd expect the author to come to my house and design and build it for me. Bit cheaper from certain online booksellers and real bookshops in the UK.

You can get it off amazon for around £15

 

Can't remember where I got mine but may have been cheaper than that

 

Brian

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At that price I'd expect the author to come to my house and design and build it for me. Bit cheaper from certain online booksellers and real bookshops in the UK.

I had the same reaction. If you look closely the big number is in Dominion Pesos, although confusingly they use the Dollar symbol for them.

 

John.

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