Bridge info or drawings

[mswjr]

I am modelling a real location,On this location is a double span bridge,I have good photos, But can anyone tell me,If i needed some dimensions or what ever,

  Would anyone have any info on over bridges or under bridges,Who would i ask,would the local council have such a thing,or is it a full stop straight away.

   Thankyou Garry

[Gordon A]

What type of bridge?

A good starting point would be Bridges for Modellers.

 

Gordon A

[mswjr]

What type of bridge?

A good starting point would be Bridges for Modellers.

 

Gordon A

It is an over bridge,Well two over bridges together,The original brick supports are still there,But the iron work is gone,one is original from the broad gauge days,and the one next to it was built at a later date,

I am going to scratch build it from photos that i have,But was just wondering if someone,or place may have records on such things,That would make the model far more realistic.

  Garry

[uax6]

The Great Central Railway has copies of the drawings for the bridges that are on their section of the GC main line. It might be worth contacting them...

 

Andy G

[mswjr]

The Great Central Railway has copies of the drawings for the bridges that are on their section of the GC main line. It might be worth contacting them...

 

Andy G

Thanks for that,But that would be for that location,Where would i get drawing or info for my location here in cheltenham,who would i ask,if the great central has info

               for their bridges then the info may be obtainable,But i do not know who to ask,Council, or what have you, 

[Edwin_m]

Disused railways were either sold off or eventually passed to Highways England (don't ask).  Even if they have records of a bridge most of which no longer exists, I don't think they have the time, funding or inclination to locate them for interested modellers. 

 

If you have some good square-on photos and you can get access to surviving parts of the bridge you should be able to measure a dimension you can match with a photo and use this to scale the rest of the photo to get some pretty accurate dimensions for the whole bridge. 

[mswjr]

Thankyou,I thought that may be the case,Just thought it would be great to model it to the real drawings,And it would be a good keep sake,

                 So i better start brick counting,  Thankyou all Garry

[28XX]

How about checking along the former line for similar bridges which might be extant. Contractors might have used the same design elsewhere.

[Zunnan]

Failing brick counting, a laser rule also works wonders with a site visit where possible...or a mate armed with some polystyrene (as a float) and a tape measure, but do try not to laugh too much as they almost self tip into the canal while measuring up the bridge...been there!

 

The only things to watch for when brick counting is that the ground level can change, sometimes quite dramatically, in the intervening years between photographs and site visits. That and bricks and courses aren't always the same size and shape, so you may have an accurate count, but if each one is 1/16th inch out from the material you're modelling with, overall it adds up. If at all possible with each structure try to identify a suitable datum; a course, or even distinguishable individual brick, that stands out. Parapets, pilasters, abutments all quite susceptible to the ravages of time. Sometimes when I'm 'safety manning' a confined spaces job I'll relax by doodling scale diagrams of former bridges I've worked near or had the chance to measure up, on the odd occasion where I've then gone on to actually model the structure I've already produced the schematics for the structure with a reasonable degree of accuracy, so kind of already have a feel as to whether the model itself will reflect the real thing. This also works in making the inevitable compromises when you need to compress a structure to fit a space but still keep its character. By and large most bridges follow certain fundamentals, so if you are still missing some information its fairly easy to fill the gaps. A book mentioned earlier is pretty much the bible for scratch building bridges, there is little detail which cannot be used to plausibly fill in missing (functional) detail. "Bridges for Modellers: An Illustrated Record of Railway Bridges" by L V wood, ISBN 9780860936541. More than worth its weight.

Edited June 30, 2017 by Zunnan

[mswjr]

Thanks for the replies much appreciated,Just got a copy of the bridges book, e bay=15 pound,looking forward to reading it.

            Garry

[penyghent]

Thanks for the replies much appreciated,Just got a copy of the bridges book, e bay=15 pound,looking forward to reading it.

            Garry

Have you thought of checking with the Network Rail archives, they have some amazing stuff on there! https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/network-rail-archive