# trestle ideas



## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

Newbie making a new twice around layout and part of it is a raised figure 8 over and under and need to buy or fabricate a trestle and 180 turn of elevated roadway.


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## tr1 (Mar 9, 2013)

*Trestle ideas with options and elevations*

I really do not know what to do about the curved elevated sections. With The straight bridges there is a variety of makers Atlas have several. Walthers corner stone have several straight
bridges. No curved ones I'm aware of. Atlas also has piers or abridge abutments for elevating
your track. Atlas has many variations of methods, to model or represent the supporting of the heavy loads. That are encountered in real life also you can use wood which will be a little
more substantial representation of supports in the real world. After all that's what your trying too represent. The main thing you should remember, Your not in a race to finish. Step back and ponder. On what to do. Take a look at a Model Railroader magazine, At the library in your area. That should help you and give you ideas. Having a little money always makes
things a little easier. Your local hobby shop will help you. Start saving now. This hobby can get
expensive. It looks like your off to a good start. Good luck. tr1


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

tr1 said:


> I really do not know what to do about the curved elevated sections. With The straight bridges there is a variety of makers Atlas have several. Walthers corner stone have several straight
> bridges. No curved ones I'm aware of. Atlas also has piers or abridge abutments for elevating
> your track. Atlas has many variations of methods, to model or represent the supporting of the heavy loads. That are encountered in real life also you can use wood which will be a little
> more substantial representation of supports in the real world. After all that's what your trying too represent. The main thing you should remember, Your not in a race to finish. Step back and ponder. On what to do. Take a look at a Model Railroader magazine, At the library in your area. That should help you and give you ideas. Having a little money always makes
> ...


Every now and then I find that I too can contribute something, you guys may know this already but I just stumbled across, www.hobbylinc.com which has laser cut flexible foam inclines and risers from a 2 degree to 4 degree inclines and risers 2 inch to 4 inch and they are very reasonably priced and they give a perfect incline curved to straight or a combination. They are as a base for track and roadbed and are glued in place. I came across a bunch of instructional video's on you tube about them and they seem absolute perfect for what I want to do. On my setup I would need one set of 3 inch risers and two sets of 3 degree inclines to make a perfect up around, over and down for my figure 8


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

You might want to do a scratch built trestle for the sections
that cross over another track or road.

I found it's a lot easier to do than it looks. Somewhere on
the Forum a member showed
how to make a glue jig for each trestle section. (I did a search
but did not find the thread) I used his idea to make the
trestles for my sand and gravel pit. (see my post IT'S THE PITS for
pictures. You simply draw, on a sheet
of paper, the timbers that will make up each trestle section. I looked
up pictures of trestles via Google. Then
cut small balsa pieces to go on either side of each timber to stabilize them.
Then simply lay in the balsa timbers and glue. Avoid gluing to
the guide pieces. When the glue sets, remove, with a long thin
blade knife, and make the next one.

When you have enough trestles, make another glue jig. I drew
the long stringer timbers that will connect the trestles and support the
track on the paper. The drawing included the location of
the individual trestles. Then apply double stick Scotch tape. Lay
the long timbers on the tape where drawn. I had small clamps to
hold each trestle upright but found them not needed when I
glued the trestles to the stringers. You glue the trestles upside
down with the headers to the stringers. The stringers should be long
enough to fit a 'platform' where the trestles abuts your W/S 
support system. Choose the color you want and paint it
before installation. I glued a thin strip of cereal box type
cardboard to make a base which is later covered with sceneic
materials but stabilizes the structure. You may want to add
cross bracing timbers connecting the trestles as is seen in
the proto trestle pics.

Don


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## soccercoach (Apr 26, 2012)

Using the Woodland scenics risers on the 3" or 4" height the ends peak sharply. Use risers 24" or longer to level the track before the bridge. That is a 2" riser and 1" or more to level the track and foam or cork roadbed. I learned this the hard way. Also don't get to carried away with risers, we ended up with no way to ad switches, too many mtns.


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## midlifekrisiz (Jan 29, 2013)

I would make my own trestles if i was you (i have made 2 so far for my layout and one for an N gauge for a friend) and like the previouse poster said you would be surprised at how easy it really is.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

BK,

My HO layout uses essentially the same track setup. Though the trestles on mine are not all that authentic looking (quick n dirty for the kids, but not purist), perhaps there's something in my layout that might give you an idea or two. See here:

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=2951

TJ


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## David-Stockwell (Sep 21, 2010)

Hi Bkubiak,
The suggestion of DonR, building the trestle upside down is how I have built all my trestles in the past. Just for your information, I used basswood for all my trestles. Balsa wood is too soft. Draw your trestle radius on some paper and attached it to a piece of foam core board. Lay your stringers out on the radius and position them with straight pins around the curve. I made a jig for my trestle bents from basswood. I have made several trestles in the past and I needed something to last for a while. You can also draw a jig on paper and then cover it with wax paper to build each trestle, using straight pins to hold the members in place while the glue is drying. Below is the picture of one of my trestle jigs and a couple of pictures of curved bridges. Since your trestle is going to make a 180 degree turn you might want to consider having a land break in the middle. Just a thought!! 
Cheers, Dave


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## Bwells (Mar 30, 2014)

Don't forget about the "cookie cutter method". This where you drop the elevated section down and draw a line 1/2 wider than the track. Use a sabre saw to cut this line from the flat area of your transition. It looks like you have some AC 1/2 ply so this would work well. The start of the cuts would give a nice transition between flat and incline and you can raise the ply to whatever height you want. Stop the cuts where there is a crossing and start again. This would be where a bridge comes into play. The tracks on the left side look really close so for scenery, you will have a cliff. Not sure if this makes sense, if not, let me know and I can try to explain better. Brian


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