Bridges... there are so many types and styles of bridges and each bridge is unique in its own way. As an engineer myself, bridges have always been an interest of mine. The key is to make the bridge not only functional and safe but also beautiful in its own way. Of course, what is beautiful can vary greatly from person to person but traditional with details yet clean often seems to win.
Viaducts, such as seen below, are interesting bridges due to their repeating archways. Repeating archways have been a part of classic architecture for thousands of years. These types of railroad bridges are solid bridges that hold up well to fast moving water below.
In this shot below, we get a peak at a truss bridge over a river. I'm still not completely happy with the truss bridge I built for our garden railroad so I shot photos of truss bridges whenever I saw one. Maybe all these photos will help me figure out what is bothering me about my own bridge...
When I painted my truss bridge black (one of my early versions of the paint job), I made the mistake of using a true black spray paint. The mistake is it was true black. The black needs to be toned down as seen in this photo below. You need to add a bit of white or gray to tone down the black (to lighten it slightly) and then add a slight bit of red to get the hue away from blue. This bridge, below, is painted just right....
This bridge, below, is certainly unique. It is a simple but interesting span. I might be inclined to paint it though... but then, what color? ...what shade? It is a nice example of a concrete bridge span.
Below is a rather tall trestle bridge. I built a shorter trestle bridge for our garden railroad. The unique feature of my trestle bridge is that it is spanning a long compound curve. This one, below, is spanning a very deep crevice...
This drawbridge, below, is for the true rivet-counters. This operating drawbridge has so much detail that even the rivets are realistic... they lift this drawbridge every half hour during the show while they give a short presentation about all of its fine details.
A truss bridge of a different color, below...
A deck truss girder bridge...
Here is another viaduct, below, but it is unfinished making it look a bit toy-like... painting this bridge realistically with some weathering and moss fine details would do wonders for this bridge...
A nice example of a plate girder bridge...
And, another truss bridge of a different color...
And, lastly, a plate girder bridge that is weathered and sporting some hideous graffiti (I'm one who believes ALL graffiti is hideous... it is a crime, not art)... I think this bridge would look better with no graffiti and a bit more weathering... I do like the rust and the under-bridge lighting on this one though...
The sheer number of incredible models on all these layouts at this train show is amazing and worth the trip to this enormous train show. I'll be revisiting this blog entry after I set up the bridge on my garden railroad again in the spring. I still need to figure out what is bothering me about my truss bridge! Then again... I may set it up again and think it looks great! Time will tell.
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