Scattered Thoughts . . .

Y ou don't really realize it while you are walking around Carillon Park, but there are quite a few historic bridges in this park.  They sort of get lost to the main points of interest and get treated more like a way to get from one point of interest to another.  I've included a few bridges here... This lightweight steel truss bridge, below, is from 1881 and was designed and built by the Columbia Bridge Works of Dayton.  The building straight ahead is the Transportation Center which is really a locomotive roundhouse.  There are tracks that allow display trains to move in and out of the Transportation Center.   It is incredibly difficult to see in this photo, below, but, if you look closely, you'll be able to pick out Lukey standing on the other end of this bridge capturing a photo of me!   Now we are walking underneath the Columbia Bridge Works lightweight steel truss bridge...   This last photo isn't of any historic bridge but it is a bi...

B ridges...  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... ...