October Railroad Model Craftsman magazine

[Bill Gill]

The October issue of RMC has an article I wrote about backdating a Laser Arts kit of the E. Shoreham (Vermont) covered bridge for the 1950s New England Berkshire & Western RR. This was the first article I attempted. It began as a simple review of the kit in 2006, and expanded. It then sat in limbo for years while that section of the layout remained incomplete, so no final photos of the model in place were be taken.

Last Spring, when the club got notice that the layout had to be moved, I realized that might be last opportunity to get a shot of the bridge on the branchline. A quick mockup scene was set up and a snapshot taken to evaluate the potential for matching the desired protoype view.

There is a related article pending (no publication date yet) about recreating the prototype background view for the layout backdrop, a view long lost to time. I used GIMP (free open source software similar to PhotoShop) to create the mural. I then used GIMP to add that virtual backdrop to the snapshot, as seen here. The quick photo shoot showed we have lot of work to do, but are on the right track, and the scene will be completed in the new location when the layout is reassembled.

The black & white prototype view from our collection was used as guide and reference. It was taken by James Macfarlane c.1950 and depicts the last train to cross the bridge. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

[Bill Gill]

Here's photo of the Laser Arts kit built as intended after 1983 restoration of the bridge as part of hike and bike trail.

[finescalerr]

I just received my copy. I saw your article but haven't had a chance yet to read it or the rest of the magazine. Congratulations. -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

Congrats!

[Hydrostat]

Congrats! What might have been the reason to cover the bridge's framework or was this a quite usual kind of bridge in early american railroading years?

Cheers,
Volker

[Hauk]

This is what Wikipedia has to say on the matter:
"A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges typically have a lifespan of only 20 years because of the effects of rain and sun, but a covered bridge could last 100 years."

[Bill Gill]

Thank you, Ray, Volker and Hauk.

Volker, Hauk's reply "covered" your question. This bridge was originally built around 1897, some construction features suggest maybe even a little before that. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration once listed over 14000 covered bridges in the U.S.A. And a 1954 survey counted 1,617. Most were highway bridges, which were popular in parts of the country into the middle of the 20th century.
People think of covered bridges as a New England thing, but Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Oregon each had more than Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine combined. Some more recent counts say there are covered 500-600 bridges still standing. The bridge in the article may be one of 8 remaining railroad covered bridges in the country.

The branchline that the bridge was on closed in 1951 and the bridge sat there until it was restored as part of a hike and bike trail in 1983. It was restored again in 2007, so the main timbers have held up well.

By the way, although you can't see the framing in the photos, this is a Howe truss bridge.
His design used iron truss rods to increase the carrying capacity of his bridges. His first railroad bridge was built in 1838 and by the 1840s many countries adopted his design, as far away as Russia. His design began the transition to all iron or steel bridges.

Another feature of his bridges, they were sort of the IKEA of their day: They were shipped as "kits" of precut timbers with instructions and they could be assembled by ordinary workers without special training or tools. I don't know if the "kits" came with a small hex wrench

[Bill Gill]

This was the first laser kit I assembled and it needed a fair amount of work to backdate it from the 1983 version of the kit to its 1950 appearance.

Here are a couple more photos. The sepia image is a photo of the prototype. If anyone is an expert on the Howe truss design, you may notice there are some dicrepancies in the kit's timber frame as seen in the model interior view. I decided not to attempt to correct them in order to preserve the structural integrity of the model. They are not visible under ordinary viewing conditions when the bridge is on the layout.

Also included are the abutments that I scratchbuilt out of styrene to approximate the prototype abutments. The prototype stonework varied somewhat in different photos because of repairs done at different times, so my stonework is approximate. I posted a picture of the abutments some time ago, but thought that adding it to this bridge thread would put them in context.

[Ray Dunakin]

Beautiful!

[Bill Gill]

Thanks, Ray. It was an interesting project to "re-engineer" to work on the club layout.