Just a quick note to let members know there is a Bridge list at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BridgeModeling>.

Also, When moving bridges on rail cars in the steam era, was it more common to move the bridge in a gondola with flatcars to take care of overhang or using all flatcars?

Peter



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On Jul 1, 2008, at 11:13 PM, PBowers wrote:

Also, When moving bridges on rail cars in the steam era, was it more
common to move the bridge in a gondola with flatcars to take care of
overhang or using all flatcars?

Peter,

It depends...
- what cars did the railroad have available in their fleet?
- what were the specs of the bridge? (weight, length, width)

Certainly, many railroads reused bridges and for smaller ones, transported them intact from site to site. Note that through girder bridges would need to be transported on their sides for clearance reasons. Larger bridges were usually disassembled, transported and reassembled on site. That latter traffic pattern would be nearly indistinguishable from new bridge pieces being shipped other that the point of origin differing and perhaps the old bridge being weathered (although it is highly likely that it would get repainted in the process). Girders up to about 60' in length were often transported in 65' mill gons. Longer girders were still transported in the same type of car, but with idler flat cars at either end. In this case, the girder was supported in the middle with the ends free. Alternatively, girders could also be loaded onto flat cars such as the PRR F22 "gun" flats, where the ends of the girders were supported and pivoted on the flat cars and if the girder was long enough, another flat car acted as an idler between the two carrying the load.

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/index.pl/bruce_f._smith2

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
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On Jul 2, 2008, at 7:44 AM, Bruce Smith wrote:

On Jul 1, 2008, at 11:13 PM, PBowers wrote:

Also, When moving bridges on rail cars in the steam era, was it more
common to move the bridge in a gondola with flatcars to take care of
overhang or using all flatcars?

Peter,

It depends...
- what cars did the railroad have available in their fleet?
- what were the specs of the bridge? (weight, length, width)

Certainly, many railroads reused bridges and for smaller ones,
transported them intact from site to site. Note that through girder
bridges would need to be transported on their sides for clearance
reasons. Larger bridges were usually disassembled, transported and
reassembled on site. That latter traffic pattern would be nearly
indistinguishable from new bridge pieces being shipped other that the
point of origin differing and perhaps the old bridge being weathered
(although it is highly likely that it would get repainted in the
process). Girders up to about 60' in length were often transported
in 65' mill gons. Longer girders were still transported in the same
type of car, but with idler flat cars at either end. In this case,
the girder was supported in the middle with the ends free.
Alternatively, girders could also be loaded onto flat cars such as
the PRR F22 "gun" flats, where the ends of the girders were supported
and pivoted on the flat cars and if the girder was long enough,
another flat car acted as an idler between the two carrying the load.

I will add to Bruce's useful summary that I have photos showing all
of the shipping arrangements he describes, including large
prestressed concrete bridge girders with each one loaded on three 60'
flat cars, one car under each end and an idler in the center. Such
shipments were infrequent enough that it's hardly possible to
determine what the "most common" method was.

Richard Hendrickson

On Jul 1, 2008, at 11:13 PM, PBowers wrote:

Also, When moving bridges on rail cars in the

steam era, was it more

common to move the bridge in a gondola with

flatcars to take care of

overhang or using all flatcars?

Peter,

While 1961 is just past our cutoff, I spent the summer at Levinson Steels fabricating plant (formerly the Pressed Steel Car plant) in Mckeesport PA. We were fabricating the bridges for a major section of I-70 in Ohio. We loaded very long plate girders and a few trusses, always in drop end gons with gons also as idlers. So the idlers and support cars can be either gons or flats.

CJ Riley