NZR 1:24
BACK
STRUCTURES; There are not many structures on the railway (ie.buildings) as I seem to enjoy building
   locos & rolling stock but as the railway grows they will appear! I have included tunnels, bridges & a few
   other things in this section as they don't fit anywhere else.
5 SPAN STEEL GIRDER BRIDGE; This is a steel
   I-Beam girder bridge, it was going to be longer but after puting
   in 3000 rivets I decided to shorten it! The piers & abutments
   are carved lime stone coated with a cement slurry to keep the
   moisture out. The lime stone is mortared into poistion with the
   girders screwed to the track & sitting in place. To get the
   closer spacing of sleepers I cut the spacers out & added an
   extra long one  every 6th sleeper to support the walkway. I
   added thin planking & railings on the walkway to finish, these
   bridges are a common site here in the South Island over our
   wide shinge bradded rivers.
  
   Work begins with the foundation.
First 2 spans in place, each span
  has 600 pin heads for rivets!		 All piers & abutments in place. The end result! Now we wait to
  landscape the shingle river-bed.
THE TROUBLESOME TUNNEL; The tunnel is made up of a piece of irrigation line the right size to fit the
   Bachmann Big haulers with concrete over the top & a carved Lime-Stone portal. This seamed to be a good
   idea at the time as 1:24 & 1:29 the 2 scales I model fit well, but then on club day runs you have to proceed
   with caution as cabooses, Shay funnels, Hiesler funnels tend not to go through hence a special train advise
   in the club newsletter when it's my running day. So be warned if you visit with rolling stock, proceed with
   extreme caution when approaching the Tunnel! 
  
  The East end of the tunnel before
   the cement slurry was added. If
   it was'nt water proofed the frost
   would blow it to bits!
The west end with a treated pine
   retaining wall to add variation.		   A stone retaining wall has been
   added to the bridge to act as a
   rocky ledge.
  The end result at the east end with
   track ballasted & everything tidy.
WOODEN TRUSS BRIDGE: The truss bridge is the oldest structure on the railway as it survived from my
   first railway of 5yrs. The bridge is built from treat pine (same as the retaining walls in the picture) so has
   lasted 8yrs so far & is taking heavier traffic now! The abutments are again carved lime stone but these ones
   blew apart from frost before I got the cement slurry on. It is modelled from the eariler style bridges NZR
   used and adds a bit of character to the scene.
BELOW ARE JUST GENERAL VIEWS OF THE RAILWAY TAKING SHAPE
Other leg of the railway showing
  the yard & control stands for the
  wiring. Track has been ballasted
  in the foreground. (2004)
  
The passing loop on the back
   straight with the truss bridge
   in the distance. (2002)
Overall view of construction
   of the bridge & road bed in
   the foreground. (2002)
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