Clairborne Run Trestle

Work on the trestle at Clairborne's Run continued this weekend. The bridge is now essentially done, with just the scenery and water to be added. The photos show the construction techniques I used.
I made the abutments by cutting the basic shapes out of foam. I used my compound miter saw to get the angle for the battered walls. I spent a bit of time making sure the notches in the abutment for the stringers were properly sized to house the stringers.

To simulate the cut stone material of the abutments, I used embossed plasticard from a British supplier. This product is a dead ringer for the stone used by the RF&P. I used spray on contact cement and CAA to glue the sheet to the foam shapes. I took care to insure that the

courses of stone lined up on all faces. Then I used Tamiya plastic putty to fill in the gaps and to help shape the cornerstones. Once that was dry, I filed the grout lines and stones to the desired shape.

I sprayed the abutments with flat black, then a shot of gray from above. I dry brushed with a light color and washed with dilted black a couple times to get the effect I wanted.

I carved the existing scenery to accept the abutments. This is where foam scenery excels.

The bents are based on the design in Haupt's book on military trestles. He says that "W" shaped bents are preferred in military trestles as they do not require lateral braces. I have not been able to find a photo showing one of these in practice, but I went with the design from the book.

The drawing here shows the bridge under construction using a crane attached to the built portions of the bridge to lift the next bent in place. In his text, Haupt says that they would prefabricate the bents and lift them in place. They avoided using pilings if possible to save time. So the bents rest on sills.

He recommended using round "sticks," i.e. logs acquired locally. Since my railroad had a saw mill available, I used cut lumber for most of the bridge components, but I did use round sticks for the poles. I textured and tapered the pine dowels towards the top with a rasp .

Here I am placing the bents in position. I made the bents on the work bench using a jig that I laser cut. I also cut all the poles to a precise angles on the laser. I drilled all the joints and pinned them with 0.015 inch phosphor bronze wire. For military bridges Haupt specifies using dowels, but I found brass rod easier.

I carved some of the scenery away to accommodate the bents, this is appropriate for a bridge that used prefabricated bents. I later added small wooden retaining walls to hold the cut soil at the sill plate locations. They are not yet installed in these photos, but will be visible in the final shots.

After removing the bridge parts, I used Fast and Final lightweight Spackle to fill in the gaps around the abutments and the bents. I think I should have used water putty as it is a bit stronger and sets faster.

I added a two plank walkway along one side of the bridge as I have seen this is several photos. Haupt suggests planking over the bridge to allow horses and wagons to cross. I didn't do that here, as I assume alternate crossing sites are available nearby. I added some splice plates to the stingers to represent the fact that the stringer is several beams and not a single long beam. These received nut bolt and washer (NBW) detail. I also added NBW to the lateral braces. The iron bolts add a nice contrast to the wood and stone components.

The scenery is nearly done. I still need to add the ground cover, vegetation and lastly, add the water. Then some sentries, tents and other details will complete the scene.

One curious thing to note, the fascia and ground surface are painted the same color, but they look quite different in the photo due to the overhead lighting. In the actual room the colors are quite similar.

Thom Radice's HO Scale W&A RR on RMC Cover!

Thom Radice has the cover story on his ACW W&A layout in the October issue of Rail Model Craftsman. The article has lots of great photos and a track plan. Check out the purple engine on the cover! Thom's scenery is some of the finest I have seen in an HO layout. He really has captured the feeling of the W&A before it was ravaged by the depredations of the war.

The feature article is part of a special insert on period modeling, with other articles and ads for and about the early rail modeler.

I highly recommend that you pick up this issue and let Carstens Publishing know that you enjoyed the special.

Track Laying Recommences

After working backdrops for several weeks, I started again laying some track. Here are some photos showing progress between Falmouth and Stoneman's Switch.


Gluing ties, adding rail and spiking. The track gauges are home made laser cut from acrylic. I cut the ties on the laser to have a rough appearance. They are 1/8th inch basswood. Then I stained them with a mixture of white, burnt umber and oak oil based wood stains. The white stain has some pigment that dries in an near opaque layer. I like the look it creates - a nice weathered look.









The turnout roadbed is a piece of 1/8th inch soft plywood cut with a hobby knife. I used the paper turnout template to get the right shape. A section protrudes at the lower right for the switch stand. This is not birch aircraft plywood, but a softer hobby plywood that is easy to cut with a knife.














I used roadbed sections that I laser cut from 1/8th inch lightweight plywood with kerfs to make the curved sections. These get glued to the wood splines underneath.




















The bridge over Clairborne Run is starting to take shape. It will be a crude trestle made using the plans from Haupt's book on Military Bridging.















The roadbed gets a coat of wood putty and light weight Spackle . After sanding it gets painted. Once the paint dries, the ties get glued down. This is the roadbed by Stoneman's Switch, a key point on the plan. There is one double ended and one stub siding here. This is the primary passing siding on the layout.

Visit to Potomac Creek Bridge Site

On October 3, 2009 I visited the site of the Potomac Creek Bridge while driving home from the ACW RR Historical Society Meeting in Petersburg and City Point, VA. At this time of year the site is heavily obscured by vegetation, especially by thick forest. During the ACW, this site was completely denuded of trees by construction crews for materials to build the bridge and later soldiers looking for firewood.

Not much remains from the Civil War era bridge. The RF&P built a new bridge just south of the old bridge in the 1890's. They used the same northern abutment so the original stone abutment was destroyed during construction. They slightly relocated the line on the south side, so that part of the original stone abutment remains. A public road now occupies the former right of way. There was no sign of the stone piers, but the foundations might be visible in winter when the trees are leafless.

The cliff at the bridge site is quite steep, nearly vertical. It is a rock outcropping covered with a thick layer of dirt. It may have eroded some from the civil war era.

I put together this short video documenting my visit.

More Photos from Andrew J Russell

I haven't had much chance to work on the layout this week with a U2 Concert, a work session at John Drye's N Scale layout and taxes. But I wanted to post some additional Russell photos I found in books I have in my collection that are not on-line in the Library of Congress web site. These two shots are by Andrew Russell from the book, "Russell's Civil War Photographs- 116 Historic Prints", available from Amazon by clicking here

This image shows Phillips House with Lacy House and Fredericksburg in the distance. General Burnside used Phillips House as his headquarters until it was accidentally burned down by a careless soldier.

As I think about the topography of my layout and the actual ground, I am beginning to believe that I should have Phillips House and not Lacy House on my backdrop behind Falmouth. My RR runs N-S with south to the right as you look at the backdrop. So the backdrop behind Falmouth should be to the east. Phillips House is east of the railroad, while Lacy House is west. But the RR makes a long Ess curve as it heads through Falmouth to Fredericksburg, so the views can be confusing depending on where you are on the ess curve.

The town of Falmouth was actually about 1.5 miles northwest from the Falmouth Station. Karl Schwartz, a former guide at Lacy (aka Chatham) house, tells me that at Falmouth Station there was little development -most likely a few slave cabins and perhaps an overseer's house. There may have also been some service buildings for Lacy House. The Confederates burned the station at Falmouth when they retreated so it is charred remains at the time of Union occupation. It lies to the east of the tracks. So far I have not found any photos of the Falmouth Station and supply terminal area.

The shot of the bridge is the best close up of the triple-arched truss at Potomac Creek I have found. This shot helps fill in the questions I had about how it was constructed.

In the background, two freight cars are visible, implying that there is a siding just north of the bridge. That would most likely be the Potomac Creek Siding mentioned in several train orders and schedule for the line. I may combine this siding with Brooke Station on my layout as I don't have room for both sidings.

Also visible in the background of the image are several log huts, and a fortification at the upper left to protect the bridge site. My layout design leaves a lot of room at the north end of the bridge to model some of these neat details.