Installing track over a long bridge

[Steve M]

W probably need a comment from a real railway worker but I suspect bridges didn’t get ballasted as it would add too much weight.

[Tinker]

Hungerford bridge, connecting Charing X to the south side of the river this from memory was just girders with steel plates, the sleepers sat on top, other girder bridges had Ballast....
Video's to view, has some bridges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7hfyN5EvQM

[Brian]

Most lattice style girder bridges have no ballast. The track is supported on long timbers running underneath the rails. These timbers are called 'Wheel timbers' or Longitudinal Timbers. These are held to the bridges decking and kept apart by large cross bracing timbers though these can be replaced or supplemented by metal rods or straps occasionally.
The YouTube video below shows a train departing Charing Cross Station which is partly build on Hungerford bridge and the journey across the bridge to Waterloo East and London Bridge then onto Sevenoaks. The first few seconds of the train standing in the station at CX clearly show the long timbers used to support the track on a girder bridge.
On brick built viaducts the track formation is normally standard ballasted track. As the sub surface is solid brick rather than sheet steel of a girder bridge. Plated bridges are also frequently ballasted too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKM-fpRGwTQ

[Tinker]

Changed a bit over the years, nice find Brian...

[Nokonium]

Didn't know about that, thanks, saves me a job and a lot of mess.

[Steve M]

Didn't know about that, thanks, saves me a job and a lot of mess.

Don’t know if you are planning to weather your track or not, but if you are it would make sense to paint it before threading it across the bridges.
Actually that may help as the paint stops the rails from sliding and would stiffen it up a bit. Lay it out flat and straight and spray with something like Humbrol no. 29. Clean the rail tops before putting it in place as well.

[Nokonium]

Julie and I have discussed this and think that for the moment that we won't, may do at sometime in the future though but not sure for now.

[footplate1947]

Hope you have not stopped the bridge plan because you have been put off by all the different ideas. Sometimes when everybody puts forward their different ideas the subject seems to become more complicated. There is no reason why you need to use set track with lots of fishplate joints. One length of peco flexi will almost run the length of the bridge so it would be easy to put a dropper on one end of bridge. The next length of track would have dropper on it. I don't see any problems at all. There will be no droppers on the bridge and stick it down to the bridge base with contact adhesive or no nails or what ever you choose. There wil be only one track joint on the bridge which does not need to be soldered as there will be dropper at one end of bridge and next length coming off the bridge. I would suggest that you don't clog up the chairs with paint or weathering I like my track to be clean and it still stays loose in the chairs and it can expand easier in hot and cold weather. But that is just me. It is your railway so weather it if that is what you want to do. If you stick it down it will be there for years no trouble. Without the need to solder up anything any where.
Dont be put off by so many confusing ideas, it is only different people offering just that. Different ideas.

[Nokonium]

Fear not footplate1947 we are keeping the bridges they are key to the planned layout.



Where the track across them leaves the main line I have used a shortened R4 setrack curve that takes the track right to the end of the bridge. Unfortunately there isn’t enough space to put in droppers on the bridge track at this end so I have soldered two flexitracks together to cross the bridges and will put a pair of droppers at the other side. The track across the bridge is laid on a cork strip that is stuck down onto the bridges. I will look at fixing it down with M2 screws, I will have to paint the screw heads, but we don’t have plans to weather the track. At the moment I’m working on the area that the bridges lead to, a single platform and two sidings on a raised area, so have points and point motors to install. To one side of the high level station at base level is a goods yard and on the other shops and houses, again at base level, with Noch steps up to the station and a road tunnel running underneath to link the two sides together.

[footplate1947]

Hello Nokonium,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Glad you are going ahead with that plan it looks great. I suggested using small screws perhaps as I thought it may help to hold the track in place while the adhesive in going off or hardening. After thing have set you could remove them if they don't look good. I did a long Viaduct about 6 ft long once and stuck that down and it lasted for years. In those days nobody had heard of droppers. Or DCC