Wooden Pony Truss Bridge

When I shen I decided to build another mountain loop, I needed to cross the lower loop at some point, so I needed another bridge. It didn't need to be too long and I didn't want to build anything real elaborate, so I decided on a 9-inch long pony truss bridge. In scale, this is about 65 feet; it also happens to be the standard length of sectional track, so I thought that might be convenient.

The design is a conglomeration of a few things. I found a neat example of a pony truss in 'Up Clear Creek ....', and took the overall design from that, such as the outriggers. The truss is a Howe-type and is similar in construction to the Through Truss bridge I had built from a kit and many of the details are from that design. One mistake I may have made was to make the bridge too narrow. I assumed 11 feet inside for clearance, but forgot that standard gauge cars are wider than narrow gauge, so they are a very tight fit and may not work on this part of the line. The narrow gauge cars work great along with the Shay and I suspect this will be the train usually used on this branch.

The outriggers help support the trusses as there is no connection between the top chords. Most of the lumber is 8 x 10 scale except for the chords which are 8 x 14 and 8 x 16. The tension rods are 2-inch.

I put a little more effort into this bridge. I seem to get more and more detail as I progress. I was going to use plastic NBWs to model the bolt heads, but I found some track nails from Peco that work very well for putting things together. The heads are close enough to look OK and the nails hold things together. I also used these to attach the track to the stringers and the stringers to the floor beams. There are lateral tensions rods under the floor beams and the ends of these are modeled with the NBWs.

I nailed a piece of 9-inch track to the stringers, then installed the guide rails inside the rails. Painting was the same as the other bridges I have built. I stain the wood with Minwax Red Mahogany. This is pretty close to what bridge timbers look like in the field. I have noticed that if I leave the stain on and let it dry without wiping, there are darker spots that look like the tar that seeps out of real timbers.
The metal parts are painted with enamel; a combination of Rust and Flat Black in various ratios.