Building the Canyon Diablo Bridge


Ken, Not being a Nit-Picker, here as I want to clear this up for myself! However, what you are referring to as Bulkheads, I have only ever heard described as an "Abutment. It's possible the names are regionalisms. I understood completely what you were describing as a "Bulkhead". So, in all likelihood, your description certainly works.

I have seen "Bulkhead" used to describe the wing parts that would be outside from underneath the bridge approach that supports the earth used to contain the fill at the approach. Maybe we have some Engineers who can speak about this.
 
It is what it is!
Actually, I believe Mark is correct in his assumption of an abutment - and "wings" applied to the abutment would likely be called bulkheads.
That's my story and I'm sticking with it ... lol

P.S. Thought the truck and crane additions were cool. Too bad the workers were on a lunch break!
 
Went into town to have b'fast with a few folks, then to pick up some more Woodland scenics plaster and some tools. Got back home, did some house keeping chores then went to the basement to continue work on the bridge. Just as I was lining up one end of the bridge with the adjoining roadbed, the power went off. Came back on right away, then back off. Did this about 10 times in a few minutes. Very annoying. Decided to go to the cigar lounge and keep tabs on the power outage on my smart phone.
So much for progress today.
I really like how my benchwork is so easy to do fine adjustments to.
 
Power is fixed.
Got some more work done on the east abutment. Have to build the benchwork up behind it to support it and have it set exactly where it needs to be for appearance. Glue is setting up now for the night.
 
Bridge is installed now. Abutments are secured in place and footers are solid.
I laid roadbed then track over it and just finished a layer of ballast.
I'm building up the canyon now. Just roughed in so far. I'll have to do a lot of scrubbing to get the contour of the real thing once the glue sets up that's holding the foam board in place.
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Will you be adding the old piers for the old bridge to the scene? What is the red thing just this side of the bridge in the bottom photo? It almost looks like a metal bird crawling up the slope?
 
Now I can sleep easy again seeing the "almost" completion. I was afraid that you would burn the bridge ties to stay warm! Nice to see them in place - your footers and abutments really give a finished look to the structure. Very nice work, KEN.
 
Now, if you can get some audio-electronics whizz to make a sound system for it that creates the roar as a train hits the bridge and then trails off as the last cars move away with a few clickety clacks, you'd have something to startle the unwary viewer.
 
Started carving the canyon walls today. I have some pictures for reference. It appears that there are numerous levels of solid rock that torrents of water have eroded away over time. Cracks and fissures in the rock surfaces provide for quite a bit of challenging detail work.
I started out smoothing off the forward edges of the foam board then cutting in where individual rocks seem to stand out from the walls. Erosion deepens those cracks over time. There are several minor levels of rock, apparently from whenever this area was formed under water. I applied an initial layer of wall plaster and will continue working it tomorrow to see how it shapes out.

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Ken...that will be some interesting rock work and should be enjoyable to do and add a finished touch for your bridge scene. The rock coloring is similar to the rock formations on my layout when I used Yellow, Burned Sienna and Black washes. When I did my rocks I used Color Rite liquid stains who I believe was purchased by Woodlands or another company.

What methods (molds or hand carving) are you going to use when doing the rock details and coloring?

Greg
 
I'm doing the basic carving by hand using a drywall saw and oscillating tool on the foam board.
I put a layer of plaster over some of the foam board last night but this morning decided it just didn't look right so I cut a lot of that out and doing some more detailing with the dry wall saw. I also added more foam to the upper levels of the canyon near the abutment to make a smooth flow of the top layout into the canyon.
Real messy work with a lot of foam particles all over.
 



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