Making Wooden Trestle Bridge Bents

[@johnspisak9729]

I admire your creativity as well as your steady hands.

[@johnpetrovitz935]

Great info! Thanks to you and Roy for sharing. Looks great!

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

Roy's info is amazing. Thanks for watching and commenting, John. - Brad

[@johnnyrailer]

Hahaha "don't get bent" love it! Great video man! My 1st 2 curve modules will have a huge trestle. You make it easy and cheap. Thanks for sharing this brother.

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

Yeah man, cheap is the key to this one. I saw single bents at the train store for like $20 each! WHAT?!?!?! My trestle is going to be around 26 inches long with at least 10 bents. And it's gonna cost less than $5. WHAT?!?!? hehe

[@SchuylkillRiverValley]

Very nice bent Brad! Great technique using the template as a guide. Effective and cheap - gotta love it! Good to see a video from you. Best, John

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

I haven't been very active with my channel, though I really should do an update. Not so much has been done that I'm rolling trains yet, but enough has been done that I actually have a plan now. lol Thanks for watching and commenting, John. - Brad

[@MRR_Shadowolf]

Just found your channel while searching for trestle bents, glad I did! Great video, thanks for sharing.

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

I'm glad you did, too! I hope it makes building your trestle bridge easy. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@DruSteel69]

Hey Brad. Great job. I was just thinking about building a small trestle bridge with three bents. Your how to just came in time. Thanks for sharing. - Drew

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

I haven't posted in awhile, thought it might as well be something useful. It's super easy, and costs less than $5. The image I used is the one in the thumbnail, from the Great Northern Railway. Easy to find in a Google search. You'll have to scale most any image you use, but I found this one to be most useful for me. Thanks for watching and commenting, Drew! - Brad

[@DruSteel69]

Leisure Line Railroad - Got it. Thanks, Brad.

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

@@DruSteel69 3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOtJjna4m-Q/UYkR6hkYZrI/AAAAAAAADmw/KPZv7IhhUjA/s1600/4.jpg

[@DruSteel69]

Leisure Line Railroad - Thanks Brad. I just saved it on to my favorites. Have a great week.

[@KerleyExpress]

Nicely done you could put clear tape over it and they it won't stick to the paper. I have to build a few more for my curve trestle. the problem I m having is getting the trestle level. Thank you for showing how to

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

I haven't gotten that far yet, but I know some footing is going to be needed, not just plugging into the foam. I'm kind of thinking about tracing the track I have laid out for the bridge curve and then building the bridge upside down to assure the top is level. I do have to trim all the legs, but I'm not worried cuz I'll just snip them off and shim the footing to the right height. As long as the top is built straight from the get go, it should make it for an easier time to get the entire thing straight. That's my theory at this point! lol We'll see how it pans out. Thanks for watching and the comment, Dwight. - Brad

[@krumkake56]

Great method. Thanks for sharing!

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@brettallenthomas]

perfect.. I'm about to start a curved trestle over a small ravine in N scale.. and will go for your design.. and thanks for providing the image

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

It's super simple and cheap, as am I. lol Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@sparky107107]

that is awesome. and made cheap. going to look better than anything you could buy

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

All in all, probably costs about $3. Maaaybe $4. I saw bents at the train store for $20 a pop! Holy good Moly, I should go into the bent making business! Thanks for commentingm, Sparky! - Brad

[@royreynolds108]

For those who like to bolt count(rivet counters), the cap of a trestle bent is usually 12 x 12 x 10, 12, 14, or the railroad you follow standard plan. The cap is over the piles or posts(if framed). The stringers are the wooden beams under the rails that are supported by the caps and the bridge ties are laid over the stringers to support the ties. The timbers on the outside of the ties are only there to hold the ties in alignment and serve no other structural function. Most standard gauge wood trestles will have 4, 5, or 6 piles per bent and will have no less than 2 stringers per chord up to 4 stringers. These stringers are usually 6" x 8" x 30' up to 9" x 18" x 28'. Unless the trestle is on a very sharp curve or only 1 or 2 spans long, the stringers will not all end on the same bent. The standard railroad trestle plan will give the span or centerline to centerline of each bent and will be 10 or 12 feet for very old trestles to 14', 14' 6", or 15'. Bridge ties are 8 x 8 x 10'. Also remember the end bent or dump bent is driven piles just like the intermediate bents but just don't show as much and there will be timbers on the ground side of the piles to hold back the fill. The bents will be 90* to the centerline of the track.

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

That's amazing information, Roy! Thanks for watching and for that incredibly informative comment. I had to read it a couple times, the whole time thinking, "Did I do that?". Going to go stare at my trestle now... lol

[@royreynolds108]

@@WisenheimerYZTV A timber trestle is held together with 3/4 inch bolts and 3/4 inch pins for alignment. For all practical purposes, a trestle is held in place by the weight of the trains and material.

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

@@royreynolds108 Well, my bridge is clearly not to spec. But I'm not a rivet counter, so for me it's gonna be just fine (says my not wanting to rebuild the bridge lol).

[@Jason_DPMF]

I have some additional weathering information. I once worked for a carnival company and they had a wooden trestle roller coaster at one of the spots I was at . They used to go out in the morning to do a safety with a bucket of nails and new boards replacing any one of the boards that may be starting to rot or split. Maybe adding a few newer looking boards to the mix might give the same affect

[@jimgresham5529]

I would like to know who and where and with what the 3/4 inch bolt holes were created for the TF Railroad. I'm a 78 Y O retired Millwright, very curious.

[@dunkinckustom2073]

great video thanks for sharing

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

Thanks for watching and commenting! - Brad

[@friendlypiranha774]

Wow, this is Super, Super, Super helpful. Thanks a million ☺☺☺

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

Glad you found it useful, I hope you make a huge bridge!

[@friendlypiranha774]

@@WisenheimerYZTV, it is going to be huge... I run G-scale in the garden. But it will have to be a short trestle because I don't have too much space. Started cutting wood last night already - that's how much your video motivated me. THANKS☺

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

@@friendlypiranha774 I hope you make a video of it! Just subbed, thanks for the comment. I love that this video helps people be creative. It wasn't my idea, but it's a good one for sure! I've made another, shorter trestle which is all part of a reverse loop. Or will be once I wire it all. And lay track. The to do list is long.

[@MrRbm33]

That type of glue always tastes the best.

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

It's because it's made of horse. Horse makes the most delicious glue. Donkey just tastes like ass. Heh.

[@GrumpSkull]

The horizontal top of the bent should be sitting on top on the posts. That is what the spanning stringers sit on. Basic 'load bearing construction' was the method of the day. Soak your wood in a mixture of vinegar and some steel wool overnight to bleach and grey it. The glue will prevent any staining process later.

[@ryanwhitehead974]

Hey where did you find the drawing to make your little jig from?

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

This link right here... 3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOtJjna4m-Q/UYkR6hkYZrI/AAAAAAAADmw/KPZv7IhhUjA/s1600/4.jpg

[@daviemaclean61]

Already have all the ingredients - just need to get a roundtuit. Cheers

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

Yes, Davie it does take some motivation to make these, but once you get going it's just a matter of waiting for the glue to dry. I built the entire bridge by building only a few bents per day after work for a week, built the bridge over the weekend. It helps to assemble it upside down on a flat surface. Thanks for watching and the kind words. - Brad

[@derekalexander4030]

Roundtuits are on sale at your local hobby store.. a visit always gives me inspiration and empties my wallet in the process. Lol.

[@johnjp5883]

Are you going to stain that, is the glue exposed?

[@trainmantn1928]

What scale are you building in?

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

This is in N scale. I had to adjust the image size to create the template for the bents, so really the same method can be used for any scale. Materials to use may vary.

[@trainmantn1928]

Leisure Line Railroad I am going to try to make one of these in a O scale. I am just finding it hard to figure out what size to cut my wood so it’s O scale

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

@@trainmantn1928 I took this image 3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOtJjna4m-Q/UYkR6hkYZrI/AAAAAAAADmw/KPZv7IhhUjA/s1600/4.jpg cut out what I didn't need, and resized it in Paint. Base it off the width of the very top, where the tracks will lay, and size the image from there. In N scale the uprights are 2 feet, and the cross braces are all roughly 1 foot. I didn't scale the real life measurements written on the blueprint, but I did use the image as reference for the materials used. I based it all off the image.

[@WhiteWidowHerb]

You should’ve used wood glue it has a longer life span than white glue… other than that awesome vid…

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

You're not wrong! My inner Gomez Addams looks forward to the day it collapses. lol Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@cloverdalerail1093]

Where did you download the template?

[@KerleyExpress]

Just google it and you well see some

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

I googled Bridge Pier, like a moron. lol But it did come up. Here's a link, though... 3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOtJjna4m-Q/UYkR6hkYZrI/AAAAAAAADmw/KPZv7IhhUjA/s1600/4.jpg

[@trainmantn1928]

Can you send me a copy of that picture so I can print it out?

[@WisenheimerYZTV]

There's no email available on your KZbin channel, but I posted the link earlier. Here it is again. 3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOtJjna4m-Q/UYkR6hkYZrI/AAAAAAAADmw/KPZv7IhhUjA/s1600/4.jpg