Howe Truss

The W&A was known for having many railroad bridges along its 138 mile line. Over Chickamauga Creek alone there were about 12 crossings such as this Howe Truss. The model bridge pictured below depicts a Howe Truss that crossed the Tenneesee River. It could also be one of the Chickamauga Creek branches. Both bodies of water were traversed by Howe Trusses as well as other types, in many cases they would have been covered bridges. The TN River was also crossed by other RailRoads local to Chattanooga. Prototypically, however, the TN was not crossed by the W&A. And Chickamauga Creek North empties into the TN farther north of Chattanooga, too far prototypically speaking for my needs. With respect to this layout, the TN River would most likely be at this position but would be much wider than the area depicted on my line. Hense, I invoked the law of selective compression.

Period photos, especially along the Tennessee River and Chickamauga Creek, show bridge remains and some that were rebuilt. Although slight alterations may have existed in the rebuilds, I am more interested in the remains as they are more likely to be most prototypically accurate.

Given some information I uncovered, bridge elements were made with 30' timber lengths. I estimated that these bridge sections, in general, were approximately 90'. This offered the opportunity for a bridge model long enough for that dramatic and more authentic appearance and was built to accomodate three sections spanning 270 scale feet.

At this stage the bridge is completed, abutments have been placed and we are now contouring the river's landscape. Brian has been working on the backdrop and has included Lookout Mountain, a most prominent land feature distinguishing the Chattanooga area. I will be sure to include this in a future posting.

The following photos are described below the picture.


This section on the W&A is just on the outskirt of Chattanooga. The bridge is constructed with mostly bass and spruce with some balsa. Piers will be a styrofoam core wrapped with a new Chooch product, Flex Wall. I was considering carving the foam but  this product is dead on for the actual stone.   

  

Here you can see an error in my modeling the bridge cross ties. Looking at the period photo the appeard to be planks. Thanks to Bernie, and a realization how shadows can be deceiving, I have replaced the planks with standard beams, I believe 8"x8". The pier is this photo is from ARC or AIM (?). Bernie, I believe, mentions this in one of his notes as to who manufactures piers.  



One of the many questions regarding bridge construction was how did engineers join bridge sections. One of my  'senior advisors' and construction engineers, Christopher, while helping me view photos, saw what appears to be a long brace connecting these 90' sections. The piers of course would be placed just below these braces and the section joints.

Stay tuned for more posts as we reach completion.

Website HomePage

Greetings and welcome to the Western & Atlantic HO scale model railroad.

WELCOME

An Atlanta Backdrop Panel

Brian painting one of the three Atlanta backdrop panels. This video shows Brian working on the southernmost panel which transitions from the city into 'suburbs'. The top photo is Brian working the second panel showing the Trout House and Masonic Meeting House. You'll notice he is attaching a balcony to give the painting a 2-dimensional look. This technique works especially well when photographing the scene.

Dalton trackwork expansion

A few weeks ago I had Dick Taylor here to help on a few projects. One was to relocate the Dalton turntable 3' north as well as extend the yard, allowing for larger train capacity and easier switching. These photos give you an idea on the expansion as well as some of the point turnouts that are being converted to stubs. These are tricky in that each one, so far, has been spiked different. In order for the smoothest transition from fly rails onto the respective stub rails, the former point turnouts are trimmed to expose the minimal length of full rail. These are then spiked to ensure a gauge and smooth running. If I were to take my time I could probably work out a system. However, the generals are very anxious to have the trains running supplies and troops. They hear the North is preparring for a big push into Georgia this Spring!

Latest Videos

NMRA Mid-Eastern Region Open House, September 19, 2009

W&A Railroad, North Branch recently participated in the National Model Railroad Association's NE region open house. Here are a few moments, including a short video, from that event. This came on the heels of the October RMC article featuring this modeled version of the Western & Atlantic R.R. The timing was quite good of course, a dual promotion of sorts.



Here is a link to the Garden State Central Model Railroad Club video of this event.


Other video clips can be found by clicking on the Video link in the right column.

Welcome to the Western & Atlantic R.R., North Branch

Greetings and welcome to the Western & Atlantic HO scale model railroad. The idea for a Civil War layout had begun in the 1960's with a friend, Dave Eberhardt, also a civil war enthusiast who had begun his own layout but of the Penn Central. The actual work started about 1999 when I decided to purchase a house, one requirment being a space for such a project. Fortunately, and eventually, my wife realized this intention of mine was for real and not a Christmas time endeavour around the tree.

Many years of research in places such as the Atlanta Historical Society and Georgia State Archives led me to very influencial people. Retired Army Colonel James Bogle was one such person. He was not only an authority on the Western & Atlantic. He was also good friends with a fella named Wilbur Kurtz, consultant to movies like "Gone With The Wind" and Disney's "Great Locomotive Chase". Mr. Kurtz, who I unfortunately did not meet, was married to the daughter of Bill Fuller, conductor on the locomotive 'General' during the locomotive chase. In the archives there are letter exchanges between Mr. Kurtz and his father-in-law about topics such as length of house cars, the type of brake wheels and the motherload... mention of the color, slate blue.

Colonel Bogle also connected me with a model railroader from MI, Ken Pruitt. Ken had modeled the W&A and the Chase in particular. He is a terrific modeler who built his layout in the 1980's and many of the structures on my railroad are Ken's which were purchased along with most of his equipment. He unfortunately needed the space for other purposes so the timing of meeting Ken could not have been more perfect. He helped launch my layout.