What's New on the PRR Panhandle Division?

[G3750]

Are they the ones made from old Marx tooling?

I honestly don't know, but tend to doubt it. I think they came out just before K-Line bought the farm. I've had people tell me that K-Line didn't make a lot of them. The packaging says Copyright 2003 and has the "new" yellow / black logo. They appeared in the 2003 catalog.

Chris, Williams makes something like it, but it is vastly over-sized. I saw them at York and cancelled my order w/ Walthers. I can definitely say the WBB lamp is postwar / toy like. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not the look I'm going for.

George

[jlong]

The Marx lamps are rather chunky. They inflated Lionel's 71.

[G3750]

Updated 11/19/2013:

Not having much luck finding someone to build my PRR Panhandle bridge. I was in talks with someone who could do the bridge, but it would have some glaring inaccuracies. Not sure I can live with that, especially considering the price quoted.

I have shipped my RFP (request for proposal) to two other vendors and will wait for a response. In the meantime, I will have to start work on my wooden replacement for the bridge deck. Oh joy.

So it's back to the drawing board...

George

[jlong]

I really like the Atlas O truss bridge.

[G3750]

I really like the Atlas O truss bridge.

I do too. Unfortunately, it's too short (40" vs 84") and not a good stand-in for that bridge.

George

[G3750]

Here's an interesting photo of the bridge taken during the 1930's (I think). I would give attribution, but I can't remember where I got it. I think this is the big flood of 1936.

ajaxhelper.jpg (22.63 KiB) Viewed 4352 times

If I had to guess, I would say this was taken from the West Virginia side of the Ohio, probably on Route 2. But I'm not sure.

George

[jlong]

That is quite a bridge, George. It would take 5 Atlas bridges to kit bash something like that or 5 months of tedious scratch building.

My druthers would be bass wood and strathmore bristol board for scratch building using the techniques in Mallory's book. Bristol board is like working with brass sheet except it is cut with a razor knife and joined with wood glue. Brass would take a life time.

[rogruth]

George,

I can't tell for sure but I think you are right on the direction in the photo.

There is a different view in "Railroads of the Ohio Valley" Book One by Willard A.Harvey,Jr.,
Silver Brook Junction Publishing Co.,Telford,PA.1995.

[G3750]

That is quite a bridge, George. It would take 5 Atlas bridges to kit bash something like that or 5 months of tedious scratch building.

My druthers would be bass wood and strathmore bristol board for scratch building using the techniques in Mallory's book. Bristol board is like working with brass sheet except it is cut with a razor knife and joined with wood glue. Brass would take a life time.

Yes, it is quite a bridge. Honestly, I think it is one of the best looking railroad bridges in the nation. I keep forgetting to move some photos onto a stick so I can post them, but I have dozens of shots of this bridge. The girder work is intricate and beautiful.

And yes, it would take a very long time to scratch build it. So like beauty, obsession is in the eye of the beholder, right?

So right now, these are my options:

• 1: Build a wooden bridge with solid box beams and omitted girder detail. The resulting structure would be a relatively simple, inexpensive, and less than satisfying solution.
• 2: Find a bridge builder who will accurately construct a reasonable representation of the bridge. This might be expensive, but not as costly (time & money) as building it myself. I'm currently pursuing this. So far, it's been a wild goose chase.
• 3: Build it myself using a wooden floor (already acquired) and Plastruct components. This will be expensive and will mean constructing every square girder and box beam myself. I've already created a drawing using Visio that identifies the major vertical, horizontal, and angled components. This will be a bear, and I'm not sure I have the skill or patience to complete it. I'm also not keen to spend a year in the basement building it.
• 4: Build it myself using a wooden floor (already acquired) and girder components created with a 3D printer. This will also be expensive, but may involve less labor than option 3. This will mean making a drawing of every major vertical, horizontal, and angled components (probably less than 10). This will also be a bear, and I'm not sure I have the skill or patience to complete it. It will take a fairly sizeable investment upfront with no guarantee of success.

It's a dilemma.

George

[jlong]

You mention all the reasons why I would build it from Strathmore Bristol Board and bass wood following Mallory's book. To get something very realistic for a fraction of what brass, plastruct, or custom built would cost.

[G3750]

You mention all the reasons why I would build it from Strathmore Bristol Board and bass wood following Mallory's book. To get something very realistic for a fraction of what brass, plastruct, or custom built would cost.

Shoot me the info for Mallory's book. Worth a look.

Thanks,

George

[jlong]

http://carstensbookstore.com/brtrhabypama.html

[G3750]

http://carstensbookstore.com/brtrhabypama.html

Thank you!

George

[Roy]

I'm glad that's resolved. Carry on.

[jlong]

George, It's the best book on bridge building I've ever seen and was written by a real world engineer. It sucks you in.