Saturday 11/19/05 ...Today we had our bridge moving party!! The main guest was a 100 plus ton Bragg Crane .. Necessary because of the great reach needed over the ravine......What a Day!! ... And to finally see the bridge lifted in the middle without even one millimeter of deflection! .... FANTASTIC!!! It was a wonderful, happy and very fullfilling day for Dave Moeller, me and Melvin Harris. The crane operator Glenn Duralia of Bragg Crane did an unbelievable job ... moving it 1 inch as necessary as we directed him from the far side 125 feet away where we had the bridge and abutment marked with center and back lines to match. See Glenn's Card at the bottom ... A1 Crane is great too ... Rick, the owner operator, runs a 35 ton max but has an hour less minimum than the big outfits charge for their 30 ton cranes. And I can't say enough about Meyer Crane ... (530) 365-1939 ... 6635 Chrun Creek Road, Redding, Ca 96002 .. He has up to a 35 ton crane too and helped us in the past lift our caboose back up on the tracks after a 90mph wind blew it over one night.
Sunday ... 11/20/05 ... Today Dave Moeller and I bolted the bridge down on both ends .... on the South side we cut elongated slots into the steel to allow for expansion and contraction, which I measured at a max of a little over 1/2 inch from winter to summer and from cold nights to the very hot summer days we get here. It took us an hour to grind off the (TACK?) welds on the seven top support 2" angle irons we had going across the top for support during the move.
Next ... we set up a pole on the side to measure deflection .. I handed my cell phone to another friend of ours to call 911 if this bridge wasn't all we thought it was! ... Dave bravely stood in the middle of the bridge as I slowly edged my 4 ton plus tractor with it's water filled wheels, large front loader and scraper box (not to mention myself - grin) across. ...
Dave said ... 1 finger = 1/4 inch deflection ... 4 fingers mean one inch ... He said if you see more than 8 fingers he will be running like HELL! And I better hit reverse fast! .... As it turns out the bridge only deflected between 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch! .... I then had Dave drive it and stop in the middle for the picture you see below. ... There are a ton of photos ... be patient on the down load ... It is worth it!!
Also click back to our fabrication page #1 of this above and below to see how it was built and all came about.
Dave Moller .. Helped me in every way building this bridge
See 4 More Photos Taken by Dave Moeller
Melvin Harris of Harris Locomotive Works
Mel is the one that gave me the confidence to build this bridge
Russ and Suzy Robinson ....
visit their Trinity Alps Railroad
Russ made our tickets.
Greg Robinson & son in our electric yard goat "Davey Boy"
Greg is editor of Grand Scales Quarterly Magazine
Bookmark our page 1st so you can find your way back.
Dave Moeller .... Dave and I built this bridge! I did all the welding and most of the steel cutting, Dave was the engineer in charge and also helped a lot to with cutting and moving steel into place.
Oh .... And last but not least ... The next time you are in a Wallmart ... look up at the infrastucture of the ceiling .... All Warren Trusses just like ours ... With huge spans and huge loads on them ... And in the Great Mall near San Jose ... They made all their T beams by welding 3 X 3/8" angle iron back to back with skip welds under the joints only and then bolted the spokes in so they can remove them and use them again if the configuration of the mall is changed. The bolts are not as strong as a weld but plenty strong enough. Melvin Called our attention to Wallmart's ceilings too before we started. Also ... almost all freeway overpasses have Warren Trusses across them under the concrete.
We started on our Warren Truss Railroad Bridge Dec 3, 2004. All is structural A36 steel. The sides are 4' tall. The upper, side and lower rails are 3" X 3/8" angle iron. The spokes and centers are 2" X 1/4" angle iron. The floor is 8 feet wide with 3" X 1/4" Channel welded back to back to form 3" X 1/2" eye beams every 8 feet across with both track rails welded across over each one! ..plus 3" X 1/4" Channel on edge every 4' across with both rails welded to each one .. and 3" X 1/4" Channel on diagnal from each joint in each direction making the floor into a solid Warren Truss design too. We also have Knee Braces that are 10' X 2 1/2" X 1/4" angle iron coming the full lenght underneath every 8' and tying back up into the top of the 2" side rails for lateral support. The bottom rails are 3" X 3/8" X 68' 5" Angle Iron. And the upper rail is 3" X 3/8" X 60' angle iron with 3" X 3/8" Angle Iron tying the top and bottoms together. All 3 way junctions have 1' X 6" X 1/4" gussets welding all the angles together too.
- See 4 More Photos Taken by Dave Moeller
- Go To Our Technical & Engineering Page
See a some of the stuff we looked at before designing this bridge. - Return to our Private Steam Railroad Page
- Return to our Dental Site
- Email Doc & Becky Hemp
- Return to Fabricating Warren Truss Bridge Page #1
- Basic Bridge Design Site
Thanks Russ Robinson .... Who is now building a wood bridge 12/01/07
See a some of the stuff we looked at before designing this bridge.
Thanks Russ Robinson .... Who is now building a wood bridge 12/01/07
