Trout Brook Bridge - Official Work Thread

[Ed Lecuyer]

All of the wood timbers were replaced.
I believe that most (if not all) of the steel rods, castings, bolts, etc. were saved, reconditioned, and repaired.

[Alex Harvilchuck]

All of the wood timbers were replaced.
I believe that most (if not all) of the steel rods, castings, bolts, etc. were saved, reconditioned, and repaired.

All wood has been replaced, a few of the cast iron nodes were cracked and brazed, two nuts were made brand new...the rest of the metal is original.

[Alex Harvilchuck]

Jason reports and supplied the pictures..

"Today we laid out 4 rows of cribbing, carefully leveled them, and placed the 4 chords in preparation of building the trusses.  They’ll be built on their side, prepped, and tipped inward until upright.  then the floor timbers will be brought in and attached from underneath"

The cast iron nodes are the most ingenious part of the design, it allows for rapid on-site assembly of pre-fabricated parts like a jig-saw puzzle. 

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Helping lay out the bridge assembly yesterday, some construction details became evident.

To Alax’s Comment, it’s amazing what was considered “quick on site work.”  All of the nodes are let into the chord timbers in exacting fashion, so they bear evenly.  Further- the nodes on the top chords are spaced farther apart than those in the bottom, on account of truss camber (slight arching of the truss).  The increase in spacing is something like 3/16” each.  This was part of the study in Cleveland, I understand.

I believe Alex is right that the nodes allowed quick on site work.  After all, the alternative was a slew of very intricate timber frame joints. 

See ya
Jason

[Alex Harvilchuck]

I believe Alex is right that the nodes allowed quick on site work.  After all, the alternative was a slew of very intricate timber frame joints. 

I'll point everyone back to the story on Facebook, but the routine assembly speed was 200' of bridging in 2 days.

[Mike Fox]

Jason supplied this picture, showing the progress today..

[Wayne Laepple]

Wow! Color me impressed!

[Bill Baskerville]

In perspective of the picture, Steve never looked so small and dainty.

[Steve Zuppa]

Thank you, Bill. I was going for "svelte" but I think that ship has sailed. All kidding aside, we made some nice progress today.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Very impressive.

Jeff S.

[Bill Reidy]

Great progress!  I can hardly wait to see a train over the finished bridge!  Thanks Jason and Mike for posting this.

[Ted Miles]

A further question now that the Pony Truss Bridge has been announced; which I think will be a wonderful piece of historic preservation. 

I imagine that the original abutments were cut stone. Are they still available? If not, will the new ones be poured concrete? They can be scribed to look like stone when they are done.

Ted Miles, WW&F Member

[Gordon Cook]

In perspective of the picture, Steve never looked so small and dainty.

Dainty and Steve Z are not concepts I ever expected to see in one sentence. 

[Bob Holmes]

Query:  why is Steve (and perhaps other WW&F volunteers) helping with the bridge fabrication.  I thought this was the total responsibility of the other group.  (Not that I'm complaining...I think the more involvement we have, the better outcome it will be for us.

[Ira Schreiber]

I am impressed. What a wonderful project.