Trout Brook Bridge - Official Work Thread

[Steve Smith]

Let us temporarily refer to the very last member of the digestive tract as X. Sometimes when my father encountered a stubbornly tight cap screw, stud nut or whatever, he would exclaim "That thing is tighter'n a boar's X in fly time."

[Ed Lecuyer]

And then, there were seven...

I've been doing some research for grant applications to help fund the bridge project. We've consistently used the language adopted by the 2009 Historic American Engineering Record report that states that the "Moose Brook Bridge is one of eight boxed pony truss bridges remaining in North America."

I have since discovered that one of the two bridges of this design in Quebec, Covered Bridge # 61-02-P1 Pont Blanc over Deception Creek, burned and collapsed sometime before November 2016. FWIW, I also found a picture of the other Quebec bridge - and it is in very poor condition.

This gives us all the more reason to preserve this important bridge.

[Alex Harvilchuck]

I am assuming we are liberally spraying the trusses with the fire retardant NSPCB suggests? It will be significantly cheaper to apply it to the trusses in the parking lot before they are installed and covered since it will be a one-time application. The exterior boxed-surfaces would need to be treated every 5 years.

For those interested in additional detail look at Page 8-9 of the Summer 2015 NSPCB Newsletter.

Also consider joining the NSPCB!

[Ed Lecuyer]

Page 10 of the Summer 2015 NSPCB Newsletter indicates that the Moose Brook Bridge has already been treated with fire retardant.

[Alex Harvilchuck]

Page 10 of the Summer 2015 NSPCB Newsletter indicates that the Moose Brook Bridge has already been treated with fire retardant.

Well that's what I get for not reading the entire link I sent! Does it need another coat since it was sitting outside un-assembled in Gorham?

[Bob Holmes]

Check with Jason re the status of wood preservative and fire-proofing coatings on the bridge...I think it's complicated.

[Ira Schreiber]

Page 6 of that issue shows the funding for the treatment.

[Mike Fox]

Floor Beams at the ready...





Floor Beams ready to drill and cut. The one closest is his pattern.



Cut Off piece. If you measure it, it is pretty close to 2 feet 8 1/2 inches...

We also did a test lift today with the Forklift of the truss. Just going to be used to stand it up. Worked perfectly.

[Mike the Choochoo Nix]

Those cutoffs look like nice blocking material.

[Mike Fox]

Cut offs go to the bridge contractor. We can't keep them unless he gives them to us.

[Bill Baskerville]

Mike,

I don't recall the floor beams being part of the parts kit that came from Case Western.  Were they, or did we buy them out of the funds that were raised on our various projects?

Bill

[Jason M Lamontagne]

The floor beams are part of the bridge assembly contractor’s contract.  That’s why he owns the stubs.  They weren’t part of the Case Western study, so the only prep they saw before last week was being cut to length for a wide gauge bridge- which we just corrected

See ya
Jason

[Ed Lecuyer]

Down to six...
Both of boxed pony bridges that were in Quebec are now gone.

Covered Bridge 61-02-P01 partially collapsed in 2010.

Covered Bridge 61-02-P11 collapsed in 2012 and has been carried away by a flood.

For the sake of clarity (now that I understand the difference) there were two styles of trusses employed in a Boxed Pony bridge: Howe and Town Lattice. In North America, there are only five Howe Boxed Pony bridges and just one remaining Town Lattice Pony bridge (Livermore Bridge, spanning Blood Brook at Russell Hill Road in Wilton, NH.)

[Bill Baskerville]

Boy, am I glad we weren't gifted the Blood Brook Bridge.  Because then we would have had a Blood Trout Bridge, or would that be a Bloody Trout Bridge?  If the latter we could then be accused by our British narrow gauge friends as cursing our native fish. 

Although, having a Blood Brook Bridge would open lots of new opportunities since the elusive Moose Trout seems to have escaped our forum as subject matter.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Boy, am I glad we weren't gifted the Blood Brook Bridge.  Because then we would have had a Blood Trout Bridge, or would that be a Bloody Trout Bridge?  If the latter we could then be accused by our British narrow gauge friends as cursing our native fish. 

Although, having a Blood Brook Bridge would open lots of new opportunities since the elusive Moose Trout seems to have escaped our forum as subject matter.

The moose trout are hibernating.

Jeff S.