Hello all i am going to put a modern looking bridge on to my layout its a single track bridge with a 08 shunter on it but it will not move .just a static model. it will go across the end of the platform.i dont want to sound thick but is all the bridge ballasted? does it have a mound of stones or is it all one level if you get what i mean or has anyone got any pics  of one to give me a idea .thanks shaun.

Shaun, the majority of bridges were not ballasted, one for drainage,
 two it is better to see the surface for maintenance,
lol::cool:

I'm hoping my bridges will be static too.

[user=394]ddolfelin[/user] wrote:

I'm hoping my bridges will be static too.

ha,ha ,no the train will not  move .

Now that's news to me as well Owen. :cheers

I was going to ballast mine !!!  What was the deck (on a stone / brick bridge) usually made from ?  I'm modelling in the "good old days" :roll::roll:

Stone and brick built bridges generally do have ballast over them.  Any form of metal bridge generally does not, sometimes there is not even a deck and you can see right through the sleepers and girders to the ground below.

I do not have any pictures of these bridges, but here is one at Perranwell if this helps

I always thought they had to be ballasted for stability or at least noise reduction, live and learn on here, what a great mind of members we have on here.

Phill

Some bridges were normal ballasted track others were not.
It all depends on the design.
Some bridges did not even use sleepered track! The rails being fixed to longitudinal beams or timber baulks with tie rods.


If you want drawings then PM or better still e mail me and I'll send you some sketches.
Copyright prevents me from publishing them here.

Certainly some rail carrying bridges used ballast. Here's an example on the former Fairford branch in Oxfordshire near Cassington:-

(Click to enlarge)

Some rail bridges on less intensively used lines (into goods yards, etc) used ash ballast. The girder bridge crossing the River Windrush into Witney goods depot on the Fairford branch certainly used ash ballast. This curious example (well known to me) now devoid of track had a separate attached girder crossing (to the left with the white wooden safety hand rails) to allow the cart horses that were once used in the goods yard (for shunting wagons) to cross the river to the headshunt at Witney Junction:

(Click to enlarge)

Whereas others, as Frank above points out (girder types) used longitudinal wooden timbers running the length of the bridge, supported by large metal girders underneath with the rail fixed by chairs onto the timbers. However, this example at Witney Junction shows another variant where the horizontal rail sleepers were supported in an open fashion by metal girders beneath:

(Click to enlarge)

All three examples above, as I'm sure most of you are aware, are fairly typical GWR types. I'm not sure, however, if the original Witney Railway Company built these or whether they are later GWR replacements.

Cheers
Simon

Hi, I think this is another difference between a bridge and a viaduct, a long steel bridge would not use ballast but a long viaduct carries the track bed across them.

:hmmNigel