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Click the up arrow to close ads. > |
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Rocky Creek Railway |
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Bridges and Tunnel |
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return to.. |
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The Railway |
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Home Page |
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Bridge 1 |
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Bridge No.1 is a wooden truss bridge. (Total length 1.1m). There were many versions of differing lengths and heights used during early NZ railway construction, but most have now been replaced with steel or concrete versions. |
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The bridge was built from wood cut from an old door jam (given to us as fire wood). It has 4mm steel rods with threaded ends and nuts holding it together. The steel is painted with red oxide anti-rust paint. The wood has been coated with a marine sealer.
The centre stone pier is a block of Oamaru Stone (type of NZ Lime Stone). I have carved a stone block pattern into it. Stone bridge piers weren't as common as wooden ones, but you can't beat the look of Oamaru Stone for effect! |
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Bridge 1 |
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(Click on images for larger view) |
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Bridge 2 |
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Bridge 2 is a short bridge across a gap in the rock wall embankment. There is also a small culvert (under the second wagon). This is made form 20mm plastic conduit pipe to drain water which runs off the rocks behind the train and gets trapped on the other side of the ballast. An outdoor railway is a real railway and you have to think of engineering requirements for every occasion. |
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Bridge 2 |
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Bridge 3 |
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Bridge No3, was actually the first to be installed on the line. It is 2m long, made up of 8 spans. |
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It is made from wood that has been cut down on a saw bench to approx 16mm square.
A Jig was then built for the legs so that they would all be the same size when finished. The whole bridge was assembled upside down on the garage floor to make sure the track at the top would be flat. The whole thing was then taken outside, turned up the correct way and the legs cemented into place. The pond also has a concrete base with tank sealer paint applied to the top. The bridge has been treated with marine sealer. |
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Bridge 3 |
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It was more common to use round bridge piles in New Zealand, however early examples of square piles are still surviving on some bridges on the former Otago Central Branch. |
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Tunnel |
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The tunnel was built using Concrete Blocks and paving slabs. The tunnel mouths were poured into a mould I made from using strips of Trellis wood for the sides and some old plastic bent into an arch. The top is stamped with the date of construction, using numbers from a Cake Decoration set. |
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Concrete mould & finished product |
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< Concrete Blocks and Paving Stones used for tunnel construction. |
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Back To... |
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Home Page |
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The Railway |
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