Trestle Bents

[ScaleCraft]

25 years ago, I was given a big box of wooden bents, all sizes, and a double-tracked scratch girder bridge.

I dragged them out of the basement to see what I could do with them thinking using them on the mountain branch line.

These.
Are.
Bad.

Wood dowel, two sizes, center runs aren't even vertical, then I looked at them closer.
White glue construction. A LOT of white glue. As in, it would take me HOURS to trim the huge globs and drips off. About 10 headers were loose, filed of the glue and re-glued.
About 2/3 of them are single track width, rest are 1-1/2 track width, couple double track.

Sprayed with flat black paint over all of it, glue globs and runs and all.

I am thinking they go in the trash.

Not even good enough for a HiRail line.

There was a well known (among the community) railroad in North Seattle/Richmond Beach area...came from there. Ripped out before I came along.

Builder was a civil engineer, worked for NP, I think it was.

I worked on a roundhouse he built that ended up at Garberson's. Pile of kindling. Took months to fit all the pieces in the correct places, glue and straight pin until set. Not ONE stall had the same dimensions as the others, and it was 12-15 stalls. Like doing a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle without a picture.

I hate to see stuff like this......probably a good ten-foot railroad when it was in service.

Rant mode "off".

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Sprayed with flat black paint over all of it, glue globs and runs and all.

Too bad. Not even useful as kindling....

[Chris Webster]

A LOT of white glue. As in, it would take me HOURS to trim the huge globs and drips off.

My recollection is that you can use petroleum jelly to soften white glue, making it easier to remove. I think you have to leave it on overnight.

[robert.]

last week i tossed out enough to do 18 feet. 8 inches high. Made from walnut. dyed with water based walnut and splashed with ebony. All tops parallel. all bases had. One 3/16 screw to mount them. I tried for a month to sell them on eBay. No takers.

[ScaleCraft]

Cleaned them up a bit. Reglued the headers. Put them in a big box....and said to heck with it. Going in the trash tonight, pickup at 0700 tomorrow.

[R.K. Maroon]

I was thinking that otherwise-less-than-perfect trestle bents could be used for one of these:



The ones in the photo though appears to be narrow compared to standard bents.

I have suggested to our club that installing one of these in our switching area would be a good way to break up the otherwise flat-as-a-board terrain of the industrial area of our portable layout. There wasn't a rush of support for the idea, perhaps because we just completed a hand-built trestle and it was a good bit of work.

Jim

[ScaleCraft]

That one looks good for non-mainline use, straight, no curves, no speed, no dynamic forces.
Your two center legs appear to be directly under rails, good.

The ones that I had (gone for 4 hours now) were 5/16" and 3/8" wood dowel verticals. Ugly.

I did find another box of really nice ones, four leg, two center legs an inch longer than outers, drill holes, drop in. Saving those...square legs, too.