The Headshunt Pier - Construction Part 1

As I mentioned yesterday, I've started work on building the wooden jetty that forms the headshunt for the two sidings. I had a look online for some existing prototypes and found one in Scotland that seemed ideal for the scenario. Nothing too complex - basically just an A frame with a couple cross members really.

The prototype photos shows a very grey weathered finish that will need to also be applied to the model, as well as a lot of moss! I've no idea how to weather anything, and I hate painting things so no idea what to do there. Anyway I don't need to worry about it just yet as I'm still working out the construction of it.

There seems to be a lack of construction photos of such railway piers on the internet that I can find, although most seem to have their rails spiked onto long timbers, rather than sleepers. Anyway, I've made a start on the supports using some balsa wood and trackpins:




Above: This handy cutting device makes light work of chopping the lengths of balsa, although I wouldn't use it for precision cutting balsa because the cut is not always clean. A saw is a much better idea for that.


Below: The current state of the trestle/pier/jetty. I'm tempted to  remove the existing ply trackbed here and also cut the webbing between the plastic sleepers and make a bespoke deck. Like I said earlier, although most rails on piers seem to be directly spiked to longitudinal beams, I didn't want that in this particular location. Mostly because this would make construction more difficult.


I think it would probably be better to remove the trackbed and the sleeper webbing, especially since views from a low angle would make these clearly visible, as in the photo above! What do you think?

Edit: I've decided to get ride of the trackbed and I've come up with the drawing below. Based on numerous photos of American trestle bridges, I think this should be a good option.


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