Plate Girder Bridge - pictures wanted

"Draconus" wrote in news:1Wwig.6706$ snipped-for-privacy@news-server.bigpond.net.au:

Sorry ca't help you with pics however I may be able to assist you with colour. In the main they're black, highlighted with black and with the details gain picked out in black. Seriously the vast majority of the bridges are painted with a very long lasting, hard wearing black paint that is very rust resistant.

For instance on the old East Lancs Railway bridge (*) over the Ogden just as it joins the Irwell hasn't had a train over it for nearly 40 years and still last time I looked a couple of years agao showed no signs of rust.

The colour fades somewhat to a dark bluey grey other than that the only real staining to be found on these kinds of bridge is underneith where bird dropping collect on the girders used by roosting birds and where there's a lot of vehicular traffic under the bridge the undersides will get covered in a grey/brown grime caused by the traffic.

Failing all that in many areas nowadays the bridges are painted all sorts of colours in all sorts of patterns as part of a process of gentrification of run down (or tourist) areas. This is quite a modern idea though that I've only really noticed occouring on any sort of widespread basis over the past 10 to 20 years. Other than that it's back to black.

(*) The one on the now defunct Helmshore line rather than the Rawtenstall(**) one 50 yards or so away.

(**) Now operated by the new East Lancs Railway, idiots that they were in preserving the wrong line.

HTH

So you reckon I should just paint it black then ??

;-)

Thanks mate

Cheers Mal Oz

"Draconus" wrote

Nope - there were very many examples painted in (let's call it) battleship grey and more recently in a light green colour. I don't recall seeing many (if any) in black, although of course in the steam era they may have weathered that way.

There's no substitute for a photograph, and ideally one specifically of the bridge being modelled.

John.

There are some colour pictures circa 1962 of steam in stations showing plate girder overbridges on the ex- Great Western Railway's Fairford branch in BR steam days, on David Howse's web site at:

The one up the road from me which carries the Coventry-Nuneaton line was battleship grey but is now rust coloured with holes in the side big enough to put your fist through. Water also pours through the sidewalls onto the pavement below but whoever is responsible for maintenance has thoughtfully provided a sign warning pedestrians that the surface is slippery.

(kim)

Depending on the modelling era. At one time the big four used their house colours. I don't know if this was general though. I suspect the practice became less common as paintwork got simpler.

Draconus is right though - too many modelled bridges look pristine even after the effects of smoke and weather.

"John Turner" wrote in news:e6eie9$mb7$ snipped-for-privacy@newsreaderm2.core.theplanet.net:

Well that rather shot me down in flames, genuinely never seen a grey bridge, must be something "To do wi that lot on t'other side ot Pennies not doin t'job proper" ... not that Yorkshire folks having a reputation with us Lancashire folks for being tighter than a ducks a*** :-)

You mean, as in:

"I see a plate bridge and I want it painted black... No colours any more, I want it to turn black.. I see the trains go by...."

(apologies to Mick and the lads)

Cheers, Steve

"Chris Wilson" wrote

That'd explain them all being grey this side of t'hills then - grey paint was generally what you got if you mixed all the slops together, and it'd be cheap! ;-)

John.

"Draconus" wrote

I've not gone looking for grey bridges, just plate girder bridges. Here are recent offerings from my

website:-

but not a black one in sight.

John.

"John Turner" wrote in news:e6f4ds$u3b$ snipped-for-privacy@newsreaderm2.core.theplanet.net:

...

But to be fair, those are all pretty modern/up to date images, it's not as though they're pictures of a real railway. :-)

"Chris Wilson" wrote

Agreed, so our friend Mal should state what period he's wanting to model, then I'll go dig out pictures of plate grider bridges in whatever period is relevent, but I recall bridges being grey back in the 1960s, and sadly I don't think I've much in the way of colour material from then or earlier.

John.

"John Turner" wrote in news:e6f5cf$ugj$ snipped-for-privacy@newsreaderm2.core.theplanet.net:

I tried to beet you to it. I've just been through your public 50s, 60s and

70s pages. Got to confess I was looking to be a smart a**s by directing you to one of your own photos. No joy :-(

Down this way medium green, blue with red pin-striping, and dark grey (once black)....

Thanks all. to honest the 'black' bit suprised me a little, as most of the ones I have seen on models here were various shades of grey - but pristine with little or no aging or weathering.

Thanks for the links to pictures - they will help to inspire.

Out of interest the bridge I am trying to model is the plate girder carrying the GER over the A143 from Haverhill to Bury St Edmunds - in early sixties - have no photos of it, the abutments remain but the girder bridge has been replaced by a steel walkway. My version will take the road over the railway though.

Have had a friend take reams of shot of the abutments but she couldn't find a time machine to go back and shoot the bridge ;-)

Cheers Mal X

refer to John's picture above... I've seen an article somewhere suggesting there is a paint or something that gives that 'peeling paint with rust underneath' effect. Anyone remember what it's called ? I rather like the look of this one.

Cheers again Mal Oz

>

Some thoughts here. I used to work for a paint manufacture who supplied paint for a lot of large commercial concerns. For steel or iron work, such as bridges, we would normally recommend a red-oxide primer (latterly aluminum based, but previously red lead), which would be covered by a couple of coats of either black bituminous paint or, sometimes, a grey paint with what looked like small flaces of mica in it. This latter had the advantage that it could be sprayed on, so was popular for larger structures. There were some bridges painted in other colours, often for advertising purposes- one that springs to mind was the 'Feredo' bridge, painted light blue, in Coventry. There is a photo of this, or a similar bridge, being carried to a scrap yard, in Robert Hendry's 'British Goods Wagons in Colour' Brian

Driving into Oldham in the mid 1980s my wife pointed out a plate girder bridge bearing the proud message "Oldham - the home of the tubular bandage".

wrote

The railway over-bridge on Hedon Road in Hull which allows the railway access to King George Dock was for many years branded with the advertising slogan "Priestman's are a mile ahead", which geographically they were - at least until they went bust!

John.