Thanks again, jbvb. The journal references have been really helpful, and I'm hoping my county library reference desk can help me with some copies. There are two I'd love to read, "A History of the Development of Wooden Bridges" and "American Wooden Bridges."

But really its the anecdotal facts like you mention that are the most helpful. My piece isn't actually about building the bridge, but all the characters are in the town and the story because they work for the railroad, and they're in the town just temporarily while the bridge is under construction. The story is all around the bridge and so getting the little details straight is important to me.

Hello I'm Robin and i'm 28 years old. I live in the Netherlands!

I start railroading when i was 6 years old I believe.

Had all the time N-scale but recently switch t to On3....its a new challenge! :-) I don't have a layout on the moment but in the future I want to have 1 again.

The most fun I have in scratchbuilding...and looking how other people build their stuff.

I don't have a lot of time to model in the summer...well...we have long winters here so...

Building a Porter from Grandt Line, a sawmill (based on Geoff Knott), a 3 barrel water car and some little other stuff.

Have to look where I can post some photo's of them.

Hope you all can help me in the future!

Thanks,

Robin.

Welcome to the Forum, Robin. Nice pictures and modeling. :up:

That is very good modeling Robin' Make sure you look at the ON 30 threads. All forum members share their skills and are more than happy to help and assist all new and experienced modelers. I usually learn something new every day on the forum.

Stop by the morning coffee lounge and check in tomorrow...

Robin,

Welcome to the Forums! That's some very nice model work you have there.

Enjoy the ride!

Pete

in Michigan

Hello. I'm William Crago, or preferably Bill. I was introduced to this site by my friend Mike Hamer.

I grew up on a farm near St. Marys in Southwestern Ontario. After obtaining Bachelor and Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering, I relocated to Pembroke, Ontario and worked 33 years at Atomic Energy of Canada, retiring in 1996.

I began model railroading about 1960 and have an HO layout about 12' x 18'. Currently, my main interest is scratchbuilding structures, using either styrene or wood. I hope to post some photos of these in the future.

Hi Bill, so nice to have you on board. One thing is for sure...I know you have many amazing models to share with the group! Looking forward to your contributions. [:-apple][:-apple]

Robin, welcome aboard. Those are very nice looking models. I think you'll enjoy yourself here.

Bill, if your a friend of Mike's, you'll fit right in here. Welcome aboard.

George

Well I'm from Buchanan, Michigan. Originally from Corvallis, Oregon. I guess you could say I've been at this since childhood. Off and on of course. As an adult it started with a visit to a model railroading club north of Corvallis called the Corvallis Society of Model Engineers. They have an excellent multi room layout that as I understand it is currently in the process of being renovated.

I tend to be more of a freelance sort of a guy but realistic scenics are a must..I haven't really had the space up until now to develop a decent layout (they've been 4x8's) but I've always wanted to do the area around my hometown. It allows for some interesting stuff there's a small yard downtown, but no real fast mainlines like they have here. The closest thing is the line that goes through town it splits from the South and continues West. There's a triangular reversing loop of sorts as the line branches in a different direction to the North. The Southern main just past the yard would make a great place for a hidden reversing loop on the southern end. Oh I've rambled enough about Corvallis...I'm an HO scale modeler I've never tried anything else. Right now I don't have anything built but I'm hoping to rectify that over the winter. I'm a firefighter with the local township and I do a bit of subsistence farming as well so I do tend to get pretty busy during the fall, spring and summer, but winter is wide open...not a whole lot to do but keep the stove stoked up and move snow around. Anyhow y'all take care now.

Welcome to RR-Line, Chris. There are a number of members living in MI, IN and OH, though with the size of those states I need to check maps before I'm sure which people are actually neighbors.

Welcome aboard, Chris. Keep us posted on your winter projects.

George

I used to be that way too 12 years of living here has changed that a bit. Although I still get turned around with northern Michigan.

Will do George. Right now the space I want to put it in is proving to be a challenge of it's own. I live in a 160 year old house that does not contain a level or plumb surface anywhere in it. I'm considering renting a lazer level to at least get level starting points. I apparently need to get up to speed on DCC I kinda know what it does, but it appears to have come a long way since I last was into model railroading. At this point I'm looking at going the "old school" route. Just using power packs to run the trains and switches. I ended up getting a bunch of stuff off Ebay from oh late seventies early eighties.I got scenery stuff..trestles, four or five bridges, signs stuff like that. I also got a few Tyco kits for log dumps and coal dumps and a boxcar that shoots out boxes...not sure if I'll use them or not, but they were neat to play with nonetheless.

Welcome aboard, Chris!

If you're in Buchanan, then pretty much all of Michigan is "northern" to you, so don't feel bad. As for the rest of us, "Up North" is usually described as north of an east-west line through Clare, or about halfway up the mitten. Yoopers are across the bridge in the Upper Peninsula.

I'm a troll-- I live bee-low da bridge, eh, but I'm still in Da Great White Frozen Nort.'

In any event, welcome to the Forums. Feel free to chime in and ask questions, contribute ideas and so on. There are some seriously talented people drifting around here, and I learn from all of them.

Enjoy!

Pete

in Michigan

Thanks Pete, Yeah when we were living over in Niles I could literally walk down the road a bit and be in Indiana. Not to far from there now.