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Mill Creek Central
Trestle - Constructing the Deck
10/27/2006, last updated
12/08/2006
The towers and beams are up so the next
step is to put a deck on the beams. Construction of the deck is described in this page.
| Getting Started: We decided to
make a small section of deck to see how we liked it before
fabricating the parts for the entire deck. The key part of the
deck is the Us made of 1.5" square tubing spaced every 5 feet.
We cut enough tubes for 4 Us and gave them to Bruce Werner who welded
the tubes, gussets and brackets all together. The photo at right
shows the first two U's installed on the beams. We were happy with
the basic design. |
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| We initially planned to clamp the
Us to the outside edge of the beam flanges. The clamps worked
but we were concerned that vibrations might cause the clamps to rotate
and come loose. We changed the plan to use pieces of 1.25" channel to
clamp the U's to the inside of the beam flanges as shown on right.
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| We need to run 115 volt power and
signal wires across the trestle so we decided to deal with that issue
along with the deck. The photo
shows a length of plastic conduit held in place by simple clamps we
fabricated. The 115 volt power will be run inside the
conduit. The signal wires are in a multiwire shielded cable that
will be tied to the clamps. We'll be laying the conduit and
tying down the signal cable as we install the deck. |
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| The next step was to install the 5
ft long tie units between the Us. We made four tie units to go with
the four Us. The final step was to drill and install the top
rail angles. The completed 20 foot section of deck is shown at
right and also in photo below.
The top rail angles were taken down to be painted
along with the 14 additional angles needed for the rest of the railing.
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| Update 11-04-06: The
photo at right shows the tubes for the last 28 Us. Each tube has
three sets of holes drilled in it. The angle tabs stacked along
the back also have one hole each. These pieces were taken to
Bruce Werner's shop to be welded. Bruce is making the gussets
that are also required in the assembly.
The channels along the left back of the photo
are used to clamp the Us to the beams. The things with bolts
sticking out the top are brackets that are clamped to the I beam
flanges to retain the electrical conduit.
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| This photo shows the north end of
the trestle on a very cold (~ 25 degrees ) sunny morning. The
railings for the entire trestle have been painted and are on the deck.
The stack of steel rails will be used on the
trestle deck. The first two rails have been laid on the deck to help
align the track leading up to the trestle. Note that the track
leading to the trestle uses aluminum rails.
We were able to work in the cold and managed to
get the conduit and signal cable across the trestle before lunch.
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| This photo taken from the trestle
deck shows the track across the meadow leading to the tunnel.
The track was laid out so that the correct position of a
grade crossing about 60 feet from the trestle could be established.
The crossing will have steel rails embedded in concrete. We want
to pour the concrete for this crossing and for the turntable before
winter. (The turntable is just beyond the last visible part of
the track. )
Photo below shows the entire trestle on this
sunny morning. |
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| Update 12-8-2006: The Deck
is finished! Photo at right taken from the south end
shows the deck, the railing angles and cables. It
was cold today --- mid 20s --- which motivated us to keep moving
as we installed the cables.
The south
end will be finished after the concrete pad is poured next spring.
The rails can be installed as time and weather permits.
Photo below shows the view from the south west.
Notice the traces of snow on the frozen ground. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!
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The deck is essentially finished as is this page.
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