Model Railroading > Operating the Walthers Bascule Bridge

Last year, I detailed building the Walthers Bascule bridge (one of the most horrifically engineered kits I have EVER built). in this post about halfway down: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,4092040,4092299#4092299

This past week, we finally got it fully operational, electrically.

The designated position for this bridge is raised, and the premise is that its a remote bridge, operated by the crews. When the train gets to it, the conductor/brakeman steps down, opens a cabinet and "keys" the bridge down. The bridge will lower, once its locked in place, the signals will drop to green. When at the other end, the train stops, crewman gets out, and keys the bridge back to the raised position.

The signals are more indicators, then signals themselves. The signify the bridge is either raised (red), or when the bridge is lowered and locked (green).

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- The local control panels. There are two of these, one on each end of the crossing. The toggle switch turns power on to the panel (this is going to be getting replaced with an actual switch key operated mechanism, the toggle is just the temporary placeholder). Once power is on, you can hit the down button, the bridge cycles, and when it hits the far limit switch, a time delay relay activates, and once that drops, you get the green signal, and the down button lights up. The same happens in reverse. Both sets of controls are interlocked, however both stop buttons can be used at any time.

- The actual brains of the system. It all runs off of a 24V power supply. The bridge motor itself runs off of 3.1V, using a Drok buck converter.

I still have a slew of detail parts and railings to add to the bridge, but for now, it works..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/17 10:33 by sixaxlecentury.

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Veerrryy Cool! And very nice wiring job, in 'a neat and workmanlike manner,' according to National Electrical Code requirements.

In true railroad parlance, signals do not 'drop' to green. To meet standards green is the topmost color, red is at the bottom. So a signal dropping is falling from green or yellow to red or green to yellow.

In the bridge case the normal display for stop, red, until the crew man manually operates the bridge mechanism. For the prototype rails I would suspect announce the red signal had cleared when the green light came up..

Nothing important here, just a reference to the real world.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/17 11:29 by fbe.

very nice work clean and neat

fbe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In true railroad parlance, signals do not 'drop'
> to green. To meet standards green is the topmost
> color, red is at the bottom. So a signal dropping
> is falling from green or yellow to red or green to
> yellow.
>
> In the bridge case the normal display for stop,
> red, until the crew man manually operates the
> bridge mechanism. For the prototype rails I would
> suspect announce the red signal had cleared when
> the green light came up..
>
> Nothing important here, just a reference to the
> real world.

Agreed. Also, in most prototypical remote control bridge applications that I've seen (we have several), the bridge "self clears" after the train movement, and raises itself after the train is clear of the circuit. Very few are manual down/manual up.

Love it.

Agreed. VERY cool. The only thing better would be TWO or more draw bridges.

Bioyans.

That is the same way an automatic interlocking and a manual interlocking for railroad crossings at grade work. It would be common practice to eliminate a bridge tender job with common railroad circuits.

I note the old SP&S swing bridges on the Astoria line are manual in so many ways. They still employ a bridge tender though not a railroad employee. The bridges are left open so when a train is coming the dispatcher calls a contracted nearby neighbor to walk/drive to a row boat tied to the bank at the bridge. They row to the center of the bridge, insert a crank and manually line the bridge for train movement. After the train clears the neighbor, he or she, cranks the bridge open and rows back to the shore to drive to the next nearby manual swing bridge to operate it.

This is all dark nonsignaled track so this is all done by timetable special instructions. It all would be an interesting modeling and operations project for some back woods branch or logging line. This is 2017 and the manual swing bridges are still in operation though traffic levels are in the as needed range.

Very cool!

I've heard horror stories about that bridge before, so I'm glad to see that you were somehow able to make it work.

- Jeff Carlson

Not only is the bridge operation smooth, but the train approaching and stopping
in a very prototypical and smooth manner. A very well done on both.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Interesting project. Very cool electrical panel.

Can the span be extended?

t4p.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/17 12:53 by TCnR.

Question for those who know, wouldn't the signals be Dwarf Signals instead of normal full size signals?

WIN!!!!

Outstanding work.Will double stacks clear the counterweight.
Regards,DK

Fantastic!

Posted from iPhone

Full height or dwarf signals would be the railroad's choice. Commonly you do not find dwarf signals on the main line. These are siding and yard signals.



PHall Wrote:
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> Question for those who know, wouldn't the signals
> be Dwarf Signals instead of normal full size
> signals?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/17 11:38 by fbe.

Great work, very clean wiring for sure! I like the added work for crews, gives them more to do. Makes the layout operation more interesting. Thank you for sharing.

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

Great , fantastic. I love how neat and orderly you have the wiring , nice job.

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL