Bridge Supports.

[Frankie2]

Hi all, I'm planning to build a road bridge over my layout and I'm going to use wooden dowels for the bridge Supports but can anyone advise the what diameter dowel I should use to keep to scale(oo) . Regards Paul.

[RDS]

Paul

It depends which bridge you are planning to model.

However, a 1mm dowel would represent 76mm (just over 3") in real life, so I am guessing it is unlikely to look correct in anything above about 2mm, possibly even less.

[ColinB]

If it is any help there is a guy on EBay that does brilliant stone ones. I use them to support all my bridges.

[Frankie2]

RDS,  I'm modelling  a bridge from scratch using MDF for the road base and will construct the sides in either plastic or MDF to look like steel girders. I can also use styrene rods for the pillar supports. I have looked at buying MDF supports on eBay but the amount I need would work out expensive. I did notice that the base of these were 30mm X 30mm so I'm thinking maybe a 2.5mm dowel.Thank you for your reply.. 

[Frankie2]

ColinB,  I have seen these and they look great but part of my bridge will run directly above the track and there's no room to fit them as they would be to close to the track. The bridge will span nearly 4ft across my layout and have a bend towards the middle of the layout. It will be similar to a sweeping elevated motorway bridge. 

[morairamike]

To give some idea on my layout my street lights have a 2mm diameter pole which is equivalent to 6in in 00 gauge. Found this on the web

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-average-thickness-of-piers-in-a-bridge

[Frankie2]

Morairamike

Thanks for info that will be helpful in my calculations.

[morairamike]

Welcome