5. Stage 2- May 2020 The Lift Up Bridge is Redesigned

23 May 2020
The base boards on the other side of the opening have been completed so work has now started on the Lift up Bridge.

25 May 2020.
I had a rethink about the hinge arrangement on the lift up bridge and decided to make the mounting block out of steel rather than wood.
To make the mounting block I fitted 2 pieces of 'C' purlin overlapping each other and screwed them together to form a rectangular hollow box.

I purchased a more robust set of gate hinges and 2 plastic shims 10 mm thick which when fitted to the mounting block and the timber supports for the bridge were added, the top of the supports was level with the top of the approach base board.

28 May 2020
Another rethink saw the use of timber for the bridge supports replaced with using Aluminium primarily because the hardwood timber was comparatively very heavy and would have made the ease of opening the bridge more difficult.

The bridge supports are now made out of 50mm x 30mm x 3mm Aluminium box section.
They will carry the majority of the weight of the trains and combined with the new hinges are at the same height as the top of the baseboards without the necessity for the 10mm shims which will be used elsewhere I am sure..

Initially the supports crossed the opening at right angles to the ends of the baseboard frames but when track was positioned to check the alignment it became obvious that the supports should be on an angle to allow a smooth alignment for straight track across the bridge.

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