Railroad Bridge Rebuild

[KnotBB]

Cool project.  I'd volunteer time if i live closer.

[Al_Smith]

Where would a person get cypress in Pa ? I'd about have thought in Pa they would have used white oak which seems to abound in that state .

[T Welsh]

beenthere, It was the first thing discussed and has been taken out of my hands.I wanted to cut a solid timber to find out exactly what they used. But that feel on deaf ears and out of my control. Al, a custom order from A&A Supply in Kennett Square,Pa. For what I know so far.I know he is substituting a different material into the project but its out of my control. The contractor said to me Friday,all I need for you to do is dismantle it and rebuild it. So the project went from furnishing sawn materials to playing with Lincoln logs. Tim

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Hi Tim,

I'm not sure if you used them before, but when we do dismantle/restoration work like this we most often, (98%) of the time only use story poles.  The tapes are for back up and logging certain data.  How do you plan to do it?

Regards,  jay

[T Welsh]

Jay, Measure,number diagram and dismantle from the top down. All pieces can be sat in a field next to the bridge. I will use a 15ton truck crane to lift everything out of the cut.Once that is done,I will cut,number and stage the timbers and beams as they came out for reassembly and then bring the crane back in for setting. I can gain access to the bottom of the RR bed so that's a plus,but its a quarter mile of extra travel to get to the opening which is 4wd loader only at this time,I do plan to cut a roadway in so I can stage the timbers for faster assembly. I hope I can land the job,my figures where good and I think fair for the amount of work involved. It is also 4 miles from my house,with the coffee house in between,it doesn't get to much better than this ;D. Tim

[T Welsh]

I just got the call from the contractor rebuilding the access bridge. We won the contract to rebuild it. Although I am not sawing any timbers or beams for this project the saw will be on the job site if needed. I will document this project to keep you guys posted on the progress. And will hopefully get to resaw the good beams and timbers that come from the Bridge,they appear to be old growth with really tight growth rings,they only problem is the are treated with tar. Thanks for all the well wishes,this is going to be a once in a lifetime job!Tim

[mad murdock]

Good luck on the job! glad you were able to get it.  The fuel savings alone, being so close to home will definitely help out the ol' piggy bank on this job, eh?   8) 8)

[thecfarm]

That is good news. Good luck with the new bridge build.  ;D

[Jay C. White Cloud]

 8) Congratulations Tim!  can't wait to see pictures.

[Axe Handle Hound]

Here is a picture of the remains of a large barn that the bridge serves

  This is not the original barn,but as you can see from the old foundations it was quit a barn during its day. Tim

This is slightly off-topic, but is the end wall of that barn made of stone? 

[T Welsh]

Thanks guys, I am excited about this project,we will be able to have fun and play with our toys and get paid at the same time.Axe Handle Hound, Yes,if you look close at the photo the bottom foundation is all stone even out into the barn yard. It was quit the barn back in its day and probably burnt down some time ago,when looking at it we saw burn marks on the stone walls! From what I hear from the contractor,this will be torn down and restored to the same likeness.

   This is a different picture of the barn looking straight into the barn yard. Under the weeds in the front of the picture is an old John Deere manure spreader :D Tim

[Jim_Rogers]

When we took apart a barn to be restored and re-erected we made the drawing of the barn first. Then we labeled the timber and the drawing at the same time. This way we were sure to have all the timbers labeled in both places exactly the same.

We had some standard rules. One was each braces was labeled on the end that went into the post. That way we always knew which end was up.

For restoring broken, rotten or missing parts, the timber on the plan was highlighted with a yellow highlighter marker.

Maybe you could also, draw the plan and when you have a piece done highlight it on your plan.
That's one way to keep track of the number of pieces and joints you have to cut.

To tag the timbers we used round aluminum pieces that I think were washers for holding stuff together. And we had someone pound in the numbers and letters.
I know you may not have to do this but it maybe something you could consider.

Here is the timber framer creating the stamped numbered tags:



Here is the tags in place:



As you can see the brace tag is on the post end.

These tags were held on with sheet-rock screws. This prevent the numbers from fading out in the sun, washing off in the rain, and being lost while moving the pieces.

I just thought I'd pass this on to you to consider.

Jim Rogers

[Dave VH]

that would be a fun project.  I would almost do that at cost just to play with it.  (My wife gets mad when I take jobs at cost because I think that they would be fun). 
  What an opportunity

[T Welsh]

Jim, The tag system is a good idea,thanks. We will go down to the bridge with a ladder and take exact measurements for the material list for the cypress order. I plan on making a master diagram and labeling all timbers before the dismantling begins,once we start to dismantle it the timbers will be placed in order of removal in a large field next to the bridge for reference if needed and will not leave the site until the bridge is back together. I will also get all the angles while it is still standing so we can look at the master diagram and do the layout with out having to walk to the field,but I will walk to double check before a cut is made. Thanks for the insight and advise. Tim

[clww]

Rich D. also known as Sawking on flea bay was involved in a historical reconstruction of a long covered bridge in Oregon .

Kind of off-subject, but I have bought saws and bars from him on there. Good stuff! 8)

[clww]

T Welsh-That bridge looks to be an impressive project, and fun, too!

[Dave Shepard]

That looks like a really fun project. I look forward to seeing the progress.

We use aluminum tags with engraved numbers from Ben Meadows. They are anodized blue, so are easy to spot, and already have the screw hole in them. They come in batches of a hundred.

I am working on an article about documenting a barn as you dismantle it. This bridge is pretty straight forward, but a barn with 150 parts or more requires proper planning. I would have good sketches of each bent, frame section or assembly, showing each piece, and some sort of orientation on each sheet, and as Jim mentioned, label as you go. The barn I am working on now the number were changed several times on the "drawings" and the final set delivered to me had many reversed numbers. This gets expensive when you have to sort it out on the shop floor with your architect. Also, only one (1) number per piece. Neither shall there be two, or none. :D I had parts with four !! numbers on them in this barn.  :-\

[T Welsh]

Dave, I can see the number system going down the tubes with a barn with many pieces,that and having many people involved. Fortunately only myself and my partner will be involved in the actual measuring,numbering and layout and cutting of this project. We have made mistakes early on in our projects and learned valuable lessons from them. Our last barn we built was from salvage Heart Pine. They where not cheap and we only had enough to do the job with one or two pieces as extra,s. We could not afford any mistakes. We still have two pieces left from that build ;). Keep all the suggestions coming guy,s,I appreciate all the advise, I know a lot, but never think I know it all. Tim

[Al_Smith]

Having dismantled a few building a digital camera can be your best friend .