Bridge Girder
This is a model of the centre span of the bridge on the Sudbury to Bury St. Edmunds line of the Great Eastern Railway. The length is 216mm (54 scale ft.) end to end and designed for a clear span between abutments of 192mm (48 scale ft.) The prototype was designed for a single track railway. For a double track line a centre girder would be needed or the middle two panels should be removed to reduce the maximum bending moment when two trains pass on the bridge and to allow for the asymmetric loading.
I was asked if I would make it available in 4mm scale by John Chilvers. I redrew the etches for the new scale and, having built one of the 2mm ones myself, took the opportunity to number each of the vertical flanges as these are all slightly different lengths. (You can see in the pictures that the top of the girder rises very slightly in towards the middle, but the bottom is flat.)
John received the girders and a day or so later sent me the pictures below with the words:
‘‘The etches arrived safely and today I had a go at producing one span, I’ve got to say I’m so impressed with how easy it went together and the crispness of the etch.’
Price for one pair of girders £160 + £7 p/p
