The Trestle

I don't know if I'll need just three layers of the foam or if I'll need another. I'd like to stick to three, but the height of the trestle may change that. So the next step is to assemble the trestle.

The trestle is the N scale "Timber Trestle" from Walthers' Cornerstone Series. If assembled as it comes out of the box, the trestle would be over 6 inches high and 13 inches long - much larger than I want for my layout. This isn't because it's N scale, not Z, but just because it can built that large. But it doesn't have to be. I'm not going to use use all the pieces and am constructing a trestle that is about 6 inches long and 3 inches high.

After finishing the trestle I could see that with three layers of foam, the trestle would be standing on the valley floor and the track would be elevated above the top of the mountain. So I cut additional pieces of foam for a fourth layer.

I cut steps out of the foam on the north side, as well as carving a part of the third layer down a little thinner. Now the trestle rests on the second layer down and the top is about level with the top of the first layer. The mid-length supports almost reach the carved portion of the third later and the longest supports almost reach the valley floor. I'll fill in with foam putty to make them fit later.

The little object just this side of the tracks in the picture to the right is a black and white print-out of a stagecoach (free download from Paperbeam Virtual Paper Models.) Since the gap in the mountains where the trestle is located is the only way into or out of the valley, I wanted to make sure that the supports would allow a western stage coach to pass through. They do.