Rolling Lift Bridge

This ubiquitous kit dates from the late 1960s, and is still seen today. However, the optional motor drives have long since disappeared, so modelers are on their own to animate the bridge. Although I've kept several of these kits on hand for years as kitbashing fodder, building the Newport & Rock Falls II marked my first opportunity to use one on a layout complete in its original and fully-functional form.

On 3 April 2019, I began by scrounging a replacement drive from my generous stockpile of motors, gears and other assorted mechanisms scavenged from old VCRs, floppy disc drives, and other obsolete tech. The unit was actually once a volume control for an old 1980s-era stereo, where the remote control ran a motor that physically turned the volume knob. It was the perfect device: a double-worm drive that runs slowly and silently. I used telescoping brass tubing to connect the plastic bridge crank to the aluminum potentiometer shaft. It's powered by its own supply, consisting of two AA batteries.

The final assembly step was wiring the moveable section of track just before installing it on the bridge. According to the instructions, the wires were supposed to have already been attached, yet they were loose in the box, which meant modelers had to solder them to the undersides of the rails (not a big deal for me, but not a trivial thing for an average modeler to do). The wires were also bright colors, so I used fine black wire from my larder. Once everything was assembled and functioning, I liberally applied black and rust washes. Finished on 6 April 2019, it has the distinction of being first kit done because tracklaying couldn't proceed until it was in place.

After a long chat with the modeler who inspired the layout, I retrieved it from storage on 7 February 2021. The first thing I did was relax the ground rule against kit modding and bashing. This opened up the opportunity to replace the control cabin with something more appropriate and interesting, which led to a long back-and-forth with the switch tower. Ultimately the control cabin became Arnold Rapido 0677, seen here during its brief tenure as the switch tower. Oddly, the Arnold kit seemed much too large for the job, but it still looked the part.

On 28 February 2021, I completed the electrical controls. There are two roller micro-switches: one controls the drive motor, and the other changes the bridge signal.

The control tower was finished and installed on 1 March 2021.

It appears in this video permanently installed and functioning on the finished layout.

Pola B276 — A DKS Retro Fave

The model is quite faithful to a real Scherzer, examples of which can be found all over the world.

Arnold Rapido 0677 — Control Cabin

After a long back-and-forth with the switch tower, the control cabin became this:

Reference Photo

Shark River bridge in Belmar, NJ.

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