Mr. Dorsey are you interested in a challenge? The Longfellow Bridge in Boston, MA

[JCitron]

Hi Ben,

Are you interested in making the Longfellow Bridge between Boston and Cambridge?

http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/default.asp?pgid=BridgeIndex&sid=level2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Longfellow_Bridge_2.jpg

This bridge was built in 1907 and named after the famous poet Winslow Longfellow in 1927. This is a unique historical bridge made of granite and concrete with the heavy rail MBTA Red line running in the middle.

At one time street cars shared the bridge with the Boston Elevated (Red Line today) along with cars and people. Today of course the street cars are gone. At one point, on the Boston side, the East Boston Subway (Boston Blue Line today) used a pare of crossovers to get from their tunnel, via street trackage, over to the Elliott shops in Cambridge for repair. This existed until the early 1950s when the Orient Heights shop was built for the current Blue Line.

The links above provide some historical as well as dimensional information that hope find useful.

I hope you take up the challenge because this bridge will offer the Trainz community a nice opportunity to run both rail and automobiles on the same bridge and make use of Andi06's Automatic Traffic Direction Control System.

Good luck and thank you for all of your wonderful bridge and building creations in the past.

John

 

[gfisher]

Also known as the "pepper pot" bridge because of the four center towers resemblance to the item of the same name. Been over it many times, and also under it rowing crew.

Now that I think of it, wasn't it the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, same as the Longfellow House in Cambridge on Brattle Street?

 

[bendorsey]

Hi John:

I should be able to make that for you. Need some more photos (or drawings) and basic dimensions (I'm lousy at research). My e-mail address is in my profile.

Ben

 

[JCitron]

Hi John:

I should be able to make that for you. Need some more photos (or drawings) and basic dimensions (I'm lousy at research). My e-mail address is in my profile.

Ben

Hi Ben,

I'll see what I can dig up for you. The link I posted gives some of the dimensions for you of the bridge, but if you need more I'll look around and get them to you.

I think everyone will enjoy the bridge because of the rails lines on it as well. This could be used for any rail-related use, regular passenger, heavy rail, or even lightrail.

John

 

[bendorsey]

Hi John:

What I need photo-wise is:
1. Pics showing the ends (both if different).
2. Close-ups of the tall piers (pepper -pots, lol).
3. Close up of the shorter piers.

Dimension-wise:
1. Over all length and width.
2. Length, width and height of the various piers.
3. Ditto the ends.

I've made a few dual use bridges (rail and road). Those with the road and rail on the same level are much easier (separating them at the ends can be a bit of a chore if one is on top of the other).

It is possible to set up the 2-lane roadways for one way traffic.

Ben

 

[JCitron]

Hi John:

What I need photo-wise is:
1. Pics showing the ends (both if different).
2. Close-ups of the tall piers (pepper -pots, lol).
3. Close up of the shorter piers.

Dimension-wise:
1. Over all length and width.
2. Length, width and height of the various piers.
3. Ditto the ends.

I've made a few dual use bridges (rail and road). Those with the road and rail on the same level are much easier (separating them at the ends can be a bit of a chore if one is on top of the other).

It is possible to set up the 2-lane roadways for one way traffic.

Ben

Hi Ben,

I put in a query with the state highway department for some dimensions and details on the bridge. I told them in my email that I would like the plans and details because I'm having a 3D model made of the bridge for a railroad simulator called Trainz Railway Simulator 2009. Hopefully someone will answer the query and supply the details.

John

 

[bendorsey]

Great (hope you get something). A basic drawing with dimensions will do just fine.

More likely your get a visit from Homeland Security. Those dolts think any inquiery comes from a terrorist cell looking to trash the structure. There is an on-going thread about this subject. "Am I a crimminal" or something like that. Far too many folks be they trainzers or Model railroaders get "busted" for innocently trying to measure and/or photograph an interesting structure with the idea of making a model of it for thier pike.

Ben

P.S. I was going to attach a "get out of jail card" but I can't seem to find my Monopoly Game, lol.

 

[picture]

~skip~ P.S. I was going to attach a "get out of jail card" but I can't seem to find my Monopoly Game, lol.

Here I have one:

 

[bendorsey]

Great! Please pass it on to John (just in case).:hehe:

BTW I understand the newest version of Monopoly has a small calculator for banker functions. Rats - How can I ever beat the average 10 year old if I can't short change them, lol.

Ben

 

[JCitron]

Thank you for the Get out of Jail card. I haven't seen my Monopoly game in ages either.

I know what you mean about the Homeland Security thing. That's why I emailed the MA Highway to inquire about the plans. I even put my home and work telephone numbers in the email just in case they need to contact me. I figured if I was upfront about what I wanted, they'd give it to me, but knowing how the state works, we may never even hear from them because they couldn't gave a rat-fart about anything but their own jobs.

I'll look around for some basic information on length, etc. and see what I can dig up.

Thanks again for you help on this.

John

 

[bendorsey]

You should read some of the horror stories on that "Am I a crimminal" thread. Downright scary. Can't even try to preserve a landmark station that is going to be demolished by making a scale model of it for your model railroad without getting big brother down your throat.

I don't need detailed plans. An overall sketch with basic dimensions will work just fine. I can't put all the little details in anyway. If I did it would bring your graphics card to its knees, lol.

Ben

 

[picture]

~skip~ BTW I understand the newest version of Monopoly has a small calculator for banker functions. Rats - How can I ever beat the average 10 year old if I can't short change them, lol.

Ben

What?! Why do they need to put in a calculator. Thats just dumb.

Thank you for the Get out of Jail card. I haven't seen my Monopoly game in ages either. ~skip~
John

Your welcome. To tell the truth I justed copy and pasted from google images. LOL. I haven't seen my Monopoly in a long time either. Now I just play poker with my cousins . Of course no real money is involved:hehe: .

~skip~ Can't even try to preserve a landmark station that is going to be demolished by making a scale model of it for your model railroad without getting big brother down your throat.

~skip~
Ben

Thats just messed up:n: . After 9/11 you can't get the specifications for famous buildings because the gov't is afraid you're going to blow it up. I collect law enforcement patches, but they are alot harder to come by these days because the police think the patches could be used to commit criminal acts. I only frame them.

Matt

 

[bendorsey]

Hi Matt:

I guess they added a calculator because most kids can't do math without one any more. I was allowed to use a slide rule (but I also had to take a 1 week course to learn how to use it).

Ben

 

[JCitron]

Hi Matt:

I guess they added a calculator because most kids can't do math without one any more. I was allowed to use a slide rule (but I also had to take a 1 week course to learn how to use it).

Ben

I still have my slide rule that I used in high school. Do you think I still know how to use it?

You're right, Ben. I never heard back from the MA road dept. I'll look around for the dimenions and email them soon.

I've been offiline for a little bit due to electricity problems and then the really nasty stomach bug. This was one of those bugs where the Grim Reaper follows each person around hoping to get his jollies out of them. He got everyone but my brother. For some reason he was left alone, but he drank a lot of beer. Hmmm...

John

 

[bendorsey]

I was playing with my slide rule a few months ago (after I found it by accident). All I can remember are the basic multiply, divide, square root, and cube root stuff. All those Log Log functions are history, lol.

I just did a quick google search for "Longfellow Bridge" and turned up several sites. Some with photos and dimensions. You might conside taking a peek.

Ben

 

[HiBaller]

I got hauled into a BN line shack for over an hour and grilled by a railroad cop for taking pictures of a very neat crossing of TM and BN routes in Waxahachie, TX. Fortunately, I had my laptop and they let me demonstrate Trainz. By the time they let me go, two of the supervisors were going to buy it for their "kids" (yeah, right).

Bill

 

[JCitron]

I got hauled into a BN line shack for over an hour and grilled by a railroad cop for taking pictures of a very neat crossing of TM and BN routes in Waxahachie, TX. Fortunately, I had my laptop and they let me demonstrate Trainz. By the time they let me go, two of the supervisors were going to buy it for their "kids" (yeah, right).

Bill

Bill,

They probably bought it for themselves rather than their kids. Technically id you weren't trespassing (I hope), you can take pictures of what ever you want if you're standing on public property. There's no law that prevents you from doing this.

The local yokles don't know the law or the full extent of the law that they are supposedly trying to enforce. This is a problem nationwide I read somewhere, but I can't remember where though.

If I've got a chance, I may contact the ACLU about this. They'll start a petition to the government for protection of photographers and other artists who need pictures or videos of various industrial and transportation locations around the country. If this were to become successful, this would put a damper on a lot of local officials and deflate their egos quite a bit.

John