Victorian Docklands

I need a bridge in the back corner to connect the lower deck of the central Quayside with the Industrial area.

The Lighthouse base is the best place to put it but will need a walkway round it rather than a door (tunnel) through it.

1 – The bridge is low so needs to lift up to allow water traffic to pass.

2 – A footbridge is fine as there are no vehicles in that area.

3 – The walkway and bridge need to be about 45-50mm wide to allow larger models to use them.

The first job was to construct the framework of the walkway and hinge points to see what the length of the bridge would be and get some ideas for how it would work.

Once that was in place I gathered up a few bit boxes for inspiration.

Next was a Brainstorming Session, flitting between the board and the sketches to see how ideas measured up.

My original thoughts was for a ‘Dutch’ style Cantilever Bridge or a mechanical bridge like Tower Bridge in London.

There just wasn’t enough room in front of the light house for the counter-weights and after ripping two of the lighthouse walls off I found that the centre support would stop me from putting the counter-weights inside.

I rejected the Tower Bridge design because the gear structure would block the walkway when the bridge was down.

Further examination of the bit boxes revealed some nice gears so I thought that I could countersink them into the base and do away with the weights altogether.

I have some slow speed 3V motors so the bridge could potentially work too!

I could add extra gears and a chimney etc. to make it more Steampunk.

I will have to figure out the electrics as it will probably need limit switches and reverse power for up and down.  Maybe some LEDs too.

I pulled out a few items that might be useful and now the fun begins…