Painting
After the five plate web girders were finished (Photo 27), I spent some time searching colour photos of New South Wales (NSW) steel railway bridges without arriving at a definite conclusion as to what might be the correct colour to paint them. Don Fraser told me that he had no idea what the original colours of the bridge were, however, he stated “the standard painting layers for a great many years were a coat of red lead and two coats of ferrodor, a mid grey.” So, the bridge girders were thoroughly washed in warm water with some detergent in it. After drying they were painted with a metal primer and then with two coats of an appropriate shade of grey. I used Testors Model Master acrylic enamels applied with a brush.
Bridge bearings
The ends of the bridge girders rest on bearings located on top of each pier. For large bridges these bearings may involvebearings are used. To build these bearings I used a short piece of brass strip 6mm wide and 1mm thick and filed a 0.5mm deep slot 3mm wide across its centre; refer to Figure 12.
