Need for bridges?

[unittrain]

Just kicking around the idea here of possibly offering etched kits of various bridges. I have so many drawings accumulated now
from tons field measurments of prototypes from the Pennsy, Erie and NYC. Most date to the early 1900's constructed by King Bridge,
American Bridge ect. I have CAD drawings compiled as I used to work in CAD as a design drafter (I now run a cleaning company since my layoff!). I'm in the process of contacting some commercial etching companys to get prices. I was just wondering how big of market you
think there is for this. I'd really like to offer these kits because they are some really cool structures of which some have been torn down :-[. I have various deck plates and some early 1900's truss bridges some are quite unique. Any input would be helpful.
Thanks

[artpics]

Rule 1, How to make a small fortune in model railroad manufacturing, start with a large one.

Rule 2, see Rule 1

Good luck, I would love to see them produced but create a real business plan first.

[Frank Amato]

Cool concept, but you may find a few established competitors like http://traincat2.com

  Frank

[Mark5]

All depends on how much dough you are willing or able to put at risk.

There are plenty of bridges out there!

There isn't a lot of profit in this racket.

[FrankCampagna]

We also need highway bridges. A lot of railroad pics show fancy steel highway bridges alongside the RR.

Frank

[sirenwerks]

Good luck, I would love to see them produced but create a real business plan first.

I think the more the merrier, that we shouldn't discourage unittrain's interest. The bridges that are available don't represent ALL the different bridges used in the real world, not even a sliver, so more variety would be good. If unittrain's releases are of quality, have fair price points, and are easily/readily available then, by all means, please bring them on. IMO, we need more like Atlas's latest code 55 girder bridges, Central Valley's new release, and Micro Engineering's now quite old releases - all reasonably priced generics - and TrainCat's growing catalog of reasonably priced beautiful specialties. And yes, some more major thoroughfare and highway bridges would be nice too.

[TiVoPrince]

Mr. Wallet
is always tempted by SP-centric trestles...

[chuck geiger]

Lots of em' still in use on the UP here in CA

[unittrain]

I'm going to get a few quotes from some commercial firms I'm in the process now. As far as highway bridges go I have a few that crossed the railroad tracks and suprisingly were built by the railroad the road crossed! I went and got measurments after they closed the bridges one was built by the B&O in 1907! It is a small single lane truss bridge that was kept open way longer than it should have been! Some of the web members were actually bent. These were wooden bridges with steel trusses, I also have one that was built over the Pennsy which I think was constructed by the railroad not sure but the main part of the bridge was a through deck plate which led me to believe it was railroad built. I will keep you guys posted I'm pretty sure I'm going to give it a try! probably early this coming year.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think it'd be really neat to have the "common" highway type bridges that are in common use. I know that Rix makes something similar, but their kits are only two lanes wide, while the real things are actually usually pretty big.

[TiVoPrince]

Lots of em' still in use on the UP here in CA

Even though
my short term plans don't call for them I would be immediately buying trestle bents for Gaviota and Stenner Creek, to be used eventually on a layout or onetrack modules...

[pnolan48]

Unittrain,

I looked at making commercial bridges a few years ago, as I too have lots of specs and plans. It is an incredibly hard business to make a profit in, and a niche product makes it even harder. Be very wary, and double your costs before deciding on a price. Or triple them.

[unittrain]

Thanks for the input all. I've been working on finding out prices for production ect. Currently drawing up a large 220' camel back pratt built by American Bridge in 1909, It's a model I've been wanting to have for quite a few years so hopefully I can get them etched for a decent price! They need the drawings to quote a price so I'm down to adding rivets! Which is the not so fun part of the project! All of the details will etch without a problem but I'm not so sure about the rivets, They can do dimples or holes I guess with holes you can get closer to scale.

[TrainCat2]

By no means am I trying to discourage you, but please remember that Atlas has a 134ft Plastic Camelback coming out in 2010, BLMA has a 200ft Brass Camelback coming out in 2010, Overland already did a 225ft Brass Camelback and I have a 300ft Brass Camelback coming out in 2010. If you are doing it for yourself, go for it. If you are doing it to enter the market, you may want to pick a bridge that is not getting the attention that the Camelback already has. I fear that you are already up against some pretty stiff competition for that bridge type.

Just my observations anyway ...

[central.vermont]

, but please remember that Atlas has a 134ft Plastic Camelback coming out in 2010,
Just my observations anyway ...

Atlas is doing a camel back?!?!   

First I heard of this.

Jon