Sizing up the Trestle Bridge Once at the House

Arriving back in Chattanooga they were moved into the basement for assessment.

First, a bit of terminology so the purists are not offended. While commonly we think of a trestle bridge and assume that the uprights are called trestles, formally the uprights that hold up the bridge span are called "trestle bents".

The trestles bents are 8' high and have several stands and several trestle bridge sections. It was built for a display at the Huntington Museum of Art. The display was called Agent of Change and you walked under this to enter. It was set up in an "S" shape at the museum about 30' long.  The trestles bents are 24”× 31”× 8' high (8 of those with 2 of them with slight curve plus two 14"×10" spanning trusses which are 8' long. Also, included were a number of pieces of spare wood for repairs.

It is hard to visualize how large they are so here is a movie from Sept 13, 2020, taken in the basement, which has a 16' ceiling.

This trestle bridge had been in storage for years so they needed a lot of repair and re-staining so the work began.