Dictionary:
tres·tle (trĕs'əl)  |
[Middle English trestel, from Old French, alteration of Vulgar Latin *trāstellum, trānstellum, diminutive of Latin trānstrum, beam. See transom.]
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| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Trestle |
A succession of towers of steel, timber, or reinforced concrete supporting the horizontal beams of a roadway, bridge, or other structure. Little distinction can be made between a trestle and a viaduct, and the terms are used interchangeably by many engineers. A viaduct is defined as a long bridge consisting of a series of short concrete or masonry spans supported on piers or towers, and is used to carry a road or railroad over a valley, a gorge, another roadway, or across an arm of the sea. See also Bridge.
A trestle or a viaduct usually consists of alternate tower spans and spans between towers. For low trestles the spans may be supported on bents, each composed of two columns adequately braced in a transverse direction. A pair of bents braced longitudinally forms a tower. See also Tower.
| US Military Dictionary: trestle |
2. also trestlework an open braced framework used to support an elevated structure such as a bridge.
3. also trestletree each of a pair of horizontal pieces on a sailing ship's lower mast supporting the topmast.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| Wikipedia: Trestle |
| Trestle | |
|---|---|
 Trestles are useful as approaches to bridges over marshes and shallows |
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| Ancestor: | Beam bridge, clapper bridge |
| Related: | None |
| Descendant: | Viaduct |
| Carries: | Heavy rail |
| Span range: | Short |
| Material: | Timber, iron, steel, reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete |
| Movable: | No |
| Design effort: | low |
| Falsework required: | No |
A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, especially referring to a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. In the context of trestle bridges, each supporting frame is generally referred to as a bent. Timber trestles were extensively used in the 19th century, making up from 1 to 3% of the total length of the average railroad.[1] In the 21st century, steel and sometimes concrete trestles are commonly used to bridge particularly deep valleys while timber trestles remain common in certain areas.
Many timber trestles were built in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the expectation that they would be temporary. Timber trestles were used to get the railroad to its destination. Once the railroad was running, it was used to transport the material to replace trestles with more permanent works, transporting and dumping fill around some trestles and transporting stone or steel to replace others with more permanent bridges.[2]
In the later 20th century, tools such as the earthmover made it cheaper to construct a high fill directly instead of first constructing a trestle from which to dump the fill. Timber trestles remain common in some applications, most notably for bridge approaches crossing floodways, where earth fill would dangerously obstruct floodwater.
The steel trestle shown below (to the left) is a modern structure with a long expected lifetime compared to a wooden trestle. Being fire resistant in this brushy location is also an advantage.
One of the longest trestle spans created was for railroad traffic crossing the Great Salt Lake on the Lucin Cutoff in Utah. It was replaced by a fill causeway in the 1960s, and is now being salvaged for its timber.
Many wooden roller coasters are built using design details similar to trestle bridges because it is so easy to make the roller coaster very high. Since loads are well distributed through large portions of the structure it is also resilient to the stresses imposed. The structure also naturally leads to a certain redundancy (provided that economic considerations are not overly dominant). Such wooden coasters, while limited in their path (not supporting loops), possess a certain ride character (owing to structural response) that is appreciated by fans of the type.
New Orleans still utilizes steel trestles to support parts of I-10, the Pontchartrain Expressway, and Tulane Avenue.
The Camas Prairie Railroad in northern Idaho utilized many timber trestles across the rolling Camas Prairie. The major trestle across Lawyers Canyon was the exception, constructed of steel.
 A steel trestle with plate girder spans and steel towers |
 A classic wood trestle using logs and beams |
 Wooden trestle crossing a floodway. |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trestle bridges |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Trestle |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - buk, understel
Français (French)
n. - tréteau
Deutsch (German)
n. - Auflagerbock, Tapeziertisch, Gerüst, (mar.) Längssaling
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κινητός υποστάτης, (σ)τρίποδο, στήριγμα ή βάθρο από σανίδες και τρίποδα, υπόβαθρο, υποστήριγμα, καβαλέτο
Português (Portuguese)
n. - suporte de mesa (m), cavalete (m)
Русский (Russian)
подмостки, козлы
Español (Spanish)
n. - caballete
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (trä)bock (s. stöd)
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
支架, 栈桥, 高架桥, 搁凳
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 支架, 棧橋, 高架橋, 擱凳
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 구각, 버팀 다리, 가대
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) مسند, منصه
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - חצובת-שולחן, רגלית, גשר-מתמכים
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Trestle". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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