MTH-Lionel Hellsgate Bridge 6-32999

I believe you can fit 2 tracks, but it was designed for regular O gauge tubular, not RealTracks or even FasTrack for that matter.  The additional width of the integrated roadbed makes it too wide.

-Dave

Frank:

That two-track version of the original pre-war **** GateBridge was designed by Lionel in 1999 so it was intended for the only Lionel track available at that time - tubular track.  So it predates Lionel Fast Track and I’m not sure if Real Trax was on the market back then but I doubt if Lionel would have tried to make it compatible with Real Trax anyway.  You have less than 6” between those two “curbs” to fit two tracks so you need something without a built-in road bed which ads extra width. 

I have the green & yellow #6-32904 version and use Gargraves O gauge track across it and two tracks fit fine.  A 3’ section of Gargraves Flex track overlaps the entire bridge so that you don’t have to fasten the track to the bridge, you just fasten it to the supports on each end.  The width of the Gargraves ties gives a center-rail to center-rail spacing of about 3 5/8”.  While that spacing is adequate for clearance on straight track, depending on what you are running, it will not likely be enough on curves.  For reference, Lionel’s FasTrack curves come in 9” diameter increments which give a center-rail to center-rail spacing of 4½” when nested.  While that should be adequate for most 3-rail O gauge rolling stock, I’m sure there are exceptions.   

Like you, I took my bridge out of storage after 13 years of it sitting in its original shipping carton and put it on my layout this past year.  I was surprised that it has lights in the towers which add a nice touch especially when the room lights are off at night.  The original pre-war version doesn’t have those lights. 

HTH,

Bill

As has been said, GarGraves, tubular or Atlas should be OK. I used GarGraves.

Clearances are a little tight - might be trouble with double stacks hitting the curved edge above the track. You definitely need at least a foot or so of straight track leading into and out of the bridge.

Jim

Hi Frank,

Bill's post gets to an important historical footnote...  Not all **** Gate Bridges  are created equal!

The original Lionel **** Gate was designed for single track Standard Gauge tubular track.  The ribs across the bridge are made to index into Standard Gauge tubular track sheet metal ties.  The MTH Tinplate Traditions and Lionel Corporation reproductions are very close copies of the Lionel original and are still configured for single track Standard Gauge tubular.  It is possible on these versions of the bridge to run two O-gauge tracks, but the spacing is VERY tight and the approaches must be dead straight.

There is a second version of the **** Gate Bridge (the one Bill described) that was produced by Lionel in 1999.  In the late 90's the O-gauge market was booming and the competition between MTH and Lionel was at a fever pitch.  MTH had (and still has) tooling to reproduce most of the original Lionel tinplate products and had produced many of these items for Lionel in the 80's and early 90's.  After the two companies parted ways Lionel invested in new tooling for several tinplate items, some of which were totally new designs.  The 1999 version of the **** Gate Bridge was one of those new tooling pieces.  Lionel helped to differentiate it's new item from MTH's reproduction by making it wider and reconfiguring the cross supports to index with O-gauge tubular track sheet metal ties.  This version will easily accommodate two O-gauge tracks.

If you are working with either an MTH Tinplate Traditions or Lionel Corporation version of the **** Gate Bridge I would suggest purchasing a couple 40 inch lengths of Lionel tubular track (#6-65523) to lay across the bridge.  You'll need to adjust the position of the ties to match the spacing of Standard Gauge track, but that's not too difficult with a flat blade screw driver.  On either side of the bridge you can install MTH #40-1011 RealTrax/tubular transition pieces.  You can then use two MTH #40-1033 graduated trestle sets for the approaches. 

Hi Frank, as per your elevation question, build two supprts using 1 X 4 pine strips. Lay them flat and glued on top of each other. Make each graduation about an inch shorter then the one below, culminating at the top with a piece that is the same width as the bottom of the bridge main towers.

Use wood putty to cover the wood supports then carve stone lines in them and collor to taste. You can make graduating piers the same way, but use 1 X 2 sections for that.

Have fun.

I used 6 sections of 10" O tubular track with 4 Realtrax transition sections.