MTH401103 Truss Bridge Question

center support is not needed.  these bridges are very well built

Thanks! That's the answer I was looking for. Now the next question is: Do I attempt to buy two of them on eBay or go to my local train shop? I'm leaning to buying local to keep them in business and have somewhere to go back to if there's a problem.

You can purchase two MTH Bridges and save the center Piers for something else. A suggestion might be to make each bridge a different color...

That's a good idea! I was going to weather them anyway...actually my grandson was going to weather them. He's becoming a weathering expert. One could be more freshly painted black, and the other could be in need of a good paint job. Or the other could be half painted with a guy hanging on with a paint brush. I think Artista has a person like that.

just as a note you will need about four inches of straight track on either side of the bridge if running scale stuff or a very large radius curve (099 plus)

That's not good! While I'm running wide curves, they're limited to O-96 (outer) and O-88 (inner), but there's no straight track entering the bridge space AND I'm running big scale stuff. Now I'm going to go with plan C. Plan C entails using a deck bridge where the overhangs on H-8 Alleghenys and the like won't matter.

Or.....you could think about having me make you a single stone arch bridge with no parapet wall, so as not to interfere with the equipment that you run.

To see a similar one, visit my blog at the following link:

I can make these in any length, and size arch, and I will work within your budget.

I have the MTH Truss, with one of their 10" girder extension bridges on each end, and I also didn't use the center support for the main bridge. I regularly run my Lionel CP ABA set, with powered A & B units across it without any deflection at all. But if you have decided to go with a deck bridge because of the turning issues, it doesn't matter anyway, just thought I would post the pic.

I haven't even started on the area as far as landscaping yet but here is a pic of the bridge.

REV

Thank you for your posts on the Bridges.

Revitup it is a wonderful set up there! In terms of gross weight, my three Geep7's are probably the biggest I have. All of which are powered.

TimW, your blog indicated a 5 arch bridge that was or is your favorite. I think it was one of your best bridges.

Trainman, If you dont have straight track after a curve, how about getting wider with your 0-88 with some straights put in for the bridge?

I am beginning to think that O scale bridges are a challenge.

I am constrained in width and length at this point so any additional radii or length of the curves would expand the layout beyond my thinking...I think. I can mess around with the design since we're still at the L-girder and RRTrack stage of development. I can make changes now and not incur any work (unless I radically have to re-cut subroadbed OSB which is all cut.)

I am still thinking that a deck bridge solves the curvature problem or a wooden trestle. I built one of those when I was 12, I'm sure I can build one now.

I am sure you can.

A cold eye tells me that you have a generous amount of Radii. All well and good.

why not compromise by installing a section of 082 or even 072 which will finish your degrees earlier and provide for straight section to stabilize your engines prior to hitting the first bridge approach.

You can probably build a story towards the edge of your table with your 088 and larger radius. Placing a rail crane with some stuff to look like a new bridge is about to be under construction near your sharp curve and bridge. You can put the crane and etc on the wider radius and somehow mound the dirt around to make the sharp 072 radius look like a temporary track.

Maybe you can stay with your original plan that makes allowances for your large power. Have TimW build you a bridge to fit. I am pretty sure you might be pleased with the results.

Trainman, why don't you consider building a deck girder bridge yourself.  Here is a shot of about half on one I've built.  It is simply two pieces of quarter inch masonite, braced with cross pieces about every six inches.  I use "L" and "T" shaped stripwood and stripwood for the bottom and top plates.  Your length should be OK for strength and of course a deck bridge eliminates all your overhang problems. 

Now you're talking!  Great work. People just don't realize how easy it is to do something completely uniqie from scratch and how great the result can be.  Your work certainly illustrates the latter.  Scratchbuilding isn't just for artists!

PeterA,

what is L and t shaped stripwood? am not sure what you mean but I like the bridge photo you posted showing the girder bridge you made nice job,

$oo

One of the two possibilities that I'm seriously considering is building the deck bridge myself. I would use styrene shapes for the bridge instead of wood. I would also use the rivet decals that I got from MicroMark. I haven't had a project yet to use this stuff and this would be perfect.

I've also been playing with making the stub yard into a through yard. I like how you can park engines and get them out without having to move out everything in front of it. It disturbs the gate opening on the lower right corner and makes the gate not quite as doable as it was without the lean into the yard. Here's the new plan.

Any thoughts.

I also took the two upper left curves a bit deeper into the layout thereby creating enough straight track to use the MTH bridges as has been suggested. It changes the Subroadbed a little bit and the girder scheme, and I'm wrestling with that right now. I'm having trouble having CorelPhotoPaint saving GIF files with a transparent background. They seem to save alright with the transparent background, but when I try to import them into CorelDraw to overlay the new design over the wood, the file doesn't exist. It's a problem that's been bugging me for months. I tried to save the layout as a GIF in Adobe Photoshop (yes... I have that too), but it saves with the transparent background. The background needs to be transparent so I can see the plywood under the track design.

It's in RRTRack format.

Soo, the shapes I refer to are the shapes of specialty shaped wood that you can buy from model and hobby shops.  I use them for the stiffeners along the sides, top and bottom of the bridge.

Trainman, I used wood shapes since the sides of the bridge are masonite and wood glues much better to that than does plastic. I also like masonite for projects like this as it is much less expensive than a similar width styrene and at a quarter inch thickness, has really good strength. 

Peter, I'm thinking styrene since I already have it in my inventory. In the following drawing you see the interaction with the redesigned areas with the existing sub-roadbed (which is already cut). I really like the changes, and I won't have to scratch-build any bridges which I don't have time for right now, and I've made changes to the right front end which lead to a through yard. I like a through-yard versus a stub yard because it is so much easier to move engines and cars in and out. But my first design destroyed the idea of the swing gate and put back a duck-under. I hate duck-unders (especially at my age). I reworked the idea and got something that may work. There's a nasty s-curve, but it's with O-88 and it's leading into a yard so things should be done slooowww.

Upper Left Corner where bridges will go:

Lower Right Corner where swing-panel is:

Here's the entire layout with the new changes. I also substituted a #8 switch for a #11 at the apex of the angle in the lower middle part of the layout. This substitution removed a little hitch in the trackwork

Trainman

This is where you think outside the box or rather bridge.

With a little imagination and a saw, preferable a band saw, you can make modifications to the bridge to accommodate your situation of a curved approach.

It is the entry and exit that is the issue as you know. So put the bridges in place and see what you need to rearrange on the bridge entrances for the track to clear. Then cut it as needed and reglue the structure as needed.

I have sliced bridge entrance like sliced bread and then re-glued to form the required curve. You may build to build a base that follows the curve and then build the bridge back onto it.

I have also used a heat gun to gently bend the truss structure along a formed curve. Whatever you can also buy from Plastruct a lot of structure shapes if needed to use as well

I suppose that could work, but I think by adjusting the start and end of the curves I gained enough straight entry to use the bridges in their stock form. I still haven't given up on making my own deck bridges. I am reasonably skilled at scratch-building. In fact, I like it. I just received the latest addition of O-Scale Trains and a fellow has modeled the N&W and made some very nice deck bridges and trestles from scratch. I he can do it so can I.

Before I started Railroad reconstruction, I finished a super-detailed 1:350 USS Missouri. It was probably the most detailed model I ever created with extra parts measuring in the 1,000s. If I can do that, I can build some spiffy bridges. Here's the ship.

All the masts are hand-made brass, decking is laser-cut maple veneer, and so on.

Right now I got sidetracked from building the layout. My younger grandson, Jack and I started building my Berkshire Valley 1950s gas station. I thought it would be an easy one-nighter kit that we could build together, but it isn't. Parts needed to be cut, trimmed, reinforced, etc. I had to scratch-build the main window frames because the resin ones were misshapen, and broke when I attempted to sand them so they would fit the opening. I purchased the interior detail set and a florescent light for the interior. I'll take some pictures of the finished project.

Meanwhile, I'm ready to order track and roadbed. I was thinking of using the 1/4" Flexibed from Hobby Innovations instead of the 3/8". There's a significant difference in cost and I'm looking at some serious change for these two purchases. Can anyone convince me otherwise?