TO JIM POLICASTRO CONCERNING TRUSS BRIDGE POST OF 3-1-14

Hi Hal,

 

I did just use the sides and top of the bridge kit.

 

The "deck structure" you see is really just a pine board that bridges the gap. This board was just over the width of the plastic roadbed in the Fastrack. This gave me about 1/4" on each side to rest the bridge structure on.

 

I painted the board and the Fastrack roadbed flat black to blend in with the bridge. That's what you see under the bridge in the photo.

 

The bridge just rests in place and can be lifted off for track cleaning, etc.

 

I glued some styrene tabs on the inside of the bridge sides to help it seat correctly on the wood board. The bridge was just slightly too wide to sit on the board. The tabs let it rest on the plank evenly. It was either that or add an extra strip of wood to each sides of the board to give the bridge something to sit on.

 

The main reason I did it this way is that the board and track were already in place on an old layout. I wanted to add the bridge in the easiest possible way without a lot of extra work redoing the abutments. This is on a hobby shop layout that I was re-doing and didn't have the time or inclination to fuss with it too much.

 

Jim

 

Thanks for the reply, Jim, but what is "Fastrack"? 

 

Bad Order

 

 

It's the Lionel 3-rail track that has the plastic roadbed built in.

 

Jim

 

Thanks again, Jim, but I still can't SEE how you made it look like a properly-assembled Truss Bridge kit.

 

Bad Order Hal

 

 

 

 

 

Hal, next time I'm over at the store I'll try to take some better photos of the set-up. That should give you a better idea of what it looks like.

 

Like I said, it was a quick way of getting the bridge in place. Improving it is on the to-do list along with a ton of other projects.

 

Jim

 

 

 

Jim, I realize now that I can't duplicate what you've done.

 

My layout is a flat, continuous, unbroken expanse of 4'X8'x1/2" sub-roofing panels butted together and nailed to 2x4 joists, with no gaps anywhere to cross.

 

If I put your 1"x6" board on my layout, I would have to make ramps going up onto and down off the 3/4" thickness of the board, and re-lay my tracks over the ramps instead of going straight across at an unbroken level like you've done.

 

There is no place on my entire 124-foot course of track that has any gaps to bridge. Everything is at the same unbroken level.

 

If I wanted to create a gap for the bridge, I would have to saw through the sub-roofing panels and into the 2x4 supporting joists, which lie under the only portions of the layout that have straight sections of track to accomodate a 40" bridge.

 

It now looks to me like the whole bridge idea was a mistake, and I can't return it because I painted all the parts.  The only thing I could do with it is to completely assemble it, including the deck with the track, and put it on a display shelf with a locomotive stting on the deck.

 

My layout is no candidate for a bridge anywhere, which I should have realized before ordering it!

 

Bad, BAD Order Hal

 

Hal,  have you considered removing a section of the narrow shelf in front of the window and replacing it with the bridge?

 

MR. WOWAK, 

 

As my track plan and pictures show, there are two parallel tracks running around 3 walls of the room on 12" shelves. They seperate and become the large single-track loops in the corners.

 

The shelves are where I originally wanted to install a bridge, but it would have to be a two-track bridge, which nobody has in stock, and Atlas won't have them available for a year. 

 

This is why I had to settle for a single-track bridge (which I now find won't fit anywhere), because there are no 40" long straight sections of single track anywhere on my 124 feet of track, except right against the walls, where there are 2x4 headers underneath.

 

So the solution is.....NOTHING!

 

I bought the bridge and painted it before assembly, which I now won't do, because  I'm going to re-pack it and put it up for sale, CHEAP!

 

As I stated in an earlier post, I live in the vast Mojave Desert, where one can drive the US 40 all the way from Victorville to the Colorado River in Arizona and not see a single bridge of any kind.

 

I hope these pictures and the track plan will show why a 2-track bridge would be workable on the shelves, but a single-track bridge would be very difficult unless it was short and simple, like the snap-together Bachmann truss bridge, which I may consider after I get rid of this monster. 

 

BAD ORDER

 

I see it now. Most unfortunate.

 

HEY JIM,

 

Don't bother posting anymore pictures of the Bridge.

 

I've got it boxed up for sale!

 

BAD ORDER