Bridge Blues

[Mark5]

I bought this Kato bridge in black a while back:



It didn't seem that big a deal to remove the Unitrak for my own track ...

I was going to mate it to this (as shown in this pic as well), which I went ahead and purchased as well:



Well it seems if you remove the Unitrack it results in two different track levels, and I'm getting annoyed. I may just unload these to a Unitrack zombie and use one or two of these in it's place:



It even comes with my track ...

I was covetting the truss bridge effect, but I've been learning as I actually layout the track plans in actual size that I've had to alter and/or scale back some things. The new Atlas bridge is really nice looking though.

[Mark5]

These types of bridges inspire me:



http://members.trainorders.com/varailfan/photos/pokey.html

[Bob Bufkin]

Kato makes track adapters if you don't mind keeping the Unitrack on the bridge.  You could then mate it with your regular track.
Bob

[Mark5]

Bob,

Thanks, I just can't take the Unitrack, so that's not an option for me.

Mark

[wm3798]

I used the Walthers double track thru truss and Micro Engineering deck bridges to achieve the effect you're after.  I also pulled the Unitrak off of their single track thru truss, and thru plate girder bridges, replacing with ME bridge track.








Not impossible, but it did take some work...
Lee

[Mark5]

Thanks Lee. I'm highly annoyed that removing the unitrack from each bridge leaves two different elevations so I am definately abandoning the Kato stuff.

I like the look of the Walthers truss and was thinking about that one too (you can use whatever track you want with that right?).

Whose concrete piers are you using?

Mark

[Mark5]

For my next (larger) layout there are some cool bridges coming:

from Bob Traincat:

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Actually, I was going to give a shout out to Bob's bridges.

They're a lot of work too, or so it seems, but they're BEAUTIFUL.

Also, don't forget Craig's beauty too.

I'm sure you have a couple old items laying around the house (you have kids, right?) to finance either purchase

[Mark5]

Is Craig doing double track? I only see single on his site.

Need to sell off my Beanie Baby collection and retire ... 

[wm3798]

The Walther's bridge doesnt' come with track, so yes, you may supply whatever you like.  The bridge piers are of my own design, and built up from styrene sheet.

I slip the styrene model over a plywood block glued and screwed to the base board for stability.
The WM had concrete structures in the areas I model, so I build my own to match the prototype as closely as practical.
Lee

[Catt]

I realize we are talking KATO here ,but I still don't understand why they used bridge track on the double track truss bridge ,but used regular track on the single track bridge.

I used the ME code 70 bridge track on my single track and bought more to use on the double tracks only to find out it wasn't needed.  ;D

[One of One-Sixty]

Here are two bridges to solve all your problems.







and you can get them in the following styles



The bridges above are designed and built by Anthony Gordon http://anthony-gordon.com/ModelTrainBridges/Home.htm

[John]

I was down in the basement this morning, working on a Kato double track. Just file down the ends real good with a dremmel, make sure all the little nubbies are off. One trick I use is to remove the actual bridge part from the load bearing beam. If you look at the bottom of the kato bridges, you will see some slots with tabs in them.. thats what holds the top of the bridge to the bottom. Using a screwdriver, gently pry these tabs back, then lift off the top of the bridge. File off the key on the tab, then you can put the bridge back on. I usualy break off all but 4 of the tabs, one on each end. It allows you to remove the top of the bridge to clean the track.

[Mark5]

I have the two Kato double trackers that I posted above. Removing the track for each is easy, but results in two different "sub surface" levels.  :

I'm leaning heavily toward the Walthers truss kit at the moment.

[TrainCat2]

Thanks Ed for the thought...

I am building the double track Pratt Truss prototype now. This is a real beauty. Not hard to build, but it is not a one-night project. 95% of the items are either Tab & Slot interconnects or Detail Overlays over structual members. If you can build the Walthers plastic bridge, you should not have a problem with this one.