I found a MTH 40-1050, Black Steel Arch Bridge and it will work perfect. It’s called a steel bridge, but it’s made of ABS plastic and I’m a little skeptical. I bought a plastic truss bridge kit a little while back and was really disappointed.
Can anyone give me information on it before I buy it?
Sorry can't think of the name of the company right now but I believe buckeye has one but him or chief among few others can tell you the name and its a steel bridge made here in good ole
US of A
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
i have the red version and it is really nice, the one I have is single track and I needed a 40" dual track, so I went with the Atlas on the layout. I still have the red (rust) version and will use it at some point. The only drawback is it can not be used with FasTrack.MTH did an excellent job with the detail. It is shiny, but a coat of dull-coat will eliminate that. The place RT is thinking of is The 100 Year Bridge company, or something like that, and they do make nice bridges. http://www.100yearbridge.com/
I have the MTH Hell's Gate bridge. It is the center piece of the layout.
Although not a 30" clear span, here is how I did span approx. 36" with two older Lionel Truss Bridges
The piers and the abutments were made with 1x4s. I believe I glued three of them together for the center pier and two for the abutments.
Another good bridge is made by: http://www.100yearbridge.com/ Chuck (Blueberry) has one. I have seen them at York and they are very strong and durable.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
Thanks all for replying,
The reason I’m in a hurry is because its going to be for my Christmas layout, but I will probably use it during the year as well.
Here is a glimpse of what I’m trying to do. As you can see I have a lot to do yet,.a lot of painting landscaping and such.
This is a 48 inch ...100 Year Bridge. It also comes in 30 inch........
Oh wow, that’s beautiful.
I looked at their stuff and it looks like top of the line stuff.
I don’t necessary have to have steel as long as it doesn’t look like my grandsons Thomas The Train bridge. The plastic bridge that I bought earlier looks more like a small child’s toy.
SleeperN06 Thanks all for replying, The reason I’m in a hurry is because its going to be for my Christmas layout, but I will probably use it during the year as well. Here is a glimpse of what I’m trying to do. As you can see I have a lot to do yet,.a lot of painting landscaping and such.
I would say where the red bridge is where you want to use it. As long as the track you are using is ogauge and not fastrack or 027 track, it should be fine. I have it in black and like it better than the lionel bridge. Fastrack won't fit inside the bridge without modification and 027 track sits too low in the bridge. When you run a steam engine through the bridge, the side rods climb the walkways. Another thing is the circuit board to operate the blinking light is in one of the bridge piers. If you do not use the bridge piers you will have to remove the circuit board from the pier and mount it underneath your layout or bridge. Simple to do.
riverrailfanI would say where the red bridge is where you want to use it. As long as the track you are using is ogauge and not fastrack or 027 track, it should be fine. I have it in black and like it better than the lionel bridge. Fastrack won't fit inside the bridge without modification and 027 track sits too low in the bridge. When you run a steam engine through the bridge, the side rods climb the walkways. Another thing is the circuit board to operate the blinking light is in one of the bridge piers. If you do not use the bridge piers you will have to remove the circuit board from the pier and mount it underneath your layout or bridge. Simple to do.
I couldn’t find a 30” bridge at ‘100 year bridge’ and I’ve decided to go ahead and order the MTH 40-1050, Black Steel Arch Bridge.
In the mean time, just to get things rolling and get the family of my back, I made a temporary bridge. I found a piece of steel stud in my scrap pile and cut off a section to use as a girder bridge. After painting it and seeing it altogether with a train running on it, I thought it would look better if I had a full 30” bridge.
I’m going to be running the Lionel Polar Express on this bridge with O-27 track. I went with this track because I wanted something larger than 36” Dia. And 42” was as large as I could fit. I’m not particularly happy with the O-27 and I would like to use Atlas 3-rail, but it’s going to be a huge change.
SleeperN06 riverrailfanI would say where the red bridge is where you want to use it. As long as the track you are using is ogauge and not fastrack or 027 track, it should be fine. I have it in black and like it better than the lionel bridge. Fastrack won't fit inside the bridge without modification and 027 track sits too low in the bridge. When you run a steam engine through the bridge, the side rods climb the walkways. Another thing is the circuit board to operate the blinking light is in one of the bridge piers. If you do not use the bridge piers you will have to remove the circuit board from the pier and mount it underneath your layout or bridge. Simple to do.That’s exactly the kind of stuff I need to know, Thanks. I couldn’t find a 30” bridge at ‘100 year bridge’ and I’ve decided to go ahead and order the MTH 40-1050, Black Steel Arch Bridge. In the mean time, just to get things rolling and get the family of my back, I made a temporary bridge. I found a piece of steel stud in my scrap pile and cut off a section to use as a girder bridge. After painting it and seeing it altogether with a train running on it, I thought it would look better if I had a full 30” bridge. I’m going to be running the Lionel Polar Express on this bridge with O-27 track. I went with this track because I wanted something larger than 36” Dia. And 42” was as large as I could fit. I’m not particularly happy with the O-27 and I would like to use Atlas 3-rail, but it’s going to be a huge change.
You can get lionel o gauge track in a 42" curve.
riverrailfan You can get lionel o gauge track in a 42" curve.
Yes that’s what I’m using. I’m confused by the labeling of track. I ordered O-42 tubular track, but my receipt has “O-27, 42 inch curve” and it looks exactly like my O-27 track that I’ve had for years. After you mentioned O-27 being too low for the MTH Arch Bridge, I started wondering what did work, so started searching.
Then I discovered MTH RealTrax for the very first time and they have a O-42 Curved Track Section. I probably would have bought that instead of the tubular if I would have known. Now I have never actually seen or felt it and I don’t know anything about it, except that I read it’s not recommended for outdoors because it warps in heat and cracks in cold.
That is a concern because it’s for my Christmas layout and it will be stored in temps from 30˚F to over 100˚F. I live in the desert and it will be stored in a shed 11 months a year. And although we are talking about leaving it up longer because it’s too much work to set up, it still will be exposed to extreme temps for most of the time.
My wife’s going to order me the MTH Arch Bridge today, because I can’t find another bridge to span 30”.
Was away for few days
if this isn't too late you may want to try www.bridgeboss.com
model in O. the Western NY and Ontario Railroad
Chuck,
Your bridge wearing blue paint is realistic looking and beautiful.
I also, like all of you other fellows' bridges and colors, but I'm partial to the color blue, so I'm sorry if I offend anyone.
Enjoy,
Ralph
wsdimenna Was away for few days if this isn't too late you may want to try www.bridgeboss.com
Oh wow, it’s not steel but sure works for me especially with the curved truss selection and in 42”. This is great, thanks a lot.
My wife already ordered the MTH, but now that that I see how many more possibilities I have with the wood, I think I may go ahead and plan some changes for next year. I’m going to order a 30” Truss Bridge and an O42 curved truss to make a half circle. My 42” homemade curved girder has me a little worried about the kids knocking of a train. I will not have to worry about that with the curved Truss Bridge.
I don’t have time to make any big changes this year.
riverrailfan As long as the track you are using is ogauge and not fastrack or 027 track, it should be fine. I have it in black and like it better than the lionel bridge. Fastrack won't fit inside the bridge without modification and 027 track sits too low in the bridge. When you run a steam engine through the bridge, the side rods climb the walkways. Another thing is the circuit board to operate the blinking light is in one of the bridge piers. If you do not use the bridge piers you will have to remove the circuit board from the pier and mount it underneath your layout or bridge. Simple to do.
I finally got my new MTH bridge, I haven’t installed it yet because I’m still figuring out how to fit it in. yoy mentioned the track height and I see now what you’re talking about. I guess I should have bought some MTH track as well, because I need to use a spacer or something to raise it up.
This is not a very good photo, but you can see that it’s not going to work.
SleeperN06 riverrailfan As long as the track you are using is ogauge and not fastrack or 027 track, it should be fine. I have it in black and like it better than the lionel bridge. Fastrack won't fit inside the bridge without modification and 027 track sits too low in the bridge. When you run a steam engine through the bridge, the side rods climb the walkways. Another thing is the circuit board to operate the blinking light is in one of the bridge piers. If you do not use the bridge piers you will have to remove the circuit board from the pier and mount it underneath your layout or bridge. Simple to do. I finally got my new MTH bridge, I haven’t installed it yet because I’m still figuring out how to fit it in. yoy mentioned the track height and I see now what you’re talking about. I guess I should have bought some MTH track as well, because I need to use a spacer or something to raise it up. This is not a very good photo, but you can see that it’s not going to work.
You would have to change to regular O-Gauge or MTH track or for a quick fix, screw small pieces of wood slats to the track to raise it. Since my layout is flat, I removed the screws holding the walk way on and removed the walkway and bottom. It gets filmsy when you do this.
It's funny when a steam engine goes through the bridge with 027 track, it rocks back and forth on each side as the side rods climbs the walkway
Use foam-board for to raise the track. Less noise.
I'll send a check for $10.00 for a photo of a prototypical curved girder bridge. No such thing in the U.S.A.
Buckeye Riveter Use foam-board for to raise the track. Less noise.
Now that’s a great idea, in fact I have the perfect piece. It came out of a shipping box awhile back and I thought I might be able to make use of it because of its high density and size. I was going to make a highway out of it and I actually forgot about it until you mentioned it.
I’m probably going to have to wait till tomorrow to put this in because of all the Christmas activities going on through the day. I need to cut a rabbet into the upper platform to accommodate the thickness of the deck.
The funning thing about this is that I bought this bridge because I didn’t have time to build a bridge before our Christmas party and now its too late because of shipping delays and major adjustments required to the layout. Everyone is telling me to just forget about it this year because nobody is going to notice it anyway, but it makes a huge difference to me. Every time I see a photo of the display, my eye immediately focuses on the temporary makeshift Bridge and I can’t see anything else. I wish now that I would have painted it black, maybe I wouldn’t notice it as much.
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