I have a prewar Lionel 108 bridge set, shown in the photo below (it isn't my photo; my wife has the digital camera, so I got this one off the net):
It's made to accept four lengths of Lionel O track (it's definitely not Standard Gauge, and 027 ties won't fit at all). But the odd thing is that lengths of O gauge track don't quite fit, either. I had to move the tie plates almost to the ends of the segments just to make them fit the spans. And even so, the rails are about a quarter of an inch short, so I'm going to have to cobble up some short joining segments to connect the two sections.
Anyone else have one of these bridges? I'm starting to wonder if prewar O gauge track was slightly greater in length.
According to the 1929 catalog, an "OS" straight section was 10 1/4 inches long.
Bob Nelson
Thanks, Bob. I just measured the modern O sections I bought on Saturday, and they are 10" long, not counting the pins. That would account for the odd spacing of the slots in the #108 bridge, and the end-to-end gaps.
I just calculated the radius to the center rail for a straight-section length of 10.25 inches. It is 28.99 inches. I wonder whether Lionel started with an exact 29-inch radius to get that section length.
Ah yes, the old new-track-doesn't-fit-old-bridge problem. As has been noted, prewar and modern are different lengths and have different tie spacing. The good news is that you should be able to find a few pieces of prewar Lionel track at almost any good sized train meet.
mersenne6 Ah yes, the old new-track-doesn't-fit-old-bridge problem. As has been noted, prewar and modern are different lengths and have different tie spacing.
Ah yes, the old new-track-doesn't-fit-old-bridge problem. As has been noted, prewar and modern are different lengths and have different tie spacing.
Interesting. It's obviously true, but I can't think of a good reason why Lionel would have done that. They weren't manufacturing track during WWII as far as I know, so I doubt that materials shortages could have been a factor.
The good news is that you should be able to find a few pieces of prewar Lionel track at almost any good sized train meet.
Well...the bad news is that there aren't any good-sized train meets in my area, and I won't be able to get to York (a 3-hour drive for me) until October. But I'm in no great hurry on this, so I can wait.
Thanks for the information. Now I can stop scratching my head.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Get the Classic Toy Trains newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month