Going by the topic title I've obviously bought some. However, it's not the bridge spans that are giving me problems, it's the other half of the system: the piers (933-4550) & abutments (933-4551) that's' causing the issue, in that I can't get the height of the pier to match with the abutments causing a very visible hump. This before adding the bridge feet and pier adaptor blocks into the equation.
It's either the pier is too high or the abutments are too low. I'm thinking it's the pier as I cut it (first notch from base) to meet the 4" clearance from the railhead standard with the Kato unitrack I'm using. Which as I don't need to run double stackers or overhead wires might be excessive.
Edit: did a quick test on the module, the pier I assembled is too high. I would've been okay at the 2nd notch.Also for the abutments, what headwall do I use for through girder bridges, the short (#4) or the long (#5)?
The same is true with the Chooch piers and abutments. And if you combine bridges like i am (truss, plate girder and deck girder) it becomes more difficult especially if you have a 2 track bridge set up like I do because truss bridges have a 2" center line track with and plate girder is 2 1/4". I'm using hard 1/2" insulation foam to adjust pier / abutment heights to get it level. On Walthers abutments, I have to trim the bridge shoes to fit. MR has a book "Bridges and Trestles" that I bought that helped negotiate these problems. Also, Walthers sells a bridge shoe kit that has all kinds of different bridge shoe sizes.
Anytime you mix brands on components, measurements will be a challange. Fix is shimming and trimming to fit. I am using some Tomix bridges, Walthers abutments, some KATO expansion track on my approaches to the bridge and need to mate that all up with Piko track on cork. All this is sitting on a tilt up gate. Nothing was a perfect fit. I found the best way was to pick a point as your reference line (top of rail in my case) and then measure everything from there. Measure twice and then cut then go back and rework what did not work out as planned.
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
I'm using the bridge mainly as a scenic element, so it just needs to appear functional. After some in situ testing, I could've gone lower, but it looks okay at that height. There's enough clearance to let a makeshift double-stack avoid the 11'8" bridge can opener effect.