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I have done something similar to what you suggest on my layout, and with good results. I cut off the actual truss panels and then scratchbuilt my own cross-girders, to achieve a "look-thru-the-ties" effect which is in general more prototypical. The depth of my cross-girders was more than the thin flat deck of the original bridge, though, so this placed the top chord of the truss a bit lower relative to the passing trains. I don't mind this, since web depth is just a function of load and span, and real bridges could be of any depth. <br /> <br />As for CNW abutment designs, I have no help for you there. I would bet that somewhere, when the railroad was young, brick was used just because of its local availability, and probably for a wood bridge structure. But a reinforced concrete abutment would be a better match for a steel truss bridge, simply because the materials technology that enabled steel trusses more or less coincided with the development of steel reinforcing in concrete. A railroad that went about replacing its older wooden trestles with steel warren trusses would have been likely to replace the abutments with concrete at the same time. <br /> <br />Of course, there is probably a prototype for everything. These days, they are stamping concrete to look like it is actually stone or brick, purely out of aesthetic concerns; mind you, railroads aren't doing this necessarily, but I could imagine a railroad being forced to comply with local zoning regulations which prohibit certain materials. When they come around to rebuilding their bridge through this snooty community, they end up having to use a more expensive finish material to dress up their "ugly" bridge...
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