One of the great unsolved mysteries of our time is: Why the deuce did Lionel outfit the center section of its prewar 106 bridge to take an oddball size of track? I’m certain they had valid reasons which are history, but for those of us obtaining a 106 shorn of track, well, the matter is puzzling, not to mention slightly aggravating!
Fear not, though! All you need are a screwdriver/small prying implement, a Dremel with large cutoff wheel, a donor track and, of course, nerves of pure titanium…
The problem is readily apparent.
Using your prying implement, loosen the rails on the ties in the center and one side.
With the ties loosened, they slip readily into place into their appointed places in the bridge. As can be seen, we’re about half an inch or so short.
The initial idea, to add a half inch to the ends, proved impractical (as the rail clam
There are a lot of pics from different angles, including overhead. It doesn’t look like the track is any different, but all three tracks are slightly shorter than the total length of all three bridge pieces.
In the case of the approaches, that’s deliberate; the idea is to hook the crosstie of the next pieces of track into the approach to make for a smoother transition.
