Before I start to install a string of walthers Double Track truss girder bridges… has anyone esle done this?
do they stand up to wear and tear?
do they need reinforcing?
Any useful hints on supporting them/ tieing them down?
Please?[%-)]
I do not have this bridge myself yet but I will. Look at this:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=42304
There is some very good pictures there. Especially the pictures by TBat55.
It has been reported here and other places that the bridge does not have sufficient overhead clearance for double stack trains. If you are going modern era, I’d do something else.
I posted a bunch of pictures this month of mine.
2 main problems:
- distance between tracks. 2-1/4" if I remember; specified by Walthers.
- support pier. I use Chooch abutments and piers. They only make single-track piers.
I cut and spliced 2 single piers together to get a double pier.
We have one of those bridges on our club layout. They just barely clear a double-stack container train vertically provided you use flextrack that has nothing under it, and none of your containers lean to one side or the other.
TBat55…
sorry didnn’t get that…what’s the problem with 2 1/4 inch centres?
I’m planning to have retaining walls at each end and my own concrete piers in between…solves that one 
HOWEVER… I am aiming to run a curved single track through the spans… I’ve seen this done in both model and prototype (one span in each case)… this will need additional waybeams. As far as Double stacking goes… I believe that this was only really getting started in the 80’s… can someone confirm this for me please?
I’ve seen pics of a concrete tunnel which would not have taken double stacks but had had notches built in to make an amended profile to accept them… this seems pretty extreme but I guess that the traffic potential justified the cost. Does anyone know whether bridges were amended… top beams made into arches… to achieve this same end… pics?
That reference is really useful thanks … and someone’s done what I’m planning
What about physical strength though…after all that work do they stand up to running lots of trains without discreet (hidden) strengthening?
They’re very sturdy bridges, you don’t need any hidden strengthening. I use mine as a curved single track span, and the bridge deck is so well designed that unless you are looking really hard, you dont’ need much in the placement of additional deck way-beams. As to the double-stacking clearance problem, I wouldn’t know, as my MR is set in the 1940’s and plans on staying there, LOL! But it’s a good bridge, though I admit it could do with a little more lattice-work bracing on the structural beams (Central Valley or Micro-Scale latticework should work just fine).
Tom [:D]
Here’s mine on the Yuba River Sub. Still have to model in one abutment.
