N-Scale Bridges

[Adrian Wintle]

Seeing DanielB's comment about wanting to have bridges crossing a large body of water, I decided to take some photos of the bridges that I have. Hopefully this will help others when choosing bridges for their layout.

 

Lets start with double-track through truss bridges:

 

Kato. Two shown here. They come with a linking web to fill the gap in the upper web if you want to. Unitrack.

 

Walthers. Two shown here. Needs a little fettling to get the deck assembly to sit right, but when built this is a very solid structure. No track supplied.

 

Tomix. An impressively large pre-built structure. Comes with Tomix track (removed).

 

Now onto single-track through truss bridges:

 

Kato. Two shown here. Unitrack.

 

Atlas. Two shown here. A simple snap-together kit, but quite effective, comes with code 80 or code 55 rail.

 

Central Valley Pratt Truss. A fairly complex kit (I replaced some of the more fragile elements with brass). It comes in two flavours - the one shown here with older-style portals and one with newer-style portals to allow for double-stacks. Comes with bridge tie decking but no rail.

 

Other long bridges:

 

Heljan, also boxed as Aurora in the distant past. No track (Micro Engineering bridge rail shown)

 

Aurora/Faller. Some kits had the option of building as single or double track. The more recent Faller versions are slightly incompatible with the older ones. No track.

 

Plate girder and drop truss bridges:

 

Walthers Art-deco Overpass. Shown built as a single track bridge, missing the rear side and the wings. The plate girder bridge is also available separately. Comes with a bridge tie moulding (not shown) that you attach your rail of choice to.

 

1. Micro Engineering high steel viaduct. The 320' version comes with two 40' bents (shown here cut to half height) and 3 80' girder sections. The 200' version substitutes 40' girder sections for the 80' ones. Intended for use with Micro Engineering bridge rail. The girder sections are also available separately, with either a concrete deck or a short section of bridge rail.

2. Kato plate girder bridge. Unitrack

3. Atlas Code 80 plate girder bridge. Atlas set track.

 

1. Atlas HO drop-truss bridge, slightly modified.

2. Atlas Code 55 plate girder bridge. Comes in single, double, and expansion kits (snap-together) for your choice of widths. Code 55 bridge rail.

3. Atlas N drop-truss bridge. Needs serious modification to be anything but a toy. Atlas set track

 

Others:

 

Atlas viaduct. No track

 

AHM rolling girder bridge. Built-in Code 80 rail

 

There are other options. Barry Ten uses a different through truss bridge (Heljan?) on his layout, for instance.

 

I hope this is useful.

 

Adrian

[shortliner]

This is an HO and homebuilt one but quite effective, approximately half way down the page  

http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=6942&p=127097&hilit=road+bridge#p127097

[Kris]

The AHM bridge at the bottom is also sold by Pola. There is one on ebay at the moment due to finish in a couple of hours. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pola-N-gauge-Bridge-Boxed-Model-No-B276-/390732530661?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item5af97943e5

 

I've no connection to this sale, just happened to notice it earlier when browsing. Seems to be quite expensive at the moment. 

[DanielB]

Here's my inspiration for wanting to include something like these on my layout. Scratchbuilt too.

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/shaslakais/media/20131231_152448_zpsf68779ef.mp4.html

[Adrian Wintle]

Here's my inspiration for wanting to include something like these on my layout. Scratchbuilt too.

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/shaslakais/media/20131231_152448_zpsf68779ef.mp4.html

 

The nearest pair of single track trusses appear to be the Kato ones. It does look nice, though.

 

Another 'kit' I have is the Plastruct kit 2002 which purports to be a kit for a 123' single-track truss. However, it is a kit in the same way the Wills Craftsman kits are - it is a collection of raw materials and a set of drawings. You have to make everything yourself, including the 96 various-sized gusset plates. That is more work than I am prepared to invest on a bridge, plus the chances of me being able to cut 20 identical gusset plates out of plastic card are slim to none.

 

Adrian