Question About Atlas Single Track Truss Bridge

I have Gargrave on my double track Atlas bridge and it works fine.

By the way the detail on this bridge is great and the steel support bars under the track are more then strong enough to carry any enigine. My only caution is that some of the parts can be very delicate. In another words a heavy engine could go right through them should it leave the track at high speed so be careful if you place it coming out of a turn.

Mario, good advise about the turns. I was wondering if I was going to have to sell it.  I would guess it will need a spay of flat back. Thanks Don

I think Atlas & or gargraves even makes transition connectors to connect atlas to gargraves track and vice versa 

You need to purchase the Atlas O Rail Joiners with the Pins at one end for GarGraves.

I have the Atlas double track bridge and it came with the Atlas to Gargraves pins.

Don,

    Remove the Atlas track from the bridge, it is easy to do by unscrewing the little screws from underneath the bridge in those metal L shape brackets.  The gargraves track can secured to the bridge by using the same screws that held the Atlas track deck.  Drill small pilot holes into gargraves ties that are over the L brackets.  I think the gargraves track looks better on the bridge than does the Atlas track deck.  I hope the following pictures will encourage you to make the change. No transition pins needed, only gargraves pins will will be needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, but leaving the Atlas track in place gives the correct bridge tie spacing and the center walkway. I'd use the transition joiners, it's simpler and, to me anyway, leaves a better looking bridge.

 

Don

 

Since Atlas designed their track system to match Gargraves tie and rail dimensions it will be easy to just use the Atlas to Gargraves pins and keep the atlas deck.  With a little weathering the Atlas bridge deck can look very nice.  The same goes for the Atlas Pratt truss bridge itself, hit it with flat black and light weathering and it looks great.

 

Dave redecked this Atlas bridge with scale wood ties and ScalTrax rail.  The weathering helps the detail stand out.

 

 

The Atlas bridges look good in silver too. 

 

 

 

 

My double track bridge is removable.  I used a plug-in wiring method that would work with most any layout, just a matter of wiring the bridge tracks to under layout wiring. The Atlas to Gargaves joiners never impressed me.






I did this match-up Atlas to Atlas, Gargrave or Ross is about the same profile.

Don,

Ginny and I are down in Grand Cayman and I just saw this post.

These darn stingrays . . . . "Get away"

Anyhow, Gargraves will be fine on the Atlas O bridges.

"I said get away !"

Darn stingrays

Take the track out of the deck platforms, file down the plastic pieces that hold the track and glue Gargraves onto the deck. Your trackwork will look much better if you leave the Atlas deck plates in place. That's what I did with our Atlas 2 rail decks. I made them 3 rail.

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, did you mean mating Gargraves to Atlas O?

Piece a cake.

 

"Get away"

 

So many fish   .  .   .   so little time

 

Eliot

I didn't have much luck joining the Atlas bridge to Gargraves using the transition joiners. Had better results cutting the web portion of the Gargraves rails with a cutoff wheel. About 3/8 of an inch will work. Dress with a file and the standard Atlas rail joiner will work and slip over both rails.

Watch out for the big one behind you Eliot. Don

Gargraves to Atlas with an Atlas Joiner.  The bottom of the gargraves track has to be removed with a dremel.

Eliot when you get back, I'll take you the Pymatuning Lake, North Western PA. 

Lots of fish.

 

Don:  Just now happened to see your posting.  I have about 7 or 8 Atlas bridges on my layout from a single track truss, a double track truss, 5 deck girder bridges, and, most recently, their through girder bridge with one extension to make it a double track bridge, also.  In each case, I preferred not to take up the Atlas track but try to mate it with Gargraves that is used over the rest of the layout.  

 

I first tried to use the rail joiners that Atlas supplies to mate with Gargraves, but they are so delicate and breakable that they just don't work.  I think I broke a half a dozen, just trying to install them, getting madder by the minute as they just wouldn't work.  Really a "Mickey Mouse" attempt at rail connection.

 

Finally, I did what Mike suggested on all of the bridges; I simply took a Dremel with a cut-off wheel and sliced off the lower web of the Gargraves track for about 3/8" and slipped a standard Atlas rail joiner or "fishplate" in to hold the two different track sections.  Worked just fine and I've had several of these in place for four or five years and they still work perfectly.  i even have had to remove a couple of the bridges for some late changes in the track and they still went back together perfectly.

 

It was the way to go, in my opinion.

 

Paul Fischer

Has anyone adopted the Atlas Double-track bridge with hinges to create a "duck-under" ease-of-acess on your layout? A back issue of OGR recently outlined a bridge with hinges for a easy duck-under, but was not a Atlas Bridge.

Carl J

 

This one works.  The wires tie to Atlas track on bridge and the Atlas track is set to mate with the Gargraves on tables.  See article on hinges and lift mechanism. 

Wow, that looks great...

 

Chris

All good advise guys and gals, thanks. I'm thinking of using it as a duck under so thank you Susan. Anyone know how long it took you to build these bridges? I'm thinking I should build it even though I'm not working on that section of the layout yet. Don

 

Ray Man Scher and friends

 

r

Susan--

Thanks for your detailed reply on putting together the "duck-under" design on the double-track Atlas bridge. That gas-charged spring-loaded piece looks like ones that would be used on a car lift gate or hood?? The reinforcement and other parts deserve greater exposure in an O Gauge Magazine section in the future. This will defintely "save my back" in getting in and out of a re-design for my layout I am planning now.

Thanks again---

Regards,

 

Carl J

The single and double Atlas Truss bridges were incorporated in my RR Track software as the track was designed.  My husband very graciously designed (with his drafting software) and built my tables (on the condition that I paint my tabletops).  As he designed the tables he incorporated the single and double track Atlas bridges.  He then designed the hinges and use of the gas springs.  He's a retired aerospace engineer and has a machine shop out back.

 

The bridge construction, after planning, probably only took a two or three days.