Folks,
We recently wrote about the #305 Hellgate Bridge in the December 2013 issue of O Gauge Railroading, Run 267, and how it was developed in the late 1990s. The production versions were released in 1999 and they really are great for O gauge. You can put two lines of tubular track in a #305 with no problems because it was designed to fit them and was also built so that the two tracks could take TMCC signals without interference. In the article we demonstrated how you can fit two lines of FasTrack in the bridge, even though it was not designed for it. One of the things we thought about but did not do was cut away part of the plastic ballast on the FasTrack pieces so they would fit better in the #305.
As far as Husky Stacks are concerned, that seems to pushing the envelop for #305, but it is nice to know that it works in some cases.
Anyway, if you read the article, you will get some interesting background on the development of the #305.
We have an upcoming article in the works that will illustrate some factory "one off" 305s and they are really cool!
Ed Boyle
