I have drawn the Atlas N-7 N scale lay out on my 48x72 benchwork. This layout involves one bridge. (Sorry no pics yet) I bought the Atlas pier set to create the grades. Three questions:
Do I butt the cork roadbed up against the #1 pier?
How do I support the track between the piers?
Are there any other options since I’m not sure what I’m going to do scenery wise to “disguise” the piers? I may just leave them “exposed.”
Hope this makes sense. Thanks for all the prior ideas too.
A MODEL railroad generaly replaicates or copies what was done in real life. I would suggest that you need to do some research to see how the real railroads did it. Anything less is what I call ‘Toy Trains’ and not model railroading. Try searching for ‘railroad flyovers’.
We all strive for better layouts and research is the key. However, if you ARE building a toy train set, just disregard my comments.
Any elevated rail, that is supported by piers, runs on some sort of a support structure. The piers will generally support steel girders spanning between the piers. Micro engineering steel viaduct, other bridge sections or a simplified method of running the track on strip plywood and bonding girder to the plywood sides. I don’t work in N scale and don’t know of all manufacturers products to accomplish this. I would just check w/ prototype girder sizes not to “overspan” between piers.
Atlas makes “pier girders” that fit between their piers. They are 5 inches long in N-scale.
http://shop.atlasrr.com/p-1047-n-pier-girder.aspx
These are straight and will not work on curves. They also have a variety of bridges that mate with the piers. Again, they are straight.
I used Atlas piers in HO when I was much younger. Curves were a big problem, as the track was not well-supported and it would bend down more on the outside of the curve than the inside when a locomotive passed over, because the outside of the curve was longer and thus could flex more easily.
What you might want to do is build your grades with the piers, but plan to put additional structure beneath the curves. Cover that with a plaster-cloth berm so that the piers and support structure are hidden, but still support the track and help maintain a uniform grade. You can continue the berm beneath the straights, or add pier girders or bridges for more interest and to allow trains to pass below.