It’s soon time to start laying my first track. I need to know how to superelevate my curves. Please tell me about your methods.
I use the layered masking take method. Here’s a link to my webiste that explains it:
http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.com/CM%20-%20Super-Elevating%20Curves.htm
My superelevation is moderatly subtle, but you can make it as pronounced as you desire.
i would advise you to only limit your superelevation to 90 deg / a quarter of a turn i had super elevation on my railroad and found problems with long… 89ft auto rack cars when i had a helix i super elevated outwards and i never had a long car on a long train fall over . this was with 4ft 3 inch curves peter… ps if you do super elevate use transition curves…
Some people use a strip of styrene under the outside rail. You only want to go up .04 to .06 at most.
Dave H.
Brunton,
A very interesting idea. It seems so easy to do.
BTW: Is it prototypically correct to have a superelevated turnout at a curve? Or is that a no no?
I’m not sure if it’s prototypical (I would guess not) but flat and level switches can be enough of a problem, I would never deal with the headache of making one super-elevated.
I used weedeater / fishing line on my last layout. Glue the line on the outside of your cork or roadbed of choice and let the track make a natural transition from flat to superelevated. Do this by not nailing the track down about 15 inches prior to the curve. Let the ballast and glue hold the transition in place. The fishing line comes in smaller diameter sizes while the weedeater line will get you larger ODs for more superevevation. My first SE curve used Campbell wood ties under the outside edges of the curve to set the elevation. In practice I found the effort to be of little visual use unless you got down and looked at your consist head on. Makes for nice pics but not really noticable during an op session IMHO.
Robby
EL, I forced superelevation into my spline roadbed by tilting the risers over before I screwed them to the cross members on the frame. By tilting them 2 degrees or so, and then making sure my anchoring screw was driven into their tops vertically on the riser axis, the spline leafs were forced to twist a bit and form a natural superelevation. [;)]
You can still achieve this effect by sanding along the inside half of the spline roadbed surface curves. Reduce the profile of the roadbed by 15 thousandths of an inch or so and you will have your flextrack falling into superelevation when you fix them to the roadbed.
Tilting the risers is by far the easiest for me. Regardless of what type of subroadbed you use, it should be flexible enough to adjust to the slight tilt. This also allows you to easily graduate the superelevation. You could tilt the risers 1 degree on the easements into and out of the curves and 2 degrees in the curves.