i plan on adding 4’x8’ to my layout in the next few months and i want to know how i can have a grade. it will have to go up (and maybe even cross a stream or something) and back down to the level of the table- i have some trestles that you put under the track to rise it up but my 6-axles can’t go over it w/o derailing.
I don’t mind a steep grade (maybe 2%)
The eayest method, is to take a saber saw and and cut along both sides of the road bed. to a point where you want the trades to start and end.
Then from underneath the layout. Install risers the width of the hole you cut out, and slide them underneath the play wood you cut and pu***hem up until the grade makes 2%. Keep this up tuntil you reach the apex of your grade (Assuming half way) and you can start back down. Secure the risers to the joists underneath.
At the spot you want your bridge.
Cut the plywood out. out from under the track and span the gap with your brdge.
Hope this helps.
James
Woodland Scenics does this with foam risers. They are expensive but they work. You can make the same risers your self from either the blue or pink foam. It is a little tedius but can be done. I used the cookie cutter approach and cut the plywood and lifted it with riser blocks screwed to the under frame. The WS is the easiest and most expensive. For the ultimate you eventualy learn to do cookie cutter, but it is hard.
woodland scenics sound like a possible option
The method I described makes the most natural looking grade. But the woodland scenics method is the easiest to build.
Take your pick.
James
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/woost1413.htm is this stuff higher at one end then the other and would it work?
The easiest way I have made risers is to get a sheet of pink foam 2 inchs thick. I run it through my table saw to the desired width. I then Take the 8 ft lengths over to my Miter saw and cut them increasing the length in 1/32 ratios. This works pretty fast, but make sure you do it out side the garage, foam dust will go everywhere in the garage.
If you are modeling HO you should start your grade at 1/8 inch for the first 12 inches, (foot) and then 1/4 inch grade after that until you want to level out, you should reverse the process by making the last foot a 1/8 inch grade. Any more than this sorta looks fake.
That’s the stuff. Your LHS should have some to look at. Plan carefully so you only buy what you need.
First establi***he necessary rise. To cross another track (in HO) you should have 3.5 inches in the clear between railtop and the underside of an overhead obstruction, though I’m getting away with 3.25". Three and a half plus half an inch plywood subgrade plus half an inch cork tiebed makes four and a half total inches of rise.
At two inches of rise per hundred inches of run, a 2% grade, you’d need 225 inches of rising grade and another 225 inches of falling grade to get back down to the original level. That’s a lineal distance of 18’ 9" up and another 18’ 9" of horizontal track down.
PLUS twice the length of your longest car to transition from flat to uphill grade, call it 20 inches, the same distance to transition from grade to level at the top of the hill, another increment of 20 inches to transition from the level stretch at the top of the hill, and a fourth instance of 20 inches transition space from declining grade back to level ground, another 80 total inches of horizontal real estate.
The total then, obeying all the rules, yields a total figure for the rise and decline of 44 feet two inches of horizontal run, plus whatever length of track runs level at the upper elevation, to accomplish all that. If you’d rather not devote that much space, you can either choose a different vertical distance, or else start fudging on the rules.
The price of fudging on the rules are locomotives that cannot pull long trains up the grades, high cars that may not be able to negotiate an underpass, having to add weight to your locomotives to avoid wheelspin on a steep grade, having to station helper locomotives near the base of steep grades, doubling the grade, (taking half the cars up, then returning for the other half), shorter trains, higher frequency of derailments on shorter than recommended grade transitions, or running multiple units for motive power regularly.
That said, by cutting every corner possible, less vertical heigth, more steepness of grade, short
I made my risers out of 3/4" ply wood about 4 inches wide. My risers are in increments of 3/4", giving me a 3% grade. To help my trains around this I will super-elevate my curves since my grade is on a curve. The grade is about 22’ long.
Victor
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Do you have a reentrant, a washout, a gully, a ravine, a valley, a gorge, or just a stream/river over which to place a trestle/bridge? You should probably figure out the topography first, get it carved out in rough, and then place a suitable crossing structure that is purpose-built for that obstacle, just like in the real world.
A feel-as-you-go approach is not the way to end up with a usable track plan. I think the situation that you mention in your first post will not allow you much of a gee-whiz crossing structure that you will be proud of for quite a while because you don’t have enough space in the addition you mention to do the up AND down and still have a nice trestle, for example. May I therefore suggest that you do an up, to a mine or logging camp. That way, the trestle gets gee-whizzed twice on each trip to the mine/camp, and because it goes only upward, the trestle will be higher if it is nearer the camp at the top of the grade. Just a thought for you to consider.
i like icmr’s idea about the risers- i have some styerne i could use on the edges to get it nice and level, thanks for all your help everyone, i’ll get it planned out over the next few weeks, i don’t know it it’ll cross a stream or not, maybe.
So far i still like the foam risers http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/woost1415.htm but my problem is there isn’t a reason for a grade. i just want the excitement (?) of a train struggling uphill and then speeding downhill.
Even more so than horizontal curves, grades need to have gentle transitions to prevent long-wheelbase equipment from becoming unhappy. I personally use approximately 6" per percent of grade to handle 4-axle steam and a rather long, stiff, B-2-B diesel-hydraulic. My construction method calls for cookie-cutting the plywood sub-roadbed, and seems to be working on 3% upgrades and one 8% downgrade.
The transition adds to the apparent length of grade, but is well worth the effort.
use this to determine your grade…a 1 inch rise per 100’ of track is a 1% grade, a 2" rise per 100" of track is a 2% grade and so forth…also, if you plan on running double stacked container trains then you’ll need the track to cross over the top of the other track by a distance of 4" instead of 31/2"…Don’t ask me how i found this out… chuck
The problem is there’s NO REASON for a grade. BUT, my layout is unlevel in one spot so i have a slight grade (but it’s enough to make an engine spin if it’s pulling a lot)