Hi everyone. Sure hope someone can assist me. My great grandson, (who is 5) inherited my dad’s Lionel HO scale train set for Christmas. A friend built him a 4’ x 6’ table for the layout. We have it set up in a simple oval layout. He’s decided he wants a road. I found a tape that looks like asphalt and am going to add that. What do I need to get, and where do I find whatever, to raise the track to cross over the road? Thanks so much in advance.
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Welcome aboard, @Gypsy5k
Welcome to the forums!
I moved this thread to the Model Railroader category so that it’ll get some more traffic. I hope you don’t mind.
Anyway, so the way you want to raise the track will depend upon some things. If you want the track to be raised by a trestle or the like, then probably finding a trestle set (Atlas makes a concrete-looking one) of some sort or having something 3D printed would be a good option. However, if you wanted the track to be elevated on an embankment you could simply cut wooden blocks to the proper size (I’ll bring that up in a minute) and stick them under the track. You could then use various techniques–foam, papier-mâché, whatever–to build up the embankment below the track, with the roadway going either underneath a bridge in the middle or through a short tunnel. Actually, I would recommend that instead of elevating the track to make it go over the road you either make the road itself go over or under the track; in my experience this is more common.
Either way, the first step would be to calculate the grade. This is rise (the additional height that the train will attain) divided by run (the length of graded trackage) and usually expressed as a percent. You should see which grade is the most practical–the gentler the better–and make sure that the train can run on it before building anything. Wooden blocks or trestle supports should go underneath the track joints.
I hope this helps!
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I’d do a grade crossing. Wedges to the sides, blocks between the rails, faced with the tape.
Put in some crossing signals and gates for fun.
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Maybe even automate it!
thank you. I’d love to do that, but, I have no idea what I am doing. This is just a simple layout for a 5 year old. lol
Thanks!
Where would I find instructions on how to do that?
Thank you.
Thank you. I hadn’t even thought of having the road go over the tracks. Duh.
There are crossing gates with a weight-actuated lever in the base that mounts under the track, and the weight of the train makes the gates go down. A simple pressure switch would turn the lights on and off.
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I really like this idea. Thank you.
I’ve decided to go with crossing gates. Super idea. Just purchased them off Amazon. Thank you so much everyone! Much appreciated!
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An HO “rerailer” track would be a good approximation of a level road crossing.
To get a reasonable grade on a ramp up to cross over a road, the entire rail line loop would be either rising or descending on grade. If the grade is too steep, you could damage the locos motor.
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For the record, when I was a kid I had Aurora slot cars with a special track piece that let the HO train cross the powered road. There was something fun about having both the train and the cars and trucks moving under power – there are better systems that use magnets, like the Falker Car System; in fact there is even one with an actual pedaling bicycle, in HO scale, which was a joy to behold.
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