Hi.
An old newbie here. I have cobbled together an O-31 layout out of tin plate track and trestles on two-4x8 sheets of plywood. The layout has two-90 degree turns at the bottom of descents. My question is: Should I put some shims under the trestles at the bottom of the descents to provide a little banking? This seems to make sense but I wanted to hear from those with more experience.
Thanks!
Bill
Hi Bill,
My very first layout was a simple 4 x 8 with 027 track and an elevated trestle. I did have some problems at the bottom of the descent especially if I was pulling a lot of cars. Those cars would have a tendency to push the engine and cause a derailment. I ended up installing plexiglass barriers on the side of the layout so the engine would stay on the track. A better solution would be to install resistors on the descent track to slow down the engine. There was an article in CTT some years ago about that.
Not exactly experience at Scale, but I have used stacked shims in N Scale (pieces of cardstock) . When desired result achieved, glued the pieces together as final instalation. Coat with Mod Podge if distortion due to moisture is a concern. [Or use varnish if hyper-concerned about moisture in the longer term]
I tried some shims on my O-31 curves. It did not work too well as the locomotives are rather stiff transversely.