Posted February 03, 2006 11:18 AM
Using MTH RealTrax and the trestle set. The track in the air “looks” a little funny, with the roadbed and ballast up there with it. Has anyone tried using the MTH interface with other track (Lionel tubular), thereby using that non-MTH track as the elevated track? If so, is it only Lionel that this could even work with? How does that idea even sound to you? Will there be complications with compatability or powering?
As far as traction, even tho the 24 trestles result in a high grade, my MTH steam engine, and my Lionel little Penn whistler, both get up and down fine, pulling 6 or 7 cars behind them, ont he RealTrax. But could the non-MTH track result in traction issues?
Thanks for any advice you can give me.
I am quite certain that the grade will be the determining factor, not so much the matched rails. Hard for me to imagine it otherwise…
I am not familiar with the products you describe, but you may have to cut off the material under the rails during the track’s traverse of the trestle. Trestles have their own close-set ties, plus inner guard rails, and outer wooden rails. So the rails would be spiked directly into the numerous ties on the running surface of the trestle.
Seems to me that you may have to raise the trestle to meet the nether surfaces of your rails, but clear away any plastic add-on stuff that they have place under your rails where the trestle is meant to fit. You can always build wooden cribbing under the trestle bents if they are now too short, or simply add “dirt and stuff” by shaping Sculptamold around the bases of the bents.
Is that what you are looking for?
thanks for the advice. when i said “trestle” maybe its the wrong term. they are a series of 24 pillars, of ascending and then descending height, and they fit under the track. so the track goes up, stays level for a while, and then descends.
its just that the realtrax comes with its own roadbed and ballast molded in plastic. i have seen some that add more realistic looking ballast on the track on the ground. but in the air, it looks funny, kinda. i might try to mate it with some regular track and use that track in the air.
thanks for the ideas.
Okay, I see now. You need a piece of Atlas 3-foot flexible track cut to the length you require to get across the incline towers. Since the meeting will be between two ends of the other track, with ballast, you’ll have to rais those towers with cut pieces of foam or wood.
This is a trestle…
Selector
thanks. i’ll use the atlas flexible track. when i go to electrically “connect” that to the realtrax, would i solder a jumper wire from the realtrax to the atlas? and if so, which rails? all three, just the outside two, or some other combonation? sorry for being such a novice.
i would also upload an image, like you did of your trestle, but i havent figured out how to do it yet on this forum. sorry.
thanks a gain for all your advice. i really appreciate it.
If your looking for reallism then ditch the pillars altogether there not even close to prototypical, you may want to look into woodland scenics inclines,
http://www.woodlandscenics.com/index.htm
I,m not sure if they make them for O-scale but you could try putting 2 ho-scale side by side.
hope this helps
bill
I forgot that you are in O, so I do not know if you can get track in that scale like flex-track, but even if not, you still have to remove the plastic ballast or whatever it is that is making it look unrealistic in the situation you are describing. That will be a real chore. Mybe you can just buy individual rails and some ties (buy the lumber from the hobby shop and cut it and paint it to suit your needs) and custom lay what you need on that incline.
In an article series of a couple of years ago, a CTT project railroad discussed how to add bridge “trusses” between the trestles to make them a little more realistic with the O27 tubular track they were using.
The trestle or pier sets sold with or as an accessory for train sets is probably the least realistic way to set up grades, especially with track with built-in roadbed, as you have discovered.
One way to makes things better is to “cookie cutter” the plywood underneath the track. Take a jig saw and cut the plywood just outside the track outline from where the grade starts. Then raise the plywood “tongue” above grade level using blocks of wood - which will later be covered with scenery. The track raises with the plywood. Use bridges where the track crosses a stream, another track, or road.
Another possibility, as some one suggested, was to use Atlas flex track (yes they make flex and sectional track in 3 rail O, too) on top of the pier/trestle set. Not sure how you would fasten the track to the trestles, but it could work, especially if you add some supporting trusses for looks between the piers/trestles. At the base of the grade, you would have to shim the Atlas track to match the height of the Realtrax. I wouldn’t try to fasten the 2 different track types together, rather fasten each piece in position so it butts up solidly to the other at the correct height. Use a separate set of wire feeders for the Atlas track to get your power.
Hope this helps
yours in raising track
Fred