Hello all,
I’m tired of having a level layout, it’s now time to do some ups and downs but I’ve always been wondering how do you state an upgrade without bending the rail joiners as you start the incline.
Do you start the incline in the middle of a section of trace or where?
Thanks. [8)]
I too tired of the flat look and took on the elevation program a couple of months ago.
I saw on a couple of posts that Woodland Scenics makes a nice riser/incline system so I decided to start out that way. I’m modeling in HO and using Atlas True Track. I never gave any thought on where to start the incline, except not at a turnout. I’ve had no problems with that part of the system. Where I did find a little learning experience, was tapering the incline back to level at the end of the rise. Found that I had to allow a little more for transitioning from say a 3% rise back to flat than I had allowed for, typically about 6".
You can try out several senarios with these preformed risers quite easily.
George
i use L girder bench work which is excellent for elevating your layout…you need to use cleats and risers if you want the trains to go to different levels if you are not into that new woodland scenic’s elevation thingy…keep your track level and try to raise it no more than 2 inches every 100 inches of track…(that is a 2% grade)…I use 16 " spaces on my L girder benchwork and then use cleats and risers to elevate the track 1/4 inch per 16 inches…it is about a 1.5% grade…too much incline will cause you to use too many engines to pull too few cars up the hill…Kalmbach publications has a great book on benchwork which explains how to do it…the book is called Model Railroad Benchwork …Chuck
Thanks all, I think I’ll try the Woodland Senics thing … looks real clean and simple. I just checked out their web side and the idea looks like even I (newbi) can do it.
I put a 1/2" layer of Styrofoam over my entire layout and then used the “cookie cutter” method for elevated track. It’s sort of a mix of the L-girder cleat and riser and the Woodland Scenics foam risers.
Startng with a 1/2" layer of foam at “grade” eliminates the “transition” problem that requires filing or sanding foam to match a plywood base.
[:)]
Starting an incline with a wood roof shingle works great, has a long 16 inch taper. The wide shingles work also on grades starting in curves. Just cut them with an ex acto knife. Avaliabel at your local lumber yard, select ones with fine pointed end.
I cut wedges from 1/2" foam board and then gluded 3 of them in parallell to create the elevation. With careful measuring and cutting, you can create long tapered wedges that have and elevation easement in them as well. I applied the same priciples of curve easement creation to the elevation. Since the wedges are made of 1/2" foam they are easy to curve so it is possible to have the incline on a curve. I know everyone advises not to, but I was forced to have a PECO curved turnout on an incline. I cut and laid my wedges following the outer margins of the turnout and then filled in the middle with additional wedges, a bit like methods used to install cork raodbed sections. Anyway the turnout works fine and I have no derailing issues.