This stuff is only 2.5" wide. Is that wide enough for MTH realtrax, or will it need to be wider? I wanted to set “0 height” on a .5" riser for most of the track, and then go up from there with the 2 degree incline.
Thanks,
Wes
I just got back from the LHS. They are ordering me the 2% grade (16’ x 2.5" wide), and some of the 2" and 4" risers. Since they only offer this stuff in one width, I’m sure it will be fine.
Have a good day!
Wes
Wes, I use these and I just doubled them up side by side which gives me a 5" width. You can see them in this photo. The top circular track was never built. This is where the barn is now setting. See the small piece of wood where the track goes under the upper track.
From the looks of it, you used foam board more than the WS inclines! I ordered two of them, so we will see how it works. I would think that the inclines would start “drifting” around corners though, since the outer is longer than the inner loop when you put them side by side. Maybe it’s not enough to matter.
Your picture brings up a good question. I am also working on mapping out my mountain, and there will be a tunnel housing a loopback at ground level. Is 4" (two pieces of 2" foam stacked) enough height for the tunnel, or should I buy a sheet of 1", bringing the total tunnel height to 5" inside. By using 2" foam for the flat mountain top, I will have to rise 7" from the base track to put track on the top of the mountain. I don’t want to go any higher than 7" rise, and less if possible. That’s the problem with 2" foam, but I like the weight savings.
If I didn’t describe that well, just let me know.
Wes
Wes, the track on the back side of the layout except for the bridge is sitting on the risers. After you get so high with the riser, the next riser needs to be sitting on foam. Unfortunately during construction, we did not take any photos of the backside!!
If you could get a 6" tunnel height you will be much happier. My lower loop has a 5" clearence…No double stacks through here. The upper loop has a 6 inch plus and everything can be run on that loop, but I must use more power to make the grade I guess it is somewhat like a real railroad.
Cheat and use foam board if you have one or two clearence problem areas. Foam board can span across a track. If you need to see inside my layout again, we can make that happen. I also can pull the front panel off so you can see inside under the farm. There are little foam columns that hold up the foam where the farm i
I can make it 6". I have 32’ to raise 8" (The top of the foam on a 6" mountain), which is exactly 2 2% incline sets. I’ll just have to buy some 4" risers as well. Thanks for the pictures. They help a lot. I still don’t know how that turned into what you have now…
I measured the MTH realtrax, and its 3" wide.
Wes
My 2% incline foam kits came in today. I purchased 2 sets of them (2.5" wide x 16’ long). I am going to to try to keep them side by side as instructed, keeping a 5" wide roadbed for the 3" wide MTH track. I’m curious to see what happens on the corners though. They definately won’t stay aligned around the corners, but I might just cut the inner track into little blocks of foam and glue them down the best I can. My goal is to work the incline up to the 6" height, so I will be using another 8’ of a 2% incline to work up to that height so I can cross over an existing track that is set to ground level. I haven’t had trains running for over a week now, and I’m anxious to get this incline set up for testing. I’ll post some pictures when I have them.
Thanks,
Wes
Here are a few pictures I just took. I used 1 and a half kits to raise to 6", and then maintained that height around the top loop. It’s the general idea of my track layout.
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/weswhitmore/photo/294928804363346813/0
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/weswhitmore/photo/294928804363364892/1
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/weswhitmore/photo/294928804363346773/2
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/weswhitmore/photo/294928804363356326/3
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/weswhitmore/photo/294928804363346739/4
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/weswhitmore/photo/294928804363342254/5
Wes,
You were doing so well then in the last pic there seems to be blemish…
That football was only $5 after we lost the game. Is that what you are referring to?
Didn’t even notice the football… so I guess that makes it two blemishes! [;)] Too much Scarlet and Gray in those pics! [(-D]
Never Enough!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2686337901850306215&hl=en
Here is a quick video of my speeder on the track. After I recorded this, I raised the track up another inch, high enough to hold the MTH tunnel portal. It made the heighest track around 7.5 inches from the base. I have a long way to go, but at least I can run some trains again.
Wes
LOL!!! When you said you were buying two sets of risers I was wondering how you were going to make two downhill runs from 6 inches with only two sets… Now that I’ve seen your video I remembered that this was a folded stacked dogbone and therefore only one inclinded run…
Very nicely done… Now put an engine on there with 6 cars and a caboose. See if it can handle the grade and does not pickup too much speed coming down…
My MTH 2-8-0 from the Buckeye set will pull 8 cars (plus tender) with little effort. With throttle set at half way, it climbs and only slows down a little at the top of the hill. It really does a great job. I’ll try to get a video of it. So far, so good.
Wes
I’m probably going to need wiring help on the “grounding of trigger tracks” to get two trains running automatically at the same time. I have been drawing out some things on paper, but know that people like Brent,Frank53, and Bob have already done this a hundred times, and could make it easy for me. It’s not really like Frank53’s, since I have a shared connecting line between two loopbacks.
Does anyone have information on stepping down voltages on track segments without removing voltage completely? My MTH train seems to reset to neutral after you kill track power for 15 seconds, and I would like to build an isolated section of track from half of the loop to the switch that hs a different voltage than the incine and the other halfs of the loops. Something on a variable reostat, or voltage stepping switches that I can control after I set the “fast” speed of the train when it’s on it’s incline/decline between the loops.
Can I do this with another tranformer instead, yet still share grounds between the systems without creating fireworks? If so, I don’t really need to build the adjustable voltage device.
Thanks for the help,
Wes
I added another video of the MTH 2-8-0 pulling 8 cars plus tender.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9173179019044089613&hl=en
Wes
Wes, I often warn against setting up a situation where a train can run between blocks powered by transformers with different settings. This produces a fault current that is often not protected against by the transformer’s circuit breaker and can be quite dangerous, to the locomotive or lighted-car wiring, to the layout wiring, and to the transformer. So don’t do that.
If your voltage reduction will be simply a matter of switching the track to a lower transformer voltage, not going over a gap between two voltages, that’s pretty safe.
In any case, you can reduce the voltage from a single transformer output safely, gap or no gap, with a series voltage-dropping element. The simplest is a rheostat. But its voltage reduction depends on the load current, whose variation could be a problem. One that I often recommend is a string of modified bridge-rectifier modules. Connect the + and - terminals together within each module and wire it into the series string using the ~ terminals. Each module will drop a little over a volt, pretty much independent of the load current.
Bob,
I searched around on the bridge-rectifier modules. I found some schematics. Do you have any of the exact components already worked out from previous projects? My electronic circuit knowledge is pretty worthless.
Thanks,
Wes
Something like the Radio Shack 276-1181 6-ampere bridge for $2.59 would be suitable, although you can probably find it cheaper and you don’t need more than a 50-volt rating. As I said, just connect the + and - of each module together. Then string a bunch of them in series, connecting ~ to ~ from module to module. Connect one end of the string to the transformer output. You can connect the center rail to any point along the string to get the voltage you want. You can even connect to one of the ± connections to get half the drop of a module for a fine adjustment.
Notice that we are not actually using these rectifier modules for rectification. They are just a convenient way to get 4 diodes in one package in an arrangement that is suitable for voltage dropping.