As a boy, watching Deltics storm south out of Newark Northgate, one of the spectacles was the cant as they roared round the bend aproaching Barnby Lane Crossing. I used to love standing there and watch these beasts leaning round the bend and then straighten up to accelerate even more, up towards Grantham.

Not many model layouts seem to employ this. There are a few exceptions, mainly in O gauge. I think it always looks impressive. With many OO layouts having unprotypical sharp curves, some superelevation (or cant), could improve the look of corners and the trains on them.

I intend Buckingham West to be my last and only home layout (who knows for sure), so I want to try my best. That includes superelevation on the main curves. I use 3mm foam as an underlay. I didn't fancy cork, not being convinced of any gain. My club tends to use it, but once the track is glued and ballasted (another topic completely) its solid like concrete. I want a bit of suspension in there, some way of smoothing out the small differences in baseboards (nothing is a substitute for poor carpentry), a bit of sound deadening and a way of making a shoulder for the ballast. The laminate underlay is closed cell, so smooth finished.

I reasoned that I just needed something under the outside edge of the track on a corner. After some research on RMWEB and elsewhere, it seemed I needed no more than 1mm. 5 - 10% of the track gauge would be max. I didn't want it to look silly, or be instantly noticeable with no trains running. This is not the Wall of Death! But if someone looks down the line as a train comes round a corner, I want them to see the cant and the straightening up. I figured subltety was needed. So I needed something narrow that could be bent and was about 1mm thick.

I thought of plastistrut, but would have to heat it to bend it. Would I get the right radius? Too complicated. It was going to have to be card. But then I fell upon a stash of thin sheet metal plates about 15mm wide and 30mm long. They are about 0.8 or 0.9mm thick. They were meant for fixing on stuff as a warning its alarmed. The company logo and "Warning - Alarmed" type thing is printed on one side. Where I got them from, I have no idea now. It's always useful to keep useless stuff! Ha Ha.

Next I had to decide whether to put these plates under the foam, or between the track and the foam. I decided on the former option. I think the foam will form round the plates, sealing them below the foam. I should still be able to ballast. The other way, I would have gaps below the sleepers in places and that would make ballasting hard work.

I normally glue the foam down, then glue the track on that. For the curves though, I needed to be able to turn the whole unit over to fix the plates in the right place. I would never be able to prejudge the position. So I temporarily fixed the foam in place with screws and laid the outer track. I hold my track in place with screws on each side in various places so it makes the required curve, and glue it with PVA. When dry I

added the inner line the same way.

When that was dry, I removed the screws and cut the inside of the foam to fit.

On the back I glued two lines of the plates. There is no real need to have them touching but I didn't want large gaps. Also they mustn't start as soon as the curve does. There has to be a transistion. How far is yet to be seen. There are various views on that. In the end it will look right or it won't. Until I glue it down, I can always pull one or two off. Because the plates are quite thin and I am not going for 10%, I think the track will manage the transistion supported by the foam.

Once the plates were dry, I turned it upright. Nearly right, but not quite. By being conscious that the "6 foot" in between the tracks needed to be glued to the board quite well to achieve the cant on the outside track, I had put the plates for the inside track too far under it. Instead of just raising the outer edge of the sleepers and the outer rail, I was effectively raising about half the sleeper width. So the whole track lifted - both rails - leaving no cant. The plates peel off the foam quite easily, so I moved them out a bit and reglued.

When turned over, the track looks fine.

Although not yet glued in place and hence the foam is not held hard down onto the baseboard, the cant can just be detected on these coaches. Compare their lines with the vertical side of the glue bottle in the background. When I pressed the track down in place, a little more cant can be seen.

I am really pleased with the look of this. Just enough I think.

Once I have more track laid I will be able to test it and glue it? I will update.

Rich