cruiseaholic Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Advice on best way to build a single track incline. have looked at Woodland scenics inclines but they seem too wide for a single n gauge track, the layout board is 6mm MDF. Ahy options greatly appreciated. Regards Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Advice on best way to build a single track incline. have looked at Woodland scenics inclines but they seem too wide for a single n gauge track, the layout board is 6mm MDF. Ahy options greatly appreciated. Hi Chris, Any chance of a bit more info please? Do you mean a rope worked style incline or you want to have a gradient on your layout? Boris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grafarman Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2011 Advice on best way to build a single track incline. have looked at Woodland scenics inclines but they seem too wide for a single n gauge track, the layout board is 6mm MDF. Ahy options greatly appreciated. Regards Chris On my first layout I had a single track incline and just used a long strip of hardboard chamfered at one end where it met the board. This was supported by lumps of 1x1 softwood at 6" intervals - the whole thing was about 4' long. The track was then glued and ballasted straight onto the hardboard. I think someone said somewhere that the maximum incline for N should be 1 in 12, ie. 1" rise in 12" length, but to me that still seems a bit steep, I suppose it depends on how high you need to get and what space is available.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2011 A piece of wood on risers will work, getting a constant gradient (except for the transition at the start and finish) is the trick. Looking at the woodland scenics ones they are only foam or polystyrene so you could take a knife to them if they are to wide for yourself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2011 I think someone said somewhere that the maximum incline for N should be 1 in 12, ie. 1" rise in 12" length, but to me that still seems a bit steep, I suppose it depends on how high you need to get and what space is available.... Gradients don't scale. 1 in 12 is very very steep. If you want to use steam outline in n (and run longish trains) I would not go steeper than 1 in 50. From experience once you get to 1 in 35 some steam outline locos start to really struggle even with 4 or 5 coaches (some won't haul this up a gradient this steep). Diesel and electric outline are far better haulers on gradients but I still would not consider going steeper than 1 in 30, ideally 1 in 40. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grafarman Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2011 A piece of wood on risers will work, getting a constant gradient (except for the transition at the start and finish) is the trick. What I did was lay a straight-edge from the bottom to a riser at the top which was at the correct height (a metal-edged ruler is good or clean sawn timber if extra length is needed) and then secured the base of the "ramp" and raised the other end to meet the riser. I then inserted the blocks along the length keeping the board adjacent to the ruler/timber edge. Worked pretty well too... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grafarman Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2011 Gradients don't scale. 1 in 12 is very very steep. If you want to use steam outline in n (and run longish trains) I would not go steeper than 1 in 50. From experience once you get to 1 in 35 some steam outline locos start to really struggle even with 4 or 5 coaches (some won't haul this up a gradient this steep). Diesel and electric outline are far better haulers on gradients but I still would not consider going steeper than 1 in 30, ideally 1 in 40. Yeah maybe it was 1inch in 12 feet then... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 25, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2011 What I did was lay a straight-edge from the bottom to a riser at the top which was at the correct height (a metal-edged ruler is good or clean sawn timber if extra length is needed) and then secured the base of the "ramp" and raised the other end to meet the riser. I then inserted the blocks along the length keeping the board adjacent to the ruler/timber edge. Worked pretty well too... Sounds like a good way of doing things. The last layout that I built with gradients had about 95% of the main line run on some form or gradient. Given that the main line was about 50ft long this took some doing. I did this through the use of threaded metal bar and nuts to allow for adjustment. It was interesting to operate, having to remember what would haul what in each direction (it varied - the 14xx would haul 2 coaches clockwise yet could only handle one in the other direction). Chris - If you intend to have your gradient on a curve then the gradient will need to be even shallower. There are quite a few threads on here talking about this, a quick search should give you lots of opinions on maximum practicable gradient, as I said before scale does not come into it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseaholic Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Thank you all for your input, will look at something around 1in 30 - 40. Regards Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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