Transition from incline to a flat surface.

[bing&kathy]

Go to your local Menard's, Home Depot, Lowe's or almost any lumberyard that sells windows. You can purchase a bunch of wood wedges that are about 4" to 6" long. These taper down from about 1/4" to zero and are about 1" or so wide. They are used when installing windows and doors in houses. I always keep a bunch on hand for various uses.

[tomikawaTT]

With Woodland Scenics grade formers (and, presumably, equivalent foam on the plateau) you can form the necessary  transition with a sur-form tool or wood rasp.  Mark the grade the length of the longest car you expect to run from the break point.  Mark the flat the same distance from the break point.  Then gently form a parabolic transition.  Remove material slowly, and check with a bent batten to get the right contour.

I personally prefer to form transitions with cookie-cut plywood.  Less mess.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[wsdimenna]

I do something similar to selector and lay piece of flex track with half on either Side of transition to grade. I then screw the flex track to a thin strip of either Luan or mdf. The first third is screwed to base, then I use a piece of foam to adjust the transition. After testing engines I lock it in place with foam and great stuff (insulation in a can).

[BroadwayLion]

Sand down the top and bottom of the grade to make it more gentle, after all a vertical curve is the same as a horizontal curve. This means you will have to sand down much of the flat deck so that the vertical curve leads out of the riser.

Subways always have to worry about the vertical curves.

ROAR

[selector]

Fix the track over the middle part of the grade and let the end do what it wants.  This might be a time when you join and solder two or more lengths together, depending on the length of the grade, and make sure the middle part that should conform to the steady part of the grade is well adhered.  Then watch what the end at the bottom does.  It may need a little help with a couple of ounces of weight midway along what you see is the transition to impart a proper vertical curve until level.  What I do is to fill below the ties with ballast and then glue the ballast once it is groomed properly and supporting the vertically curved rails.  There is your nice transition.

Failing that, fill that area with some spackle, maybe some clay or drywall mud, and try to make it curved so that the rails adhered to that surface is very close to a natural vertical curve.  Once the material is dry, use acrylic latex caulk to adhere the tracks to the curved surface, maybe some weights to keep it all in place during the curing, and then ballast.

Crandell

[CTValleyRR]

Get some 1% grade pieces and use those for the final few inches (and the first few, for that matter).

[abbieleibowitz]

I am using Woodland Scenics foam inclines (2% grade) in HO. How do I make the transition point to a flat surface on the upside of the grade smooth? I want to eliminate the little "bump" you get when the track flattens out.

Lefty