I've been interested in making some incline on my HO Code 83 layout but the Woodland Scenic incline/risers seem to take up alot of space (2% incline/decline/risers) and I'm not really sure how to "hide" the risers or have balance on the rest of the platforrm.
I haven't decided on a theme but any insight/help would be appreciated - the 4x8 is the max I have to work with.
Thanks
to the Foum!
2% takes a lot of real state, you didn’t say how much vertical gain you want. My HO layout is 10’ x 14’ and I have a 10” vertical rise and it took 23½’ of track at 3½%. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
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2% just will not work for an over-and-under on a 4 by 8 sized HO scale layout. Grades if 4% or 5% will be necessary.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
My brother and I each had 4 x 8 layouts when we were Kids. His was HO and mine was N.
It did work for HO with just a flat oval, a couple spurs, (2) 22 inch radius curves and shorter cars.
If grades and bridges is what you're after, N scale does work well on a 4 x 8. A lot of guys including me fall into that scale when space is limited.
Welcome RJ and good luck with your modeling
TF
Hello All,
I used Woodland Scenics 3% risers to get the coal drag up to the unloading platform on my HO 4'x8' pike.
To fit this in a 4'x8' space I needed to make an asymmetrical curve composed of 18- and 22-inch curved sectional track that spans the 4-foot end.
It begins with a 6-inch easement on the diverging side of an Atlas Snap Switch along the 8-foot edge.
From there the 22-inch sectional track makes a 1/4 radius turn to a 3-inch section of straight track to a 1/4 radius of 18-inch sectional track to the top in the incline.
Eight loaded 34-foot Tyco operating hoppers are pulled up this grade by a single GP-30 on the head end with a set of A-B GP-30s as pushers to the unloading siding.
A bridge over the mainline; at an angle, connects to a spiral trestle (helix) made of 15-inch sectional track and 2-inch straight sections placed between each 1/4 radii of the spiral.
This trestle brings the empties, with the single GP-30 on the head end, back down to the mainline while the A-B set backs down the incline to meet the returning empties on the mainline.
An "Olde Tyme" excursion train pulled by a USRA 0-6-0 with a 0-4-0 Side Tank Porter; as a helper, pulls a consist of three 42-foot passenger cars, a combine car, with a 24-foot gondola car- -converted to seat passengers, and a bobber caboose up this grade and down the historic spiral trestle.
It takes some creative track planning but it can be done in a 4'x8' space.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
RJE3 I've been interested in making some incline on my HO Code 83 layout but the Woodland Scenic incline/risers seem to take up alot of space (2% incline/decline/risers) and I'm not really sure how to "hide" the risers or have balance on the rest of the platforrm. I haven't decided on a theme but any insight/help would be appreciated - the 4x8 is the max I have to work with. Thanks
It would really help to know what your mind is telling you your track system will look like. The space is very small, and not something we encourage people to use unless there simply ain't no other options. In that case, you only have one practical way to have an overpass with any supporting structure on an 4X8 in HO, and that is to split the difference. I'll explain, but I say you only have one practical way because you'll otherwise need very steep grades that will seriously affect how many cars your locomotive(s) can pull up those grades. On our toy layouts and in the real world of trains, grades over 1.5% are rather challenging in terms of horsepower, and most won't accept grades over about 2.2% unless there is no choice for them. Grades over 3.5% require many times the horsepower it takes as the train requires to rise at 2.2% if the speed must be maintained or kept close.
By splitting the difference, you make one track rise at 2% to the overpass, while the one being crossed dips, or descends, by the same rate and then climbs again after the overpass. IOW, it's a shared overpass.
Another to the Model Railroader Forums.
My first layout was a 4'x8' built by my father. It was an oval, with an outside grade rising at both ends of the layout, and crossing over at the mid-point.Obviously, it was useful for turning the train, so another loop was added inside the oval, again useful for turning the train. Track was Atlas code 100 brass, on fibre ties, while most of the turnouts were also from Atlas, built from kits and likely #6s. There was one scratchbuilt turnout, a #7 or 8, I'd guess. All turnouts were remotely controlled by use of choke wires, which rotated an under-table mechanism to move the points (I wish that I had taken photos of that mechanism, as it was very easy to use, and included rotating targets on the switchstands.All locos and rolling stock had Kadee K-type couplers, and there were multiple uncoupling ramps, also remotely activated from the control panel.
A sketch of the layout is shown below (click to enlarge)....
The layout was on a table-top of 1/4" plywood, supported by an open grid of 1"x4" lumber, and the grades on the outside loops were also 1/4" plywood, just slightly wider than the ties of the Atlas flex track, and supported by wooden blocks of increasing height. At the points where the elevated track crossed the main oval, the clearance was 2.5", sufficient for my John English Pacific to clear it without issue.The rising curves at each end of the layout had "concrete" retaining walls (made from balsa wood sheets painted grey) on their inside face.
As shown on the sketch of the trackplan, there was a scratchbuilt truss bridge (made from basswood shapes...I-beams and H-columns) and a scratchbuilt wooden trestle (balsa wood, coloured with an oil-based stain similar to creosote in colour) from there to the opposite side, which also included a short trestle, (near the bottom of the sketch) for a coal dealer.You could create a similar grade using plywood and wooden blocks, which would be less space-consuming than the Woodland styrofoam risers.
Since I don't recall the length of the grades to the bridge/trestle crossing, I can't say for sure what that grade might have been, but none of my locos had difficulty pulling 10 cars-or-so up that track, despite many of them being metal or having cast-metal underbodies.I also don't recall the various radii used on the oval, the outside crossover, or the inside turn-around loop, but they were sufficient to accommodate the 4-6-2 Pacific, a four-unit lash-up of Globe F7s, (with working diaphragms), and Athearn shorty 72'-passenger cars (just under 10" in length).
Wayne
Woodland Scenocs also makes 3% and 4% inclines. ''
While 4% is less than used on many prototype lines the prototype generally tries to keep maximum grades in the 1% to 1-1/2% range.
4% and even 3% can greatly reduce the length of trains you can operate, but that may not be a problem on a 4x8.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
I suppose I was looking to gain 3.5" to have clearance under a truss bridge I was think about but I do see the limitations with incline/decline on the 4x8 w/HO.
Thanks I appreciate all of the input
I'm realizing the limitations, I tried pulling back from 22" radius and using 18" and 15".
I'm just going to have to come up with a PLAN! Maybe a tunnel!