Superelevation

Put some cardboard under the sleepers on the outside as far as the outer rail.

You could get carried away and have (say) three pieces so that the sleepers are supported at 4 positions across their width, but one piece works for me with proper ballasting.

The prototype formulas for superelevation don't work for our models because we use incredibly sharp curves. 3mm (1/8") superelevation is about the upper limit, while anything less than 1mm just isn't visible.

Regards, Greg.P.

In message , "Just zis Guy, you know?" writes

Depends. I have been known to put thin wire under the outside of the curve to lift it up. I used "layout wire", which in my opinion is not suitable for much else.

None.

"John Sullivan"

I superelevate all mainline trackage, regardless of radius. It looks so much better when stock leans to the inside of the curve.

I use 60thou styrene cut into thinnish strips under the outside edge of the ties (sleepers) which is then painted my basic earth colour, to hide any white that may show, and then, after test running the line for a bit, ballast.

BTW, ballast first, then add scenery. Stops the ballast from showing up over the scenery, which is what happens if you scenic first, then ballast.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

In message , Roger T. writes

Excuse me, Mr T., but

Oh no you don't

In my not-so-humble opinion, tangent (i.e. straight) track with superelevation looks a bit ridiculous.

True

Strange how the prototype railways haven't cottoned on to this idea :-)

Oh, yes he does

Sorry. Couldn't resist, what with my mum being English and all... :)

Steve Newcastle (not-on-Tyne)

I used matchsticks placed lengthways under the outside rail, then just filled up the gap underneath with ballast. Cheep and cheerful and I know that the engineers amongst us will holding their heads in horror but it worked for me ... and most importantly it stopped trainee driver Edward (aged 6 at the time) derailing Hogwarts Castle and sending it in a death ride over the edge of the table.

OK, thanks - cardboard and matchsticks sound like the Cunning Plan.

I built my first narrow gauge feeder line using cardboard and matchsticks - looked good but ran poorly!

Regards, Greg.P.

Guy, Personally, I feel that any method of track canting which involves slipping something under the ends of sleepers is doomed to failure because over time, sleepers have a tendency to 'curl' and cause gauge narrowing. It also suggests that the elevation is an afterthought. The best way to implement canting is to build the trackbed with it already built in. I have done this on my layout by using ply for the width of a trackbed with 3mm MDF tucked under the edge. You don't want anything more than 3mm because in OO scale, this represents pretty much the maximum can't a real UK railway would be permitted to have. Remember that at the scale we model, can't would not be implemented on our unprototypical radii anyway! The two pictures below show the effect:

that you need a transition between canted track and straight track. This should be a fair bit longer than your longest vehicle because while the cant is unwinding, the track is also twisting: you don't want to introduce to much twist. Also remember that when a curve approaches a straight, it does not change from curve radius directly to a straight: the transition is a length of track where the radius progressively becomes tighter as one moves from straight to curve. On my layout we used real modern prototype CAD systems do design this. To be honest, I can't remember whether we used cubic parabola formulea or spiral calculations, but in model form, one wouldn't notice the difference.

Graham Plowman

You can't use an apostophe with cant

And you can't spell apostrophe without an 'r'

The method of slipping something under the ends of sleepers is easy and works fine. I have done this on my layout, and even on sections were ballasting is not complete, no problems have arisen due to under gauge track. If the ballast is solid, and glued down, the track is going to keep its gauge without much variation. Even if the track goes under gauge your curves have to be small, before under gauge becomes a problem. On scale curves you can have a track of 16.2mm for H0/00 without any problems.

Nice layout Graham.

You cant?

I slip two half thickness "somethings" under my sleepers so that the center and the inner and outer ends are supported. I figure that by the time I have ballasted and before the sag begins the entire sleeper will be supported.

Unless it is your wont.