Sorry I haven't kept up better with this one fellows.
In a nutshell, super elevated curves work like banked curves on a race track. Super elevated curves are supposed to counter the effects of centrifugal force on a curve, enabling a highballing train to roughly maintain speed without significantly slowing down. Keep the schedule!
Bill Stone is correct, though with a Lionel, it might keep the train on the tracks.
Here, we're doing this more for aesthetics, not functionality and it also depends on the type of road your recreating.
For a class 1 railroad, super elevation on curves is a must. I've made them in the past, learned from mistakes, and am building them into my present layout now. There was one good article about them in one of the mags in the past ten years you can cross reference for yourselves, and the topic truly warrants an article here, @TG.
How do you do it? As mentioned above, the outside rail of the curve is elevated slightly higher than the inside. The elevation is begun at least a foot before the curve starts. Sounds familiar???
I took a 1"X2" stick with a nail in one end, and holes to fit a pencil to draw various radii along the length. On cardstock, draw the desired arc. Take "T" pins and tack down a half width section of cork roadbed with the centre of the cork along the outside of the arc. Trace another line along the outside of the cork. Remove the cork, and cut out the cardstock. Write the radius size on the piece you have AND USE THIS AS A TEMPLATE TO TRACE OUT AND CUT MORE PIECES.
The first time I tried this, I made the mistake of having it near a crossing which made for major headaches. Keep away from switches, just like the prototype.
Formula? I don't remember the nitty gritty, and what I usually do is "Eyeball" it as one steamer fireman taught me. In the real thing, just as an example, the steepest super elevated curve on the New York Central is at Peekskill, New York. At this location, the outer rail is a full 4 inches higher than the inside rail. It may not seem like much, but to people in the industry, I've found out that this is an eye opener.
In "HO scale on a 24 inch radius curve, I began with one strip of thin cardstock underneath the outside piece of cork 14 inches before the curve started. Every four inches, I added another strip until I had four thin strips sandwiched underneath the outer strip of cork. When coming off the curve, just reverse the process. I had a fifth strip, but removed it because "It just didn't look right" being too steep. On a wider radius curve, I would increase the four inch transition to six to make it a bit more gradual.
RESULT. If you stuff the inside of the curve with trees, hiding the ends from view from the opposite ends, the effect is quite visually pleasing. Like the real thing, whether moving fast or slow, you will be thrilled to see your engines and equipment "leaning" into the curve just like the real thing. The viewer tends to see the train already leaning into the curve, than to notice any kind of transition as it occurs. Funny how the oncoming train commands the attention of the spectator, so use it.
Time to make some of you cringe. How did I fasten it down? No glue, no nails. I STAPLED the strips down. They're easily removed to correct mistakes with needle nose pliars, and any good staple gun will drive the staples down flush with the surface of the cardstock into Homasote. Then I used track nails to affix the cork down on top of it. Remember, the inside piece of cork roadbed remains flush with the deck.
As mentioned before, cheque your work by running your most finicky equipment over the transition area before you glue anything down or ballast. If your wheels leave the track on one side of the truck, either cheque the weighting, or space out the strips in the troublesome transition area a bit more than they are. You may have to play with it somewhat to achieve satisfaction.
If box cars wobble, tighten the screw on the truck and check for loose weights inside.
Super elevation is one of those things that add a nice touch that you've seen in life and film, but never thought of doing on the pike. Tediously time consuming? Yes, but well worth the reward, I assure you!
George.
[This message has been edited by George (edited 04-30-2001).]
[This message has been edited by George (edited 04-30-2001).]
