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Model Forum / General / Railroads / May 2008Changing levels.
I know about a helix and I guess a zig zag can be constructed to allow trains to change levels in a multi level layout. Does anyone make a working, commercially available rack system? In parctical terms I'm interested in HO but does it exist in any gauge? > I know about a helix and I guess a zig zag can be constructed to allow > trains to change levels in a multi level layout. Does anyone make a > working, commercially available rack system? In practical terms I'm > interested in HO but does it exist in any gauge? IIRC BRAWA did so a few ago, may still be available. Pricey. It was a set consisting of the rack structure and one or two cars. Not obviously adaptable for mainline running. Re multi-level layouts: you need about 18" vertical track separation for about 14" clearance below the upper deck. That comes to 45ft at 1:33. If you have a reasonably sized bedroom for your layout, and built the layout walk-in (shelf) style, that's once or so around the room. Not insurmountable. HTH  Signaturewolf k. >> I know about a helix and I guess a zig zag can be constructed to allow >> trains to change levels in a multi level layout. Does anyone make a [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > HTH It's actually going into a garden building about 5 x 3.5 metres so, as you say, quite doable in a once around. I was wondering what my options were. Having ridden a couple of lines using a zig zag, the last time only a few weeks ago, that one is in my mind at the moment. Of course, using one method does not rule out using another one as well. I know spiral tunnels do exist but pictures I have seen of helixes do not seem to be prototypical (yes, you can hide them) so I'm less inclined to that solution, at the moment. >>> I know about a helix and I guess a zig zag can be constructed to >>> allow trains to change levels in a multi level layout. Does anyone [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > not seem to be prototypical (yes, you can hide them) so I'm less > inclined to that solution, at the moment. Helixes (helices?) take up a lot of space. One obvious place to hide them would be inside a lobe projecting into the centre of the room. Make the lower and upper levels larger radii than the ones in between, and these looping curves can be scenicked quite nicely. You could just squeeze that into your space, I think. There'd be a bottle neck between the end pf the lobe and the opposite wall, but elsewhere you'd have adequate aisles. But a rack road climbing from one level to the other would be way cool! HTH Signaturewolf k. >> "Wolf Kirchmeir" <wolfkir@sympatico.ca> wrote... >>>> I know about a helix and I guess a zig zag can be constructed to [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > HTH I have seen an HO "layout" at local train shows in the form of a conical mountain on a revolving base. A train climbs a spiral/helix of track on the outside of the mountain, disappears into a tunnel, then descends inside the mountain to re-emerge at the bottom. I believe there is also an aircraft on a wire revolving in the opposite direction. SignatureMartin S. [...] > I have seen an HO "layout" at local train shows in the form of a conical > mountain on a revolving base. A train climbs a spiral/helix of track on > the outside of the mountain, disappears into a tunnel, then descends > inside the mountain to re-emerge at the bottom. I believe there is also > an aircraft on a wire revolving in the opposite direction. Cute. Signaturewolf k. > I know about a helix and I guess a zig zag can be constructed to allow > trains to change levels in a multi level layout. Does anyone make a > working, commercially available rack system? In parctical terms I'm > interested in HO but does it exist in any gauge? Fleischmann as seen at http://www.ontracks.co.uk/index.php?page=fromLibrary&guide=15 Cheers Richard Signaturewww.beamends-lrspares.co.uk sales@beamends-lrspares.co.uk I have become... comfortably numb >> I know about a helix and I guess a zig zag can be constructed to allow >> trains to change levels in a multi level layout. Does anyone make a [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Cheers > Richard I'll have to give them a call. Can't find any detail on either their site or Fleischmann. But that's what I was looking for, thank you. > I know about a helix and I guess a zig zag can be constructed to allow > trains to change levels in a multi level layout. Does anyone make a > working, commercially available rack system? In parctical terms I'm > interested in HO but does it exist in any gauge? Fleischmann make an operating rack system in both HO and N. There's a Bo (4 wheel) steeple cab loco and a 2-6-0 tank. There's probably half a million of the previous 0-6-0 tank cast body locos around second-hand. They make a plastic rack rail whick mounts on plastic blocks which screw between sleepers. It will work on almost any Code 100 proprietry track. Regards, Greg.P. How about a train lift? > How about a train lift? How fat's your wallet? MBQ >>How fat's your wallet? >>MBQ 1 plank some flexitrack some string > >>How fat's your wallet? > >>MBQ > > 1 plank > some flexitrack > some string http://www.ro-ro.net/ >>>> How fat's your wallet? >>>> MBQ [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > http://www.ro-ro.net/ Looks like a good device, but $399.99 is a bit pricey, and the site wants Flash Player installed to play the demo. Signaturewolf k. > How about a train lift? Is there a prototype for that? SignatureMartin S. >> How about a train lift? > > Is there a prototype for that? I suppose you could argue it's nothing more than a traverser; it just goes up and down rather than side to side. >>I suppose you could argue it's nothing more than a traverser; it just goes >>up and down rather than side to side. That's what I thought >>> How about a train lift? >>Is there a prototype for that? Don't know >>>> How about a train lift? > >>>Is there a prototype for that? > >Don't know Waterloo & City? SignatureAndy Breen ~ Not speaking on behalf of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth Feng Shui: an ancient oriental art for extracting money from the gullible (Martin Sinclair) > >>>> How about a train lift? > > > >>>Is there a prototype for that? > > > >Don't know > Waterloo & City? See http://www.metronetrail.com/default.asp?sID=1157118656687 or how about this http://www.railway-technology.com/contractors/track/windhoff/windhoff4.html Alan Signaturealan.dawes@argonet.co.uk alan.dawes@riscos.org Using an Acorn RiscPC > >>> How about a train lift? > >>Is there a prototype for that? > Don't know There were wagon "hoists" eg http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15106&p=321634 Signaturealan.dawes@argonet.co.uk alan.dawes@riscos.org Using an Acorn RiscPC >>>>> How about a train lift? > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > There were wagon "hoists" eg > http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15106&p=321634 Quite a few people have use vertical lifts. One such was described in an article published a few years ago (in Model railroader IIRC). The lift was a track board stiffened by a plank mounted edgewise underneath it. The lifting mechanism consisted of two threaded rods that passed through nuts mounted on the lift. A chain drive cobbled up from bicycle parts rotated the rods. Can't recall the locking arrangement to guarantee alignment of the track. Slow but steady, according to the builder. HTH Signaturewolf k. That's what I was thinking of - wagon hoists! >> How about a train lift? > >Is there a prototype for that? http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.php?inum=TGSE00118 > > How about a train lift? > > Is there a prototype for that? > > -- > Martin S. Glasgow underground(?) I saw a TV programme about a railway (Germany somewhere?) used for lifting barges between widely vertically seperated canals. Greg.P. >> > How about a train lift? >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Glasgow underground(?) Yes. >I saw a TV programme about a railway (Germany somewhere?) used for >lifting barges between widely vertically seperated canals. The Anderton Lift in England: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderton_Boat_Lift There was also the Hay Inclined Plane, near IronBridge and now part of the Blists Hill Open Air Museum. A railway track went into the water at each end, and the boats were attached to wagons that were dragged up the incline. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_Inclined_Plane >Greg.P. > >> > How about a train lift? > >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Yes. I'd never seen a photo of it, but as it's underground I guess it's difficult for photographers to get a representative shot of it. ;-) > >I saw a TV programme about a railway (Germany somewhere?) used for > >lifting barges between widely vertically seperated canals. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_Inclined_Plane Those would be similar, but the locals were all talking German so I don't think they are the one I saw. Anyway, a length of supported model track could be hauled up an steep incline, either longtitudinally or sideways to change levels without the model train having to negotiate an impossible gradient on it's own. The builder of "Buckingham" had a train lifter built from Meccano girders for one of his earlier limited space layouts. It was in Railway Modeller some time in the 1950s. Greg.P. >> >> > How about a train lift? >> >> [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] >girders for one of his earlier limited space layouts. It was in Railway >Modeller some time in the 1950s. I remember the article, and I think it was more recent than that. I'd get the occasional RM in the 1960s but didn't get it regularly until I'd moved into my own house and unpacked the boxed Triang in 1977. I think that was just for a prototype that was never incorporated into a layout. But there was at least one American street car system that had a lift. I couldn't find it on the web though. It was a steeply angled track like a Mountain railway. Instead of a regular car being pulled up or down there was a triangular "car" consisting of a framework with a piece of level track on top. The streetcar would run onto that, be lowered and then run off in the same direction. >Greg.P. > Those would be similar, but the locals were all talking German so I > don't think they are the one I saw. Could it be the Elblag canal in Poland? http://www.emazury.com/index.php?JEZ=pl&LIS=miasta&MENU=elblag&GL=fotogaleria_katy1 SignatureArthur Figgis Surrey, UK >>> > How about a train lift? >>> [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_Inclined_Plane The Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario has two lift locks and a marine railway (inclined plane). SignatureMartin S. >>>> > How about a train lift? >>>> [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >The Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario has two lift locks and a marine >railway (inclined plane). What are two English rivers doing over there? >>>>> > How about a train lift? >>>>> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > What are two English rivers doing over there? We also have the Humber, Don, Thames... SignatureMartin S. [..] >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_Inclined_Plane >> The Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario has two lift locks and a marine >> railway (inclined plane). > > What are two English rivers doing over there? Linking Lake Huron and the upper St Lawrence river. With the help of a few locks, ands some stretches of canal. The Waterway was originally built to connect Bytown (now Ottawa) to the St Lawrence, and extended to provide a commercial route that bypassed the Niagara escarpment and to open up eastern Ontario. The railways killed it, as they killed canals everywhere. It is now a recreational waterway, and well worth a visit. You can rent a houseboat if you don't want to sail your own across the Atlantic.... ;-) Signaturewolf k. >>>>> How about a train lift? >>>> Is there a prototype for that? [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > The Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario has two lift locks and a marine > railway (inclined plane). The current marine railway, located at Big Chute falls, looks nothing like a railway. It does run on rails, though. The previous version, running on standard track, is still in place, and until a few years ago was operational as a backup. It is now merely an exhibit - no cables in place to haul the flatcar up and down. It's worth a visit. take exit 162 on highway 400. It's about a 15 minute drive along a charming bushroad (which was straightened and widened a few years ago, so as not scare the townies too much. ;-)) In late spring, you can see swaths of trilliums, Ontario's Provincial flower. HTH Signaturewolf k. |
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