Advice - Bank Curved Track?

I like banked curves and I use N scale cork roadbed placed on the  outside of the curve on top of O roadbed and under track.

Happy railroading,

Don

Highways and racetracks for rubber-tired vehicles are "banked"; not a RR term.

The correct RR term is "superelevation".

besides modules, i've only built two layouts that i'd call permanent.  both were built with L-Girder construction.  with L-Girders, shaped roadbed is screwed into vertical supports which are then attached to radial support girders, mostly perpendicular to the roadbed.  after the height of the roadbed is established, any superelevation can be achieved merely by unscrewing the curve supports and rotating them outward a few degrees before reattaching them.  rather than awkwardly tilting the roadbed, you're virtually moving the earth under a solid roadbed.  not satisfied?  further adjustments (before scenic additions) are simple.

cheers...gary

Super-elevation - check. 

I super-elevated one turn on the layout where I was having problems at super-high speed. I used some extra pieces of underlayment material. Worked fine. Not sure of the degree of tilt, but it is discernible, especially after one or two Jim Beams. 

I second the N scale roadbed under the outer edge. You can make transitions to flat by stacking .020 plastic strips up in 2-3" increments.

Joe,

Funny, just finishing up my first Jim Beam as we speak....not only is it 5 o'clock somewhere, it's 5 o'clock here!

Also, I run command and conventional on a large layout, mostly command.  I don't use super-elevation at all.  If I ever run them so fast that one derails from speed rather than load, I will slow them down.  I like 20-22 smph for my command engines, including three LCP's.  The conventional"s run a little faster to negotiate the turns and grades.  IMO, you get a better look at the trains with a slower speed.

Jerry

If the turn is elevated where a train could fall off and cause some serious damage, I generally put a small piece of wooden shim underneath the outside edge of the bottom of the trestle to give it just a small tilt. If you paint the shim the same color as the trestle nobody will ever know.

Bob,

I hope this helps. Super elevating your curves is no big deal, unless you have really tight radius curves. If have less than 072, you are probably not gonna be successful and waste your effort.  I use plastic shims as pictured here and then secure with ballast. good luck

Ron H

This is all very helpful and that is why I like following the OGR forum!  I learned a new term in super elevation - my apologies to NASCAR!  I primarily run command and generally at slower speeds, but do have a curve that will eventually be trestle (regular 3/4 ply for now), and I will super elevate as I would be concern about derailment.  The photo with the shims is helpful and I will experiment a bit with shims and n-scale roadbed.

And I can see the value in applying Jim Beam to the equation!!  Haha!  Thank you all for your help!

I put foam road bed on my outside edge of the curves track that are on MTH elevated trestle so the are banked and since they are up in the air I suspect I will also call them SUPER ELEVATED!

I use toothpicks.  Once I ballast the track they will be hidden.

Neal Jeter

I have all 120" dia. curves. I used stiff nylon clothesline under one edge of the Homasote roadbed. but above the plywood sub bed.

I never thought to super elevate my curves. Thanks for the suggestions. I will do this to my outside main line to see how it looks. Thanks for the great info......

clem k posted:

I have all 120" dia. curves. ...

Richard Leray 012918 posted:

I never thought to super elevate my curves. Thanks for the suggestions. I will do this to my outside main line to see how it looks. ...

i would tend to be wary applying a blanket rule when it comes to superelevating curves, especially in O tinplate where tight curves are typically the norm.  not many people have the space for O120 track, but even at that radius, coupler pull on an 80' car is still about 20° off center.  back that radius down to O72 and 40' boxcars will have a coupler angle of ~16°... 21° for O54 ... 37° for O31.  superelevate these tighter curves and it doesn't take a math degree to visually see the stress the couplers experience which will tend to pull the cars off the track onto the infield.

I have super elevated some of my O27 curves with a two thicknesses of popsicle sticks.  It works well and seams to handle faster running better.  But it will not work on the curves with 027 switches.

Charlie

My outside rail line is Atlas O-72 track. What should I use for shims to super evelate my rail line?

I've seen lots of 027, 2 rail and 3 rail, from the early years that were made with stepped sleepers or tapered ones from the clockwork period. They even made straight track and switches that had that kind of sleepers. Not made for realism. Just keeping on the track.

Dan

a race car on a curved road does not exhibit the same forces as connected toy train cars due on curved rails.

banking or super elevation on the outside of the curved track causes connected toy train cars to be pulled off the track.

reverse banking on the inside of the curve causes connected toy train cars to be pulled into the track. 

in actual railroads the forces are much greater so curved rails are canted to reduce flange wear not true with lighter toy trains.

This modular curve has a small incline built-in by placing a piece of 12 gauge wire under the outside/high side of the curve.  ? Not noticeable?

Transition back to flat at the end of the module where it matches to the next.

Based on experience, I agree with Alanrail.  Cars can get pulled off the track

As mentioned above by Mike CT, we use 12 gauge wire on all our moduals for super elevation.

Jack

I have never string lined a train on curved track ! even with 030. I super elevated that also with double thick popsicle sticks.   I now  pull 100' trains with unweighted Weaver cars in the middle. 120 dia.  

 One great thing about train shows, is observing things like this. I saw a HO layout with super elevated curves. It made the trains look even more realistic. However I'm not sure what effect it had on reliable running of all equipment. I can say that what did run, ran very well when I saw it.

 So the problem the way I see this is, although you see and hear of something, you may not know all about it until you actually try it. The best way around that is discussion exactly like this to learn from others.

I think stringlining is more prone to happen on very sharp curves, like O31.

RJR posted:

I think stringlining is more prone to happen on very sharp curves, like O31.

I've had it happen on 042 when there were three engines up front and heavy cars in the rear but light cars in the center of the train.

Stringing can happen on any type of curve on a model rr. It doesn't matter if the track is banked or flat but has to do with the position of the light cars and the top heavy cars to the weighted cars. This is the reason one should take the time to weigh your cars to the NMRA recommended weight of 5 oz plus 1 oz per every inch of car length. This will reduce greatly any stringling of freight cars- more so than banked curves. Banked curves are tough to execute because you have different car lengths as well as different coupler attachments between each manufacturer. With many O gauge wheels having the coned fast angle wheels instead of flat wheels, the curve banking is more for looks than function but tough to execute and make it work for the various cars, lengths and weight. Hence why many modular groups do not bank their curves.