Best way to make an incline.

Use the Woodland Scenic incline/decline system. They are good for multigauge use, are precut to various % inclines/ declines. Also they are flexible so they can adjust for ANY curve you need. The cost is very affordable and takes the headache out of figuring or cutting wood. Have used them on a few layouts in all scales and the system works quite well. Go to woodland scenic website for videos.

Trainmaster04 posted:

...I do not have the tools to do something like L-gerder bench work...

All you need to do L-Girder bench work is a drill, some C-clamps, wood screws and glue. It doesn't take much.

rattler21 posted:

What size is the room and what size is your layout?  What size curves?  Two rail or three rail?  Which engines will be used?  How many cars do you intend to pull?   John in Lansing, ILL

My layout is 3-rail fast track. It is about 140 square feet, but the section with the inclines is about 16 feet by 4 feet. The table top is in a L shape. I was intending to run small o-36 curve radius steam locomotives. I was going to haul about 5 to 6 cars. 

Thank you very much.

FORMER OGR CEO - RETIRED posted:

Trainmaster04 posted:

...I do not have the tools to do something like L-gerder bench work...

All you need to do L-Girder bench work is a drill, some C-clamps, wood screws and glue. It doesn't take much.

Thank you for telling me what I would need, but my bench work is the normal box framing with a sheet of plywood on top. Thank you though I’m young so I still hav a lot a life left to make better layouts. I will keep this in mind.

Thank you very much.

dd40ax posted:

Use the Woodland Scenic incline/decline system. They are good for multigauge use, are precut to various % inclines/ declines. Also they are flexible so they can adjust for ANY curve you need. The cost is very affordable and takes the headache out of figuring or cutting wood. Have used them on a few layouts in all scales and the system works quite well. Go to woodland scenic website for videos.

Thank you very much. I was trying this product, but was trying to see if there was anything better. I really like this product as well, but I am using Lionel fast track and the base goes over the foam. 

Thank you very much. 

Regarding the base going over the foam, as a suggestion you could place 2 sections side by side making them wider for the incline/decline sections. Where the track has reached its highest point, 4" or 41/2", and is going straight, you could use foam sheets from a big box store and cut them with a hot wire foam cutter to the length you need, then glue them together, like a sandwich, to get the height.  As long as everything is level you shouldn't notice any difference after adding scenery. Not sure how cost effective it would be.....

dd40ax posted:

Regarding the base going over the foam, as a suggestion you could place 2 sections side by side making them wider for the incline/decline sections. Where the track has reached its highest point, 4" or 41/2", and is going straight, you could use foam sheets from a big box store and cut them with a hot wire foam cutter to the length you need, then glue them together, like a sandwich, to get the height.  As long as everything is level you shouldn't notice any difference after adding scenery. Not sure how cost effective it would be.....

Thanks I’ll try that. 

I made a system of custom "T's".  The bottom of the "T" was a 1 inch dowel.  The top of the "T" was pine with a slant top to match the grade.  I screwed the dowel to the my plywood layout base from underneath.  I put 3/8 inch plywood on top of the "T" to form the roadbed base.  I varied the dowel length to create my custom grade.