Lionel trestle question

Chris -

The tallest trestle in the set is the 'J'.  It is 4-3/4" base to top, and 3-15/16" base to bottom of arch.  Measurements taken from my own personal trestle stash.

Pete

Thx Pete - I knew it was around 4 something.  But I think the Lionel tunnels are around 7'' to the top. So I was wondering the best way to get those extra few inches on the climb 

Christopher,

You can always lower the tunnel portal so the climb says the same, just have the lower track go down the required amount. It also will allow for some unique scenery.

You could also take a few extra of the tallest trestles (from a parts box or a second trestle set or an elevated trestle set) and put a bit of foam or wood under the base of each trestle as a shim, paint the shim gray to match the trestle, and then extend the trestle slope for as many sections as needed to reach the top of the tunnel portal height.

As someone else mentioned, if you keep the slope constant, it will look consistent and "natural".

If you're pinched for space, your only other option would be to increase the grade up and down by beginning to put shims as noted above under some of the standard trestles in the set.  The basic trestle grade is pretty steep to begin with, however, so you probably shouldn't go hog wild with your increase.

HTH.

Steven J. Serenska

Christopher2035 posted:

I'm going to be building a layout for a friend & he wants an over/under with a tunnel.  We are using tubular O gauge track. My question about the trestles - I think the height of the largest one is 4'' or around there.  Is there anything I can use to have it reach the same height as a Lionel tunnel portal?...

Texas Pete posted:

Chris -

The tallest trestle in the set is the 'J'.  It is 4-3/4" base to top ...

Pete

I use different thicknesses of wood or plywood cut and painted to look like concrete bases, to get some extra height for standard piers.

I've found up-and-over grades on a small layout to be tedious to operate because you have to continually work the throttle to maintain a steady speed going up and down the relatively steep grades.

Ace posted:

Christopher2035 posted:

I'm going to be building a layout for a friend & he wants an over/under with a tunnel.  We are using tubular O gauge track. My question about the trestles - I think the height of the largest one is 4'' or around there.  Is there anything I can use to have it reach the same height as a Lionel tunnel portal?...

Texas Pete posted:

Chris -

The tallest trestle in the set is the 'J'.  It is 4-3/4" base to top ...

Pete

I use different thicknesses of wood or plywood cut and painted to look like concrete bases, to get some extra height for standard piers.

I've found up-and-over grades on a small layout to be tedious to operate because you have to continually work the throttle to maintain a steady speed going up and down the relatively steep grades.

I tend to agree about that on small layouts, but he keeps insisting on the up & down action.  I think he plans to stick w/ MTH  PS2/3 motive power so at least the speed control will prevent the fast downgrade. The small plywood shims may be the best way to go using a few extra J trestles 

anyone know how tall the fastrack trestles are? or the MTH ones for realtrax?

Hi Chris:     If you are using the Lionel Trestle Sets, the highest trestle pier is not  J,  but rather it is  A.

The graduated trestle set starts out with a small shim piece at the lowest point, and then goes backward alphabetically  to  A   starting with   L  , as the track height is raised.

Also, keep in mind about the rail height at the lowest level.  O27 rail height is lower than  O rail height.  O   would put the tops of train locos and cars roofs closer to the bottom side of the highest trestle.

Just a couple of caution notes to keep in mind as you plan out the layout.  The other info expressed about shims to raise the trestle piers is good.  I use cardboard  corrigated box shims,   glued together with  hot-melt glue to raise the last  A  piers to a higher level

Okay, got to run sme of my trains around.

Dennis

Dennis M posted:

Hi Chris:     . . . the highest trestle pier is not  J,  but rather it is  A.

Oops.  Got it bass-ackward.  Dennis is right.

Dealing with the change in speed between "up" and "down" in conventional operation is dealt with by David Smith HERE third post down.  A nifty solution, uses bridge rectifiers.

Pete

Texas Pete posted:

... Dealing with the change in speed between "up" and "down" in conventional operation is dealt with by David Smith HERE third post down.  A nifty solution, uses bridge rectifiers.

Pete

That has possibilities for conventional operation, but it might require a different balancing act for different locos and different trains depending on the load. Some of the old spur-gear locos will run away on a steep downgrade with no power.

I'm curious how well the electronic cruise control locos work for such cases because I've never seen it demonstrated.

if you have a zw,  use blocks,  like the other post,  zw you can set the voltage,  zw is the easy way

you can phase another transformer for the block, s,

on your bents,  pretty much double the length,  how many track sections does it take to go from  A-L,

that's  4.3/4 inches, and you want 7,,  you want a smooth track at top, not a bump,